The FCC’s rules on indoor location accuracy for...

The FCC’s rules on indoor location accuracy for wireless calls to 911 “have to change” and the agency will take up rules mandating benchmarks for carriers to meet at its Feb. 20 meeting, Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a blog post. “When the original 911 rules for wireless providers were first adopted, they were built on the assumption that the primary place consumers would use their wireless phones would be outside,” Wheeler said (http://fcc.us/LwLsVR). “But today, the vast majority of wireless calls are made from indoors, including 911 calls made from wireless phones. Commercial location-based services are raising consumers’ expectations -- if a smartphone app can locate them within seconds, why can’t a 911 call center?” States led by California have raised concerns that current requirements aren’t good enough. In comments filed at the FCC last year, carriers urged the FCC to proceed with caution and to base next steps on work already under way by the FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CD Sept 17 p13). The FCC held a workshop in November where Wheeler said the agency would do more. “I have been pro-911 and pro-911 location since the beginning of the location challenge,” he said at the time (CD Nov 19 p1).