Edit: Was informed my GPS does not actually think I am far away, something else is causing that.
(See edit above) Ive heard it’s GPS, but my phone always thinks I am in a city hundreds of miles away for some reason so just wondering more specifically how that would work?
In: Technology
A 911 call, placed in a particular area, will be answered by the P-PSAP (Primary-Public Service Answering Point) for that area.
That service will quickly determine which service(s) (Police, Fire, Ambulance) you are requesting and then forward you to the appropriate dispatch center (Also called Secondary PSAPs). Often, P-PSAP services are provided by local PD, so in that case they will simply keep you on the phone to gather more information.
If you are calling from one area, for someone who needs help in another area, the P-PSAP will simply transfer you to the distant area’s S-PSAP.
When you dial 911 your call data includes location and phone number information (ANI/ALI – Automatic Number Identifier and Automatic Location Identifier).
If you have made that call from a landline, the data will reflect the calling number and the location to which the phone bill is sent (which is not necessarily the location at which the phone itself is located).
If you have called from a cell phone, the data will provide (assuming the area where you live has invested in the technology) a GPS location for the phone from which the call was made. This location is very accurate.
Without the GPS tech. it is still possible to get a general idea of the location of a cell phone. The tower that is closest to the calling phone is available, which assists but is far from precise. In cases where we need to narrow that down, we can triangulate the phone’s location using the 3 closest towers to provide a more accurate location. This location can still be less than fully accurate.
All of that said, the simplest answer to your question is that we ask the caller where they are and forward the call to the agency responsible for responding in that area.
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