1st all cell phone calls go to the Northern California CHP call center in Vallejo.
2nd, they are the PSAP for all cell phone calls that originate in Northern California.
3rd, when you buy a cell phone you register your address in the contract, which is stoopit given the mobility of the device.
Further and dumber, in that KawLeeFawNeeYuh tacks a $1.50 surcharge on all cell phones and has since 1996.
Why? You ask? Well, ostensibly for a statewide 911 system that supports GPS and telemetry to towers so that “the real and probable likely” location of the transmission can be ascertained to within 30 feet. That was the goal and it sholdn’t have taken more than 5 years to fund and build at least in metro areas.
It would have also had the advantage of sending calls to the local PSAP/911 center so that service would be rendered much quicker.
There was much anecdotal stories about women attacked and calling 811 or heart attack victims and “If only the system were built.....”. You get the picture.
To date, I am not aware of a single tower equipped to interface to local 911 centers and this while we currently have that capability to simply transmit back to with current technology in the phones.
But, no. My car can do it, through my phone, however my phone by itself can’t. But, that’s because Ford uses my phone in a way the emergency services can’t.
Still, they are the interface to 911 or rather a bridge. They transmit the location.
So, the state collects more than $500 million over the last several years and no one’s lives are being saved.
We are being fleeced by the state for their general fund.
Right now, if you call 911 during rush hour you can wait 15-20 minutes or longer for an operator.
Outrageous and it’s happened to me.
I was driving down 580, in the fast lane and saw a car pass me in the slower lane. It went up the embankment and flipped.
I pulled over and started dialing 911 busy signals for nearly 20 minutes. I gave up after a while, as I couldn’t get across the highway and went home.
Some other people stopped and I guess they were fine. I’ll never know.
I should have known!