Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!netsys!vector!telecom-gateway From: merlyn@agora.hf.intel.com (Randal L. Schwartz) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Cellular Phone & E911 Message-ID: Date: 4 Jun 89 09:16:22 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Organization: Organization? You've got to be kidding! Lines: 32 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 187, message 9 of 10 In article westmark!dave@rutgers.edu (Dave Levenson) writes: | The mobile number is probably less useful than the approximate | current location of a mobile telephone. If I see an emergency | situation while driving, I'd like to be able to report it to the | local authorities, not the PSAP who handles the home address | associated with the mobile number (which may be hudreds of miles | away!) I differ. I have called 911 roughly once a week since I received my cell phone. I have learned that all calls go to the Portland 911 office, no matter where I am, so it is a simple matter to ask for the appropriate agency (State Police, XXXX County Sheriff, etc.). If the Portland 911 office doesn't handle dispatch for that agency, they just push a button. Now, they've always asked for my phone number, so I presume my number is not showing on their boards. (I know they can get the phone number of a call from a landline phone, because they call people back, and the local 911 operators did some stupid things with that info...). Just two days ago, I called to report a deer on the road (yes, this is Rural America :-), and gave them a bad vector. The 911 operator called me back to resolve the inconsistant information. But, suppose it had been an emergency, and I didn't have time to give them the number, and then got one of the infamous "cutoffs" that happen only when you don't want them to. Yeah, I'd much rather have them have the cell phone number than the cell antenna number. -- Randal L. Schwartz, Stonehenge Consulting Services (503)777-0095 quality software, documentation, and training at affordable rates ...!uunet!agora.hf.intel.com!merlyn