When seconds count

Whenever I've had to deal with 911 (state police in MA) I quickly ask them to transfer me to the town/city that I'm in. If they ask what the emergency is I'll tell them quickly and then they'll usually transfer me right away. Another method is to keep the general use number for the PDs of the places you frequent saved in your phone for quick access. 911 has proven to be useless in the past and I don't see it getting any better.
 
What a drama queen.

Ring the f-ing doorbell all you want. I ain't calling the police. I'll be waiting for you inside. If you dare.
 
What a drama queen.

Ring the f-ing doorbell all you want. I ain't calling the police. I'll be waiting for you inside. If you dare.
Read it again - she's in the victim disarmament zone of Chicago. What's she going to be waiting with, a broomstick?
 
Read it again - she's in the victim disarmament zone of Chicago. What's she going to be waiting with, a broomstick?

It seems that Jose misread most of the article. First of all, here is a person that SHOULD be our arch enemy. Minority, female, lives in one of the most gun hostile cities in the country. And yet, she actually understands the issues and is PRO 2A. She doesn't post often, and there's a good chance that there are a lot of issues that I'd disagree with her about.

All of that aside, she GETS it about self protection and being able to possess and use firearms.

We should be encouraging this type of person and doing more to get them on our side.

Gary
 
911 in Mass only goes to State Pd if you call from your cell phone, if you call from a landline it will automaticaly route you to the PD/911 center for the town you are calling from.


Whenever I've had to deal with 911 (state police in MA) I quickly ask them to transfer me to the town/city that I'm in. If they ask what the emergency is I'll tell them quickly and then they'll usually transfer me right away. Another method is to keep the general use number for the PDs of the places you frequent saved in your phone for quick access. 911 has proven to be useless in the past and I don't see it getting any better.
 
911 in Mass only goes to State Pd if you call from your cell phone, if you call from a landline it will automaticaly route you to the PD/911 center for the town you are calling from.

What about E-911? Isn't there some tech that allows your cell call to be routed to the closest PD?
 
What about E-911? Isn't there some tech that allows your cell call to be routed to the closest PD?

Negative. E-911 with cell phones still routes you to the State PD, but E-911 gives GPS locations (how precise depends on what type of cell phone you have) I've seen some give locations of a caller within a hundred yards, I've also seen some that give location within 10 yards. The GPS is based off of the lcoation of the caller in relation to the enarest cell phone tower, so E-911 is still TREMENDOUSLY beneficial.
 
Negative. E-911 with cell phones still routes you to the State PD, but E-911 gives GPS locations (how precise depends on what type of cell phone you have) I've seen some give locations of a caller within a hundred yards, I've also seen some that give location within 10 yards. The GPS is based off of the lcoation of the caller in relation to the enarest cell phone tower, so E-911 is still TREMENDOUSLY beneficial.

Sheesh, that seems like engineering by dumbass. If E-911 can locate my closest cell tower, it can dump straight to the PD of that town.
 
Only problem with that is town boundaries and borders, the E911 will give the amount of yardage away from the tower (usually a range of yards) and a degree of certainty in its location estimate, you may in fact hit a cell tower in one city while you are actually in another city, if the cell tower is near the city border...


Sheesh, that seems like engineering by dumbass. If E-911 can locate my closest cell tower, it can dump straight to the PD of that town.
 
Sheesh, that seems like engineering by dumbass. If E-911 can locate my closest cell tower, it can dump straight to the PD of that town.

Be careful what you wish for. Eventually it will be cheap enough to put cellular GPS in all phones and then the .gov will know exactly where you are at all times. It's for your safety. Happy now?
 
Be careful what you wish for. Eventually it will be cheap enough to put cellular GPS in all phones and then the .gov will know exactly where you are at all times. It's for your safety. Happy now?

They'll only know that information if the cell company gives it to them. Besides, didn't we hear that kind of tin-foilery with magnetic strips in our cash?

But if I dial 911, I obviously want someone to know where I am. Otherwise it wouldn't do me much good! I don't want the .gov to do anything; I want my cellphone provider to provide me with a usable service.
 
It's usable, and far better than the old system which didn't provide a callback number, if you have a phase 2 cellphone even if you hang up, you're chances of being found are increased profoundly compared to the old system. Phase 1 phones aren't as accurate, but most phones today I believe are phase 2 anyways. It's really an amazing system that, through the cooperation of the local municipalities and the cell phone companies saves lives everyday throughout the country.

They'll only know that information if the cell company gives it to them. Besides, didn't we hear that kind of tin-foilery with magnetic strips in our cash?

But if I dial 911, I obviously want someone to know where I am. Otherwise it wouldn't do me much good! I don't want the .gov to do anything; I want my cellphone provider to provide me with a usable service.
 
It's usable, and far better than the old system which didn't provide a callback number, if you have a phase 2 cellphone even if you hang up, you're chances of being found are increased profoundly compared to the old system. Phase 1 phones aren't as accurate, but most phones today I believe are phase 2 anyways. It's really an amazing system that, through the cooperation of the local municipalities and the cell phone companies saves lives everyday throughout the country.

E911 will only attempt to give position information from a non-GPS phone if the phone is hitting more than one site. Otherwise, all you can get is the site location and the antenna sector (a 60-degree or 120 degree cone emanating from that tower.
 
