I’m astounded at how smoothly the 911 call went. Whenever I’ve called 911 from a cell phone, the dispatcher never seems to receive any location information.
One time, I pulled over and called to report a fledging grass fire along a major road near my home. The dispatcher asked “Where?” I gave the street name and the major cross roads on either side of the incident. The dispatcher again asked “Where?” so I explained that it was in a ditch right along the south side of the major east/west road. With increased urgency the dispatcher asked “Where?” so I gave the nearest cross street, which is tiny. The dispatcher screamed, “Where!” I explained it was about a half mile downhill from the entrance to the university.
Exasperated, the dispatcher demanded, “What f-ing CITY?”
He got a lot friendlier once I answered that question.
Even if a cellular phone somehow fails to transmit its GPS position to the E911 system, shouldn’t the dispatcher get basic location information based on which cell tower I was connected to?
