Calling 911 from your cellphone? Be prepared to give exact location
Congress is going to see a new bipartisan bill that provides incentives and penalties to states that lag in implementing an updated wireless 911 system that can easily help pinpoint the location of a cellphone user when he/she calls in an emergency according to this San Francisco Chronicle story. Some 30-50% of all 911 calls nationwide originate on a cellphone.
Equipping all cell phones with so-called enhanced 911 capabilities and making sure that all of the estimated 7,000 jurisdictions across the country that answer 911 calls can pinpoint cell callers' locations is a multibillion- dollar proposition. So far, only about 10 percent of the country's 911 centers can trace cell calls.
...In California, the state 911 Emergency Communications Office estimates that 7 million of the 20 million calls made annually to 911 come from cell phones.