Did you know that almost everywhere you can pick up a cell phone -- even if unactivated -- and make an emergency call?
The simple Telepocalypse solution to E911: make incumbent telecom operators unbundle E911 service and offer it both wholesale and retail as a stand-alone product.
Even better, make it free at the point of use. Got a POTS line? Just enforce a rule that says it'll always do 911. (These days there's no need to de-provision dialtone for disconnected customers; just disconnect them in software at the digital exchange.) If the benefit is mostly a social good driven by a positive externality (you call the ambulance on your phone when I get pains in my chest outside your house) then it's a classic case for taxpayer funding.
Posted by Martin Geddes at 2:51 PMTrackBack URL for this entry:
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