988 . . . Can You Help Me Now?

Just how HIGH are you? Cellular Altitude - Part 2

In my blog last week, I reported on the FCC initiative requiring carriers to provide what is called the Z-axis on cellular calls to 911. For those of you who don't know, the z-axis reports altitude. Knowing this elevation, calculating the floor that a person is on in a multi-story building is possible and delivered to first responders. This blog sparked many questions, with several people wondering why this has been such a problem?

AUDIO BLOG: Cellular Location – The Holy Grail of 911

States have passed new marijuana legalization laws but it's not these new laws prompting 9-1-1 call takers to question  "How high are you?"  Under the leadership of acting chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, the Federal Communications Commission recently flexed its federal muscle reasserting the wireless location accuracy rules established in 2015. The Commission settled on a new effective date of April 3, 2022, and the network certifications due June 2, 2022. As a penalty for missing this year's deadlines, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon committed to paying a fine of $100,000.00 each.

Being Prepared Means Being Aware

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://fletch.blog/2021/05/16/being-prepared-means-being-aware/ The Atlantic Hurricane season happens each year in the US and spans the six-month period running June through November. While the bulk of the storms occur later in the summer and early fall, the best time to start planning a course of action is prior to needing help. It is generally accepted that with the proper preplanning, both citizens and businesses can increase their survivability factors significantly without having to be reactive at the last minute. Public safety services are no different, and in addition to planning resiliency, reliability, and redundancy, to efficiently put any plan into effect, requires an understanding of their environment and what resources they have to work with. In today’s connected world, that means an inherent understanding of communications network availability, which is their principal source of inbound communications from the public.

988 . . . Can You Help Me Now?

By now, through social media, multiple blogs, podcasts, as well as two federal laws, public awareness surrounding the criticality of emergency services and calls being permitted on any device has been raised considerably. The long-standing rule of dialing an ‘access code’ on an MLTS system, specifically for 911 calls, has been long since remediated with a little bit of creative programming in the PBX. This simple fix is available in almost any system on the market today, and in fact, many proactive telecommunications administrators have made similar provisions to the system to allow direct dialing of many of the common ‘3-digit codes’ commonly provisioned in the public switch carrier network.

FACT: Emergency Call Takers are Clerical Staff

Right now, about 100,000 Emergency Communications Officials are getting in their cars and heading to New Jersey, with pitchforks, torches, and incredible anger towards me. But the fact is that statement is true, as far as the Federal Government is concerned at least. While most of my blog topics are stories and ideas that I deeply believe in and want to promote to the general public, let me be perfectly clear, this particular topic DOES NOT FIT INTO THIS CATEGORY!  Clearly, the men and women that staff our nation's emergency services communication centers are the true FIRST first responders. They are the incredibly important funnel point that connects citizens to our nation’s emergency service teams. Recently, Kansas added a bill that was signed by Gov. Laura Kelly that classified dispatchers as emergency responders [https://www.ems1.com/communications-dispatch/articles/kan-governor-signs-bill-designating-911-dispatchers-as-emergency-responders-Ss8igdbVXUFJQdDw/] statewide, while other States are working through their own initiatives.