Blang!

Finally someone in the media has looked beyond the hype about VOIP and 911 and done a decent job of assessing Canada’s entire 911 system. This story in The Globe & Mail finally seems to have grasped the reality that cell phones are a far more serious threat to the 911 system than VOIP will ever be.

While I fault the article for glossing over the VOIP location problem (it’s far more expensive and complicated than the cell phone problem), it does a good job of pointing out that the cell industry has a solution available for $50 million, a drop in the bucket compared to overall revenue and far less than the estimated $150 million the cell phone providers charge (and mostly pocket) for 911 access fees.

It is unbelievable that cell providers are allowed to collect and pocket $150 million in 911 access fees (over and above the profits they already make on wireless) while a ready made, $50 million solution exists that could save lives!

Rogers, Bell, MTS, and Telus should be ashamed.