Charities that collect used cellphones for a good cause will soon be able to offer more benefit from them. State Patrol commander Todd Misel says some features of the 9-1-1 emergency calling system won’t work with donated cellphones that are collected for local battered women’s shelters. He says it’s a good purpose, and he says the intent is good, but those cellphones that aren’t linked to anyone’s current account can be used only to dial 9-1-1. It’s handy in an emergency, but only if the caller gives her location and stays on the line with the emergency communications center after calling 9-1-1. If the 9-1-1 call’s dropped or disconnected, the dispatcher at the communication center doesn’t have any way of calling that person back. When the next phase of 911 service is put into effect, Captain Misel says there will be more safeguards in place for people using a donated old wireless phone to report an emergency.”Phase 2″ of 9-1-1 will allow them to plot an X-Y coordinate, a location on a GPS map showing the location that call came from. Phase 2 will also let law-enforcement first responders to more accurately tell just where a wireless call came from in case an injured or lost caller can’t tell where they are.
