Posted Monday 2nd March 2009 10:52 GMT
"..call was dropped because the network had difficulty establishing a GPS lock on the phone."
Any network would have problems establishing a GPS lock on my mobile phone because my phone doesn't have GPS. Is this a case of the network demanding GPS on a 911 call and refusing to connect, or is the phone getting into internal confusion due to missing network handshaking data?
Posted Monday 2nd March 2009 10:52 GMT
This is the phone for you. Are you tracing this call.... Ha! good luck!!
Mines the one with the two empty tins of baked beans and a length of string in the pocket.
Posted Monday 2nd March 2009 12:10 GMT
All cell phones sold in the US in the last 5 years or so have GPS. In the US I believe it's a federal requirement. You can disable it for all but 911 calls if you wish. Are you using something older than that?
Posted Monday 2nd March 2009 12:10 GMT
The FCC require cellular carriers to provide fairly accurate location information on E911 calls, see:-
http://sss-mag.com/e911.html
Basically you need to stick a GPS receiver in the phone or rely on measuring the phone signal's time of arrival at different base stations and using triangulation to estimate location. I would expect a GPS phone to use the latter as a fall-back alternative, maybe it didn't work in this case.
Posted Monday 2nd March 2009 13:13 GMT
Perhaps she wasn't near one of the windows & in a valley? I know in some parts where I live (New Zealand) GPS is patchy at best
Posted Monday 2nd March 2009 13:13 GMT
sounds to me like the connection is dropped when they try to locate via GPS
hence on a standard call the operator runs the location check and the line goes dead.
Posted Monday 2nd March 2009 14:04 GMT
Thank you for that information. I'm in the UK and my mobile phone is a Nokia 6310i that just keeps on going and going. Excellent sensitivity, call quality and volume, spare batteries are cheap on e-bay as are replacement case kits and replacement phones for that matter. I have no intention of changing it until I have to :)
If the UK introduces this ruling, I may have to..... :(
Posted Monday 2nd March 2009 20:24 GMT
Anna: If you're going to put on the scientific specs then I must correct you.
"using triangulation to estimate location". Strictly speaking, that is incorrect. Triangulation is done by measuring angles (eg. off radio direction finder kit). Since cellular positioning is done by measuring propagation time (ie. distance), just the same as GPS, the correct term is trilateration.
If you're in a position that is too poxy to give a GPS fix then I wager you won't get enough healthy cell signals to get a cellular fix either.
Frank: I doubt very much that any such ruling would force you to ditch a much loved phone. The ruling would tend to impact what can be sold, not what can be owned and operated. But then... UK lawmakers have been a bit draconian recently.
Posted Monday 2nd March 2009 20:24 GMT
By federal law you cant use a cell phone that does not have GPS .
Posted Monday 2nd March 2009 20:24 GMT
"All cell phones sold in the US in the last 5 years or so have GPS. In the US I believe it's a federal requirement. You can disable it for all but 911 calls if you wish."
Sorry but this is mince. The original iPhone, for example, doesn't have GPS. I think you're getting confused with the triangulation system that tries to pinpoint your location by what mobile cell you are in. A lot better than a country-wide guess, but not GPS by a long shot.
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