State of Emergency
There are horror stories that circulate about emergency callers whose phones are not e911 ready or who call into centers that are not yet ready. If you are on CDMA network, you would be wise to be sure that your handset has aGPS. if you bought your phone new from a major carrier in the past two years, it should have GPS built in. If your phone is older or you're unsure, phones typically display a crosshair icon in the status bar to indicate it has working GPS. If you have a new phone and have chosen to turn location services off, you will not see a crosshair icon, however if you dial 911 location services will automatically be activated. It should be noted that if you are on a GSM network, all phones work with network based location; you do not need a special handset.
Having a location-ready handset or network doesn't just benefit you in emergency situations. It also gives you access to location based services (LBS). Nextel currently leads the way with these, providing all sorts of of benefits from local recommendations to turn by turn driving directions and in enterprise situations, fleet/staff tracking. Sprint is now launching location based services as well. Although AT&T was one of the first carriers to offer LBS in the form their friend finder and a few other applications, no GSM carrier is currently offering any such services in the US.
While every quarter, each carrier must file a list of the PSAPs it has connected to, it would be impossible to check on the status of every PSAP you might call in to. There is no simple way to find this data. However it's easy to check the general readiness of your state. NENA maintains current statistics of the percentage of counties in each state with Phase II readiness as well as percentage of state population covered by Phase II ready call centers.
If your state's call centers cover less than 25% of the population (some states still cover no one), it wouldn't hurt to call your state representative (this is not an issue for your congressman or senator) and let them know you're concerned about the sad state of emergency readiness there. With all the focus on homeland security in the past few years, they might be receptive to your concerns. Typically the more people who call, the more legislators are willing to pay attention, so tell your friends too. You could even send something to your local paper or tv station tipping them off to this situation.
Unfortunately about all you can do is make some noise. Your carriers and the Federal government have done just about everything they can. The PSAPs need money from local governments to complete their upgrades. You need to let your local government know that this is a worthwhile way to spend their money, especially since most have money that was supposed to be earmarked specifically for this purpose.
iPhone 14 Plus Offers a Big Screen For Less
Qualcomm Taps Iridium for Satellite Connectivity
Apple Watch Goes Ultra
Bullitt Announces First Phones with Satellite Messaging
