July 2, 2005
More alarms over cell phone E911
A sizable percentage of U.S. cell phone subscribers aren't upgrading to new phones as quickly as they used to, throwing into doubt a major initiative designed to improve wireless 911 calling, writes ZDnet.
Late Thursday, many U.S. operators asked federal regulators to suspend rules that, by year's end, require 95 percent of their subscribers to have handsets capable of sending details about their geographic location to emergency operators.
Some 15 percent of subscribers are happy enough with their service and handsets to hold on to their old phones. On average, cell phone customers replace their handsets within 18 to 24 months. Those who hold on to them are less likely to upgrade to new location-sensitive handsets and many wireless carriers will not probably be able to rectify this situation in the next six months.
The proposed waiver would apply only to Verizon Wireless, Sprint and other operators using GPS technology in their phones. It wouldn't apply to Cingular Wireless or T-Mobile that use a different technology to locate subscribers.
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2005/07/008929.htm
| Tweet |
