Canadian cell phone carriers have now improved their 911 services to allow responders to more accurately pinpoint where a person is located in case of an emergency.
In early 2009, the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission began to place mandates on all Canadian cellular providers to offer location-based 911 services by February of this year. Prior to these mandates, a landline phone was easily mapped to determine where a caller was located. You could only determine an approximation of where the person was based on the nearest cell phone tower.
Now, emergency responders will be able to be accurately routed to the nearest emergency response center, which has been achieved by using GPS and triangulation technology to determine the exact longitude and latitude of a person’s whereabouts. However, the accuracy of this new technology will depend on the model of the phone, in addition to the reception in the area where that call might be made. The range will be between 10 and 300 meters of the caller, which in a rural area could have went as far as 20 kilometers prior to the 911 upgrades.
Konrad von Finckenstein, Q.C., Chairman of the CRTC, is pleased that wireless service providers have upgraded their 911 services. Now, Canada is one of a few countries where 911 operators will be able to receive location information the moment a call is made from a cellular device. Canadians’ safety will be improved as a result of these changes.
121 call centers across Canada have used the new technology, but 9 call centers are still experiencing technical issues that will be fixed within the coming weeks, according to the CRTC.
This new technology will also offer emergency responders greater ability to connect to people in the case of an emergency.
Cellular Services In Canada Improve 911 Services
This is great news!
Now we can be tracked wherever we are. It is the first step towards a state where the police can protect us 24/7. I’d like to affectionately call this a “Police State”!
…and you wil be the first one to complain why it took Police so long to find you if you’re in need of help.
Don’t be stupid. All cellphones manufactured within the last 5 years have GPS chips in them already. If they wanted to know where you are, they already do. Also, check out RFID tags in our licence plates if you want to go all tin-foil hattie.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio-frequency_identification
Phase 2 wireless will save many many lives, especially considering that the percentage of wireless 911 calls is growing every year
So we’re finally getting the services we’ve all spent years paying for?
I want a refund.
Um… no, the ‘police’ won’t be able to track any celphone call. 911 dispatchers will be able to track the phone of anyone who calls them. If you don’t want to be found, you don’t call 911. Please read the actual words before you go off on a paranoid rant.
This is just a long-overdue implementation of “old-news” built-in GPS technnology available in Canada thanks (only) to the FCC-mandated requirement in the US years ago.
The idea that Telus, Rogers, Bell or the CRTC was involved in “development of technology” is *laughable* at best. Heel-dragging and excuse making – yes – but innovation, not a chance!