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Cellular 911 Coming, at a Cost; State Wireless Phone Users to Pay Up to 85 Cents a Month

Posted on: Thursday, 17 November 2005, 18:00 CST

By AMY RINARD

Wisconsin's 2.7 million wireless customers will soon be billed a surcharge of up to 85 cents a month to pay for $76 million in state grants for 911 emergency dispatch system upgrades needed to locate cell phone callers.

In announcing the wireless 911 grants Wednesday, Gov. Jim Doyle said the funds would improve public safety throughout the state.

"Wireless callers will soon be able to rely on emergency personnel to identify their exact location in emergency situations, adding to the peace of mind of residents in both rural and urban areas of the state," he said in a written statement. Doyle was wrapping up a trade mission to Europe on Wednesday.

The new technology, which could be up and running in many counties early next year, can automatically pinpoint a cell phone caller's location, allowing a faster response by emergency crews.

Often, people calling 911 on their cell phones are in unfamiliar areas and do not know exactly where they are. Callers frequently are unable to describe their surroundings accurately to dispatchers because they are injured or stressed.

Nine telecommunications companies were awarded grants totaling $47 million and 68 counties were awarded $29 million under the grant program established by the Legislature last year.

Wireless service providers had applied for a total of $65 million and counties requested a total of $40 million to upgrade equipment needed to pinpoint the locations of cell phone callers in emergencies.

The providers are under a federal order to extend the enhanced capability to local 911 call centers that request it. Wisconsin lags behind most other states in implementing the cell phone location technology.

The state Public Service Commission spent months reviewing the grant applications to determine what costs would be eligible for reimbursement under the 911 wireless grant program.

To pay for the grants, the commission will soon set a surcharge on every cell phone, pager and other wireless device.

The surcharge is expected to be from 75 cents to 85 cents and could show up on wireless customers' bills as soon as December, PSC spokeswoman Amanda Riddell said.

Under the legislation that created it, the wireless 911 surcharge would end in three years.

In grants awarded to counties in southeastern Wisconsin, Milwaukee County received $4 million; Waukesha, $1.5 million; Racine, $417,000; Washington, $451,000; Ozaukee, $521,000; Walworth, $434,000; and Kenosha, $668,000.

Dane County was awarded $1.2 million.

Four counties Iron, Menominee, Taylor and Juneau did not apply for state funds to implement 911 cell phone location systems.

That means wireless customers who live in those counties will be paying the new surcharge, but neither they nor visitors to those counties will be served by the cell phone location technology. PSC officials believe the four counties did not apply for grant funds because cell phone reception is so spotty in those rural areas that the location technology would not work.

System running in Waukesha

Waukesha County now is the only county in the state operating a location system to find cell phone callers in distress.

Richard Tuma, director of emergency preparedness for Waukesha County, said that in October, 77% of all calls received by the county's 911 communications center were placed from wireless phones.

Rep. Phil Montgomery (R-Ashwaubenon), the author of the legislation that created the grant programs and directed the PSC to set a surcharge to fund it, said that across Wisconsin about 70% of calls to 911 answering centers come from cell phones, and that is expected to increase as cell phone use become even more pervasive.

Montgomery said he expected that many counties would have 911 cell phone location systems working early next year.

David Sleeter, Rock County communications manager and a past president of the Wisconsin chapter of the National Emergency Number Association, said many counties, including his, already have been moving to upgrade equipment and computer programs laying the groundwork for cell phone location capability.

County emergency dispatch officials are pleased that state funds are available to help pay for some of those costs, he said, but he questioned the Legislature's decision to reimburse wireless companies for 100% of their costs of buying and installing the necessary equipment while limiting the reimbursement to counties.

Rock County, for example, received only partial reimbursement for the cost of a computer mapping system needed, he said, and recurring costs will not be reimbursed.

"It's important that there is some money available," Sleeter said. "But whether it's enough, I don't know."

70%

Percentage of calls to 911 answering centers in Wisconsin that come from cell phones

$4 million

Grant awarded to Milwaukee County

$1.5 million

Grant awarded to Waukesha County

Copyright 2005, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved. (Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media.)

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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