Cell phone enhanced 911 service gets closer

The enhanced 911 service will cost taxpayers about $650,000 a year.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- It won't be long before Mahoning County emergency personnel can pinpoint the location of a 911 caller who is using a cellular phone.
Maggi McGee, Mahoning County 911 director, said the county moved a step closer to implementing enhanced 911 service for cellular phone customers with the promise of state funding last week.
McGee said the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio authorized the release of funds to Mahoning County to establish and deliver countywide wireless enhanced 911 services. The state money will come from the Wireless 911 Government Assistance Fund.
She said for enhanced service, 911 systems have computer hardware and software that route 911 calls to the appropriate dispatching agency, provide the dispatcher with the caller's cell phone number, cellular phone tower where the call originated, and the latitude-longitude location of the caller.
McGee did not have a specific date when enhanced 911 service would begin for cellular phone customers, but said she thinks it will be within 18 months. She said that by law, cellular carriers have up to 18 months to work with county 911 officials and make enhanced 911 operational after 911 agencies tell them they are ready to make the service available.
Anticipating the release of PUCO money, McGee notified wireless carriers in April of her intent to make wireless enhanced 911 service available.
She said she thinks wireless carriers will be able to implement the service in less than 18 months.
Distributing funds
She said the state's Wireless 911 Assistance Fund distributions will take place monthly, but didn't state when the distribution will start. The county will get about $650,000 a year, she said.
Although 911 service has been operating in Mahoning County since 1994, the county has not had enhanced service available for wireless customers, McGee said. She said if a cellular phone user dials 911 now, the call is routed to the proper safety forces, but the dispatchers there wouldn't know the caller's location, she said.
With enhanced 911 service, dispatchers will know, she said.
McGee filed the county's wireless enhanced 911 plan with the PUCO July 5, and advised the PUCO the county has started to implement the first phase of the wireless service and plans to begin the second phase early in 2007.
She said the first phase includes installing equipment and software that will provide dispatchers with cellular tower information and the caller's contact number. The second phase provides the means for a 911 call to generate the caller's location based on latitude-longitude coordinates.
She said the bulk of the work required to deliver enhanced calls to safety forces involves 911 and cellular phone personnel's merging their database information with the county's geographical information system.
Growing importance
She said enhanced 911 capability for cellular phone customers is becoming increasingly important, because many people are using cellular phones as at least their primary, if not their only, household telephone.
McGee said the cellular phone carriers collect a 32-cent surcharge on monthly phone bills, and send the money to the state. The state then distributes the money to each county 911 system based on the number of cell phones in use in that county, she said. The money can be used for equipment or training, she said.
McGee said the amount distributed each month from the assistance fund can fluctuate as people start and stop cellular phone service.