NBC299-1-1: The Phone Makes the Difference

9-1-1: The Phone Makes the Difference

Reported by Annie Scholz
October 18, 2007
Last updated @ 5:24 p.m.

When you dial 9-1-1, help is on its way. But depending on the phone you use, the response could be different.

We caught up with Tom Hanson, the executive director of the Emergency Communications Center for Charlottesville, Albemarle and UVA. He says if your call for help comes from your standard land line then, "We should be able to pinpoint exactly where you're at based on that information."

If you make a cell phone call, like 59 percent of the calls that come in to the ECC, Hanson said, "We should be able to track you within 167 meters."

That distance is just shy of two football fields. That's not bad when you consider your cell phone is using GPS satellites to find you, but not like a hard line that's programmed to an exact location. So with the ECC's permission, we did a little experiment.

We had our friend Jaime dial 9-1-1 from a landline at the desk of our NBC29 studio, but the emergency operator didn't know that. But, NBC29's exact street address showed up on his screen.

Then it was time to try the cell phone. Ten minutes later, we had Jaime call back from the exact same spot in the building. The emergency operator got the block -- within 167 meters -- but it was not the spot, and when you need on the spot help...

"We're just going to be able to get within that general area and say somewhere in the building, which is going to require us to do some searching," shared Hanson. 

That's why Hanson says it's critical to give as much information as possible when you call 9-1-1: the address if you know it, the building you're in and the floor you're on. He says this because GPS only locates points on the ground, not in the air. So if you're on the 10th floor, responders need to know that to get to you as fast as possible.

Also, be sure to call your cell phone provider to see exactly what kind of hardware you have and what it's capable of.