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by MichaelGG 3282 days ago
Then there's the idea that they'll go totally internet based, allowing forwarding or conferencing in multiple psaps, translators, etc. Somehow, they're supposed to secure all this, but I'm doubtful. It'd be one of the largest secure federated networks in the world I think. And they aren't exactly tech savvy. Doing one of the first wide-scale VoIP 911 services, we had psaps call us to say they wouldn't take phone calls from VoIP users, even on their landlines, because "they might send us viruses".

NENA folks also wanted the FCC to mandate an IP location system to be available on every Internet connection - what a privacy mess that'd be, when any app with IP access could get your exact location down to the apt number.

I trie experimenting with what I named "Advanced 911". For calls to places where we couldn't deliver location info, we'd prompt the answer to press a key to have us speak the info. But getting adoption for that was super difficult.

Also, the stress involved in those jobs, wow. I thought I could handle stuff, but auditing problem calls where people were dying, panicking, and didn't know where they were - that's traumatic. Also made me really dislike how cavalier 911 is handled by the telecos.

1 comments

We have dedicated staff whose job it is to audit calls. ALL calls are recorded and we do screen snaps every 5 seconds, or, anytime the screen changes. Were talking terabytes of data. We keep it going back many years.

I'll vouch for the stress of the job. If I f'up. Somebody can die. Same thing for the operators. They get 3 months of training before handling calls. Most wash out before their training is completed. Most, shortly after that. The churn is unbelievable. We hire constantly. All operators max out their sick/vacation days. It's an unpleasant, boring, terrifying job.

This sounds like an interesting technical problem. If you're up for chatting about it further, I'd be interested in hearing more about it--my email's in my profile.
It's not really a technical problem, it's an adoption/money problem.