[Asterisk-biz] FW: 911 Legislation

[Me]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rusty Shackleford" <john97 at flatline.com>
To: "'Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion'" 
<asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2005 6:06 PM
Subject: RE: [Asterisk-biz] FW: 911 Legislation


>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com
>> [mailto:asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of
>> Race Vanderdecken
>> Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2005 3:16 PM
>> To: 'Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion'
>> Subject: RE: [Asterisk-biz] FW: 911 Legislation
>>
>>
>> Yes, but I have been paying fees for years to pay for the
>> system that allows them to find me via tower triangulation.
>>
>> It works.
>>
>> They can get you within 100 yards easy.
>>
>> Some people call it OnStar.
>
> OnStar uses GPS, which can, on a good day, get you within a few feet.
> The vast majority of cell phones aren't equipped with GPS receivers. And
> of course, GPS doesn't work when it can't see a significant chunk of the
> sky.
>
> As for "tower triangulation", no. That's the myth we've been sold, but
> it is rubbish.
> In some areas, if may be true, but most of the footprint of any given
> cellular service is nowhere near dense enough with "towers" to provide
> this kind of resolution. Those areas that are dense enough with towers,
> are SO dense with physical locations (cars, offices, apartments) and
> people (crowds), that your 100 yards can take up to 30 minutes to search
> in order to find the caller. And, of course, we haven't even discussed
> the logistical hoops involved in commencing this process.
>
> In other words, cellular customers can NOT rely on a database to
> instantly show the dispatcher where the other end of a particular phone
> call is, the way that PSTN customers can.

So then why should users of VOIP be expected to? Again, I say we need to 
start calling the ATA's and our VOIP services TRAVEL CAPABLE phone services 
so that we are looked at as a mobile service rather than one that stays put 
and is seen as something that should be tied to an address.

Maybe we should just start slapping BIG stickers on the ATA's that say:

"WARNING: This adapter may be used in most locations that offer broadband 
and is not tied to any specific address. Since this is a TRAVEL CAPABLE 
phone device/service, 911 services are not available."