Lee County Public Safety Answering Point #7156

E-911/Dispatch

Cellular Phones

Wireless technology has greatly affected almost everyone's life. The use of cell phones is very convenient for people today and has proved to be imensely popular. The technology has been available for several years and has grown rapidly in both its use and complexity. Cell carriers are continously providing new and better features to their products that can be of great benefit to the end user. Consumers are switching to cell phones as their primary means of telephone service and are foregoing there traditional wire line phones. Cell phones have proven to be a tremendous advantage to 911 centers as well. If someone discovers a wreck, fire or other hazardous situation they can use their cell phone to get emergency help on the way.
However cell phone technology is not without its many documented negative aspects with one of the most familiar being "dropped" cell phone calls. This means that for some reason you have lost connection with the local cell tower that was used to make the call. Another problem with cell phones is the signal strength of the call that a person makes. Signal strength can be affected by several factors such as atmosperic interference, geographical landscape and or calling from inside a building versus outside. If you make a 911 call on your cell phone and the signal is routed to a cell tower inside another jurisdiction then it may be routed to the closet Public Safety Answering Point instead of where you are needing help. If this occurs then you need to ask to be transferred to the correct county. Perhaps the most critical issue associated with cell phone usage is locating the caller. If someone calling on 911 is not familiar with the area or are new to the region it is important that they remain on the line with the Dispatcher and relay any street signs, businesses or landmarks so that help can be made available as soon as possible.

Back