Many Answers to E-911 Callbacks

Should access to wireless E-911 services be a privilege reserved for subscribers or a right for the masses? This question simmered beneath the surface of recent comments to the FCC about non-service-initialized phones that can't receive return calls from emergency operators. The FCC requested comments after a joint letter from several public-service organizations requested reconsideration of a commission ruling that exempts wireless providers from supplying callback capability.

In its E911 First Report and Order, the FCC acknowledged that providers can't always furnish reliable callback numbers. But the increasing popularity of wireless phones and the growing use of non-service-initialized phones to dial 911 concerns public-safety officials.

CTIA said that 118,627 wireless 911 calls are placed every day. None of the involved parties has released estimates of how many of those calls originate from non-service-initialized phones. But the FCC's 1997 mandate that wireless providers forward all 911 calls, whether they can be traced to a verified subscriber or not, opened a commercial niche for 911-only handsets. The phones are marketed mainly to people who can't afford a wireless subscription. Providers also donate refurbished handsets to charitable organizations for use by battered women, children or other vulnerable citizens.

All of the commercial 911-only handsets and some of the provider donations haven't been activated and thus can't be called back by 911 operators. The lack of callback creates a problem when a call ends before the operator can determine the caller's location or when the need for additional information makes a return call necessary.

Comments from six providers and CTIA denied the existence of affordable technical solutions to the callback problem. AT&T Wireless, for example, said that enabling callback for all 911 calls would require providers to create a parallel call-delivery system, which would involve major changes to the way switches receive and process calls from different classes of phones.

CTIA advocated activating donated phones and said that its Wireless Foundation, which requires the activation of phones donated to its charitable programs, could serve as a model for other organizations that donate phones to victims of crime and domestic violence.

The providers and CTIA proposed that the FCC work with the public-safety organizations and industry to educate the public and public-safety employees about non-service-initialized phones' shortcomings.

Other comments questioned the validity of some of the arguments made by the six companies and CTIA. The issue is one of cost and not technical feasibility, the Wireless Consumer Alliance said in a reply to the first round of comments.

The Independent Cellular Services Association (ICSA) wrote, "Switch makers such as Lucent and Nortel will not add this software to their switches unless it is required by the industry as a result of a commission ruling."

But some industry insiders disagree with ICSA's assessment.

"Why should commercial systems give their time for free?" asked Brian Fontes, CTIA senior vice president of regulatory policy. "Broadcasters don't do free political advertising."

The other side of that argument is that the airwaves are public, which makes providers guardians of public interests. Robert Gurss, a communications attorney with Shook, Hardy & Bacon, said that requiring providers to accommodate callback would be comparable to what he calls the "hot standby situation" in the wired world: Also known as soft dial tone, hot standby has wireline providers deliver 911 capabilitiesto homes that don't subscribe to regular phone services.

"They are a competitive business," Gurss said. "(Providers) can pass those costs onto subscribers. It's the cost of doing business."