The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has congratulated the Canadian wireless industry and the public safety community for having improved 911 services over the last year.

Emergency responders in most regions of the country are now able to more accurately locate someone using a cellphone to call 911.

"Few countries in the world offer Enhanced 911 service,” says Chief Technology Officer for Bell Mobility Stephen Howe, “and no other country in the world has rolled out a national E911 service as quickly as Canada, including the United States. This latest phase of wireless E911 puts Canada at the head of the wireless class globally."

Konrad von Finckenstein, Chairman of the CRTC, said that Canada is now one of the few countries where 911 operators automatically receive location information from the moment a call is placed from a cellphone.

“Thanks to the collective efforts of everyone involved, the safety of Canadians will be greatly improved during emergency situations that require quick action," said von Finckenstein.

The new features rely on the Global Positioning System and triangulation technology to provide 911 operators with much more precise information on a caller's location. Further to discussions held early last year with the Canadian wireless industry, the CRTC determined that this wireless-location technology should be in place as of February 1, 2010.

Depending on the cellphone model and the reception conditions, call centre operators can generally determine a caller's location within a radius of 10 to 300 metres from where the call originated. Previously, emergency responders could only narrow down the location to a sector within the area served by the cellphone tower nearest to the caller, which could represent a radius of up to 20 kilometres in rural areas.

The wireless-location technology has been tested and rolled out in 121 call centres across the country. The wireless industry and the public safety community are working to resolve technical issues at 9 additional call centres. The Commission is monitoring their progress and fully expects that solutions will be found in the coming weeks, allowing every enhanced 911 call centre in Canada to make use of the technology.

Allstream’s enhanced wireless E-911 service is now available in Manitoba

Allstream’s network improvement, known as Phase II enhanced wireless 911 service, will allow Manitoba's Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) to see the approximate location of callers placing a 911 emergency call using their cell phones. MTS Allstream has introduced this across its CDMA cellular network in Manitoba.

Kelvin Shepherd, President, MTS, noted that the project had been a team effort, involving representatives from the City of Winnipeg and the Province of Manitoba who fund and operate the E911 call centres (PSAPs).

The location information provided to the PSAP is based on the longitude and latitude coordinates of where the wireless handset is located when a call is placed.  Most MTS CDMA cellular handsets already in use and all new CDMA handsets offered by MTS have the GPS or other technologies required to take advantage of Phase II Enhanced wireless 911 service.

It is important to note that the new service has some limits. It does not provide a street address or apartment number, and other limitations are possible based on call location and environmental factors which can affect the technology. Cell phone users should always be prepared to provide a 911 call taker with their exact location as best they can.

With the launch of this new service, MTS Allstream has complied with the service requirements and schedule established by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

Bell Canada lauds success

Bell noted that it was the first wireless provider to begin independent E911 trials in Canada, with Mr. Howe saying that “Bell is delighted that the intense effort by Canada's wireless industry to ensure national E911 service has been a success.”

While E911 Phase Two dramatically improves their ability to locate callers, 911 call centres continue to recommend that mobile phone users be prepared to immediately provide 911 call takers with their location as best they can and remain on the line to provide additional information if requested.