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back to article LG 830 "Spyder" phones recalled for dropping 911 calls

US consumer safety regulators have issued a recall on some 30,000 LG mobile phones after a software error caused a stranded motorist's phone to drop its connection to 911 emergency services. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says the recall involves LG 830 "Spyder" touch-screen cell phones sold in the US from September …

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  1. Frank

    Needs GPS?

    "..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?

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  2. Fab De Marco
    Coat

    Terrorist and Kidnappers!

    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.

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    @Frank

    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?

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  4. Anna Log
    Boffin

    @Frank

    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.

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  5. Matthew

    in the car?

    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

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  6. Lionel Baden

    i hate titles

    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.

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  7. Frank

    @AC and Anna

    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..... :(

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  8. Charles Manning

    @Anna Log and Frank

    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.

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  9. kain preacher

    US cell phones

    By federal law you cant use a cell phone that does not have GPS .

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  10. frymaster

    @AC

    "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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