Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee
Senator Debra Bowen, Chairwoman
Background Paper: Wireless 911 Service
March 9, 1999
California has established "911" as the emergency service number. Dialing "911" from your home telephone automatically and quickly puts you in touch with your local emergency service personnel, giving them your telephone number and location. However, dialing "911" from your wireless (i.e. cellular or PCS) telephone is a different experience. The call may well be answered less quickly, it does not provide the calling telephone number, it does not provide the location of the caller, and it is answered by California Highway Patrol (CHP) personnel probably not located locally. This is not a criticism, but rather a consequence of wireless technology and the exploding growth of wireless users and, therefore, wireless 911 calls. In 1989 there were about 500,000 wireless 911 calls; in 1998 there were almost 3,500,000. Yet telephone users expect, and need, responsive and timely emergency response irrespective of whether they are using their wireless or traditional telephone.
The 911 service is paid for through a surcharge on all telephone bills. The surcharge rate is statutorily limited to 0.75% of the bill. Currently, the surcharge raises about $90 million annually, which pays for the servicing of all 911 calls, both wireless and traditional. These funds are used to pay for the telephone and dispatch service and equipment. Personnel costs are generally not paid for from these funds.
The wireless industry, the Department of General Services, which manages the state’s 911 program, and the CHP have long recognized the relative shortcomings of wireless 911 service. In 1996 a wireless 911 task force was created to examine the wireless 911 response problem, focusing on the lack of promptness in answering wireless 911 calls. Based on 1995/96 data, the task force reported that in certain areas it was not unusual for the waiting period to exceed one minute to receive an answer to the 911 call. (California’s goal is to answer 911 calls within 10 seconds.) The task force identified several causes for the slow response: a tremendous increase in the number of wireless 911 calls, a large number wireless 911 calls which should be responded to by someone other than the CHP, a large number of redundant 911 calls reporting on the same incident, and misuse of 911 for calls which are not emergencies. Some have suggested that the CHP should have greater staffing or should improve compensation to keep more experienced 911 dispatchers.
The task force concluded that "the 911 system is experiencing significant delays in answering calls for assistance, jeopardizing lives, health, and property." Among the recommendations of the task force were:
- public education to reduce the number of inappropriate 911 calls
- more efficient routing of wireless 911 calls to the proper emergency response agency
- increasing the funding for 911 service
- exploring new technologies to improve service
- creating a non-emergency 311 number.
Some of those recommendations have been implemented, often in trials.
Advances in technology have also made it possible for wireless 911 calls to provide the caller’s telephone number and some location information, similar to that provided in 911 calls from traditional telephones. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has recognized this. As of April 1998, the FCC requires wireless telephone companies to provide the phone number and cell site of the caller, so long as the states find a way for the wireless telephone companies to recover their cost of providing the information. California, as well as most of the nation, has not elected to pay for this service. Therefore, the phone number and cell site is not available. As of October 2001, the FCC requires wireless telephone companies to provide the latitude and longitude of the caller to within 125 meters accurate 67% of the time, but again only so long as the states find a way for the wireless telephone companies to recover their cost of providing the information. The jury is out as to whether the benefits resulting from this information warrant the cost.
