When phone systems attack
Weaknesses in our nation's 911 network continue to expose themselves, mostly by accident. The latest incident was with the 911 system in Amarillo, Texas.
Another 911 outage. Does any accountability exist?
911 call processing ground to a halt nationwide for AT&T Wireless customers last week. What failed? Where is the accountability?
The day the 911 network stood still
The frail, legacy emergency 911 network in the United States was accidentally brought to its proverbial knees recently by a teenager looking for an Apple iOS bug.
Beyond 911: Other N-1-1 codes you should know
In addition to 911, the North American Numbering Plan has designated eight other special short-code numbers. Do you know what they are?
The Emergency Alert System test: Lesson learned, catastrophe averted
After an awkward public failure 5 years ago, the FCC and FEMA achieved a successful national test of the Emergency Alert System.
The Emergency Alert System: Failure IS an option
FEMA and the FCC ran a ‘live test’ of the Emergency Alert System in 2011. The result was static and Lady Gaga going out to millions. On Sept. 28, they will retest with the fixes in place.
911 — How high are you?
Altitude is not reported on 911 calls. If you're in an office building, public safety has no way of knowing what floor you're on. That could be the difference that saves your life.
Congress presented with shocking E911 MLTS report by GSA
After a three-year delivery delay, GSA reports to Congress that federal MLTS systems are mostly not compliant with direct dial 911.
911 call misrouted by 2,500 miles
How did a 911 call from Anchorage, Alaska, end up 2,500 miles away in a call center in Ontario? The answer may surprise you, and it is not an uncommon problem.
Why 50 million people can't call 911
For the 50 million deaf citizens in the U.S., calling 911 simply isn't an option and texting to 911 isn't available in most emergency call centers.
Did Europe just fix emergency cellular call location?
Advanced Mobile Location, developed by BT with the help of HTC and EE, can determine a mobile phone user’s location 4,000 times better than the current system.
Why smartphones struggle with 911
Today’s networks, both public and private, can’t transport location and multimedia information to 911 centers. Here’s why.
Swatting and phone scams: Hazards of caller ID spoofing
The anonymity that caller ID spoofing provides means people regularly fall victim to swatters and phone scammers.
Wi-Fi 911: Running with scissors?
We assume the modern miracle known as E911 in the public switched telephone network (PSTN), will carry our call to the 911 public safety answer point (PSAP) that dispatches life-saving police, fire, and medical services in addition to...
Enterprise 911 — Lost in translation
Understanding 911 can make implementing 911 easy and affordable. What would happen in your office if you called 911 right now?
Why cellular 911 has location problems
Most calls to emergency 911 come from wireless callers, yet the system for locating those callers can't handle them.
