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AT&T has been on the headlines today as they have deployed location-based routing for 911 calls in the country.
In a press release today, Ma Bell revealed that this new feature will allow them to transmit wireless emergency calls to the appropriate call center depending on the GPS location of the device. Each 911 call can be accurately routed within 50 meters of the call location.
Prior to this announcement, AT&T routed calls based on the cell tower location that picked up the call signal. And sometimes, this could be an area covered by up to 10 miles. Because of this, there is a delay for emergency services to reach the location where the call was made.
With this new location-based routing, however, AT&T hopes to produce faster response times. And in times of an emergency, this can be a life or death matter.
According to Fierce Wireless, AT&T promises that the feature won’t be used to track a mobile device’s location. Instead, it is only switched on once a 911 call has been made. Additionally, the carrier says that only dispatchers handling the call will receive the location. This way, users can be guaranteed that their location won’t be sold in the black market.
Right now, location-based routing is not yet available throughout the country. The feature has only been launched in Alaska, Colorado, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming. It will be adding support to more regions in the coming weeks. And by the end of June, AT&T expects this feature to cover the whole country.
Source: The Verge
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