9-1-1 can you find me now?

The woman's voice is hysterical. "Help," she gasps through tears, "my little boy is choking ..." The emergency dispatcher calms her, talks her through emergency procedures and dispatches an ambulance to the address that shows on her 9-1-1 screen. It's just another day on the emergency line at the local sheriff's department.

But if the caller had used a cell phone, the chances of finding her are slim. Multi-line and wireless telephones do not always have the ability to transmit caller locations and telephone numbers to an emergency services dispatch even though the technology is available. Enhanced 9-1-1 (or E 9-1-1) automatically links the caller to the closest emergency response unit, whether police, ambulance or fire, and pinpoints the location of the call.

In 1994, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) gave cell phone companies five years to provide a way to find callers dialing 9-1-1 from cellular telephones. By 2003, however, public safety operators in most areas still cannot locate those cell phone callers.

Providing E 9-1-1 services to wireless networks is complicated. It requires new technologies and upgrades to local 9-1-1 dispatch centers, as well as coordination among public safety agencies, wireless carriers, technology vendors, equipment manufacturers and local wireline carriers. The FCC established a four-year rollout schedule that requires wireless carriers to provide far more precise location information, within 50 to 100 meters in most cases, by Dec. 31, 2005.

To help in the effort, state legislatures in recent years have funded and maintained these emergency programs. At least 28 states, the Virgin Islands and Washington, D.C., provide E 9-1-1 funding. Nebraska, on the other hand, requires dispatch centers and wireless carriers to fund the equipment necessary to identify and locate wireless telephone calls.