That is correct for the non-gps Phase 0 phones. I was referring to phase 1 and 2 phones, but you are absolutely correct the phase 0 phones are still out there, though not very many of them...I should have been more thorough and included phase 0 in my initial post..
 
Negative. E-911 with cell phones still routes you to the State PD, but E-911 gives GPS locations (how precise depends on what type of cell phone you have) I've seen some give locations of a caller within a hundred yards, I've also seen some that give location within 10 yards. The GPS is based off of the lcoation of the caller in relation to the enarest cell phone tower, so E-911 is still TREMENDOUSLY beneficial.

This is changing. I'm not sure of the time table for the entire state, but I know that Boston is updating it's PSAP software to accomodate this.

The FCC mandated that cell phones route calls to the appropriate PSAP several years ago. It's behind schedule, but it is happening.

I don't see why GPS would have to reference off of the nearest tower since the location is determined by reception of the GPS satellite signal.

Gary
 
That may take a while...the state mandate for the current system just ended in december. I hope it happens soon! As for the GPS referencing the cell phone tower, I have no idea why it is done that way...

This is changing. I'm not sure of the time table for the entire state, but I know that Boston is updating it's PSAP software to accomodate this.

The FCC mandated that cell phones route calls to the appropriate PSAP several years ago. It's behind schedule, but it is happening.

I don't see why GPS would have to reference off of the nearest tower since the location is determined by reception of the GPS satellite signal.

Gary
 
That may take a while...the state mandate for the current system just ended in december. I hope it happens soon! As for the GPS referencing the cell phone tower, I have no idea why it is done that way...

It wouldn't seem to make sense, unless they are using triangulation. Which would require a cell phone to hit three sites simultaneously.

If I remember, I'll ask at work. We have some guys who are really up on this stuff.

Boston is installing Vesta equipment, which has mapping. When it will go operational, I don't know. I gave up my communications training years ago and would have to start all over again so I'm not current on this stuff any longer.

Gary
 
I don't see why GPS would have to reference off of the nearest tower since the location is determined by reception of the GPS satellite signal.

Stand alone GPS devices don't work indoors. They work well on dashboards where the antenna can "see" the sky through the windshield.

It takes 10s of seconds to get a satellite lock from "turn-on" (quicker if turn on is in the same location as turn-off).

How long do you want to wait for a connection to a[ny] 911 dispatcher?

Meanwhile, towers are always "on" and they get a good view of the sky.
 
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They'll only know that information if the cell company gives it to them. Besides, didn't we hear that kind of tin-foilery with magnetic strips in our cash?

But if I dial 911, I obviously want someone to know where I am. Otherwise it wouldn't do me much good! I don't want the .gov to do anything; I want my cellphone provider to provide me with a usable service.

The FBI has already used OnStar type devices to track and eavesdrop on people with court orders. If cellular E 911 reports locations to the police departments automatically then the court order requirement could disappear quickly. The cell companies aren't going to play judge and ask why the .gov requests this information each time, they're just going to hand it over. It's a Pandora's box.

Ideally the user paying for the service will be able to turn on and off these features but I seriously doubt that will happen.

Choosing between security and privacy is an ongoing debate. I just want everyone to think about how else these services will be used. Privacy is not just about hiding, covering up crimes, or conspiracy theories.
 
I'd be remiss if I didn't add....

What about E-911? Isn't there some tech that allows your cell call to be routed to the closest PD?

Lets not anyone try to dial that "E" before dialing 9-1-1 or you'll be waiting even longer. :) You'd think that would go without saying but there ARE still people looking for the "11" on their phone...

::rolls eyes::
 
Lets not anyone try to dial that "E" before dialing 9-1-1 or you'll be waiting even longer. :) You'd think that would go without saying but there ARE still people looking for the "11" on their phone...

::rolls eyes::

But my stereo goes up to eleven.... [laugh]
 
Stand alone GPS devices don't work indoors. They work well on dashboards where the antenna can "see" the sike through the windshield.

It takes 10s of seconds to get a satellite lock from "turn-on" (quicker if turn on is in the same location as turn-off).

How long do you want to wait for a connection to a[ny] 911 dispatcher?

Meanwhile, towers are always "on" and they get a good view of the sky.

The cell site towers don't need GPS to fix their positions (except one time: during licensing), since with the possible exception of really strong hurricanes, they do not move.
 
The cell site towers don't need GPS to fix their positions (except one time: during licensing), since with the possible exception of really strong hurricanes, they do not move.

Cute [grin]

My understanding was they they used timing data from the GPS satellites along with a differential from the cellphone to compute the A-GPS.
 
E911 has it's limitations in the city. Try finding my location if I work or call from a high rise or apt building. It'll tell you my general vicinity (street wise) but try figuring out what floor or apt I'm in. Good luck.
 
E911 has it's limitations in the city. Try finding my location if I work or call from a high rise or apt building. It'll tell you my general vicinity (street wise) but try figuring out what floor or apt I'm in. Good luck.

If you mean when calling from a cell phone, you're right. If you are calling from a landline, the system will give that information that the phone company has, which should list the apartment.
 
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