Making good on Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) regulations, Canada’s wireless providers have implemented enhanced 911 services.
Ordered by the CRTC in early 2009 with a February 2010 implementation deadline, Canada’s enhanced 911 services use GPS and cell tower triangulation to zero in on the location of a 911 caller and transmit the information from the caller to emergency dispatchers.
CRTC Chairman, Konrad von Finckenstein, was more than happy to discuss the enhanced 911 developments. “We are delighted that wireless service providers have risen to the challenge of upgrading their 911 services,” he said before gushing about some of the details.
The service builds upon Canada’s previous system, which left many Canadian wireless users at the mercy of the closest cell tower, and routs the 911 calls to the closest emergency response centre.
The technology pinpoints the caller’s location down to exact longitude and latitude, but the accuracy depends on the model of the cell phone as well as reception in the area.
Having been tested at more than 121 call centres across Canada, the enhanced 911 service seems to be working pretty well. There were some hiccups in about nine of the call centres, but the CRTC expects those problems to be resolved within weeks.
Canada’s Big Three wireless providers are fully behind the enhanced 911 service. Telus reports that “most” of its phones have the technology needed to support the service, while Bell states that enhanced 911 works with compatible handsets and “wherever wireless 911 service exists in Canada.”
How smooth the implementation of enhanced 911 is remains to be seen, of course, but Canada’s wireless providers are making solid first steps to make the service accessible to as many consumers as possible.
For more information on which models are compatible with enhanced 911 and the new regulations, check with your wireless provider. Incompatible models will dial 911 the “old-fashioned” way by utilizing the signal from the nearest cell tower.
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Written by: Jordan Richardson. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed
