Are all wireless phones capable of reaching a 911 dispatcher?
All wireless phones are capable of reaching 911 dispatch without Phase I or Phase II technology (if 911 service is offered in that particular geographic region), including non-initialized phones. The call may not be routed to the nearest Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). That being said, non-initialized phones have no phone number and therefore do not transmit a callback number to the operator. So, if the caller hangs up, the dispatcher cannot reconnect for location information. Because all carriers have not upgraded their systems to meet FCC Wireless E911 regulations, 911 dispatchers may not be able to identify a caller’s location using Automatic Location Identification (ALI) technology even if the caller is using an initialized phone.
