According to the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, wireless 911 callers across the United States grew nearly tenfold, from 5.9 million callers to about 57 million, between 1990 and 2001.

These figures are not surprising since the average North American purchases a cellular phone for that just-in-case scenario – a vehicle breaks down on the freeway or a child gets sick while on a road trip.

Besides having to handle the sheer volume of wireless 911 callers, emergency personnel also have to spend more time with wireless callers to identify their location, whereas the whereabouts of landline emergency callers is automatically pinpointed.

The new wireless location-based technology mandated by the FCC, which should be operational nationwide by 2005, is expected to reduce the stress on 911 centers.

As part of the first phase of the FCC mandate, cellular providers across the U.S. have been supplying 911 centers, in the last few months, with basic information about wireless calls, such as the phone’s number and owner, and the tower transmitting the call.

With the completion of the second phase, emergency dispatchers will be able to automatically identify the location of each wireless caller; however, this latter phase is proving to be a challenge technically as well as financially.

While the wireless industry is in turmoil over technology standards, state legislators are questioning who will or should be entirely responsible for funding: the public sector or the carriers?

With phase two upgrades to public-owned 911 centers projected to cost millions of dollars, local and state officials are either introducing legislation or spending taxpayers dollars in an attempt cover the costs of staffing and technology upgrades.

In Pennsylvania, one bill has been introduced in the House that would see a small surcharge added to every cellular phone bill, while in Delaware county, officials decided to spend about $6-million of taxpayers money to upgrade its network so it can find a wireless caller within 125 feet of the call’s location.

"We spent a ton of county money," Edwin Truitt, the county’s director of emergency services, told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "With the volume of wireless 911 calls we’ve been getting, if we didn’t do what we’ve done, we’d be in trouble."