Download - Non-Service Initialized Phones and 9-1-1
Non-Service Initialized Phones and 9-1-1
Michigan 2009 Fall Forum on Next Generation 9-1-1 and
Other Emerging Technologies
November 3, 2009
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Agenda
• Introduction
• What is an NSI phone?
• The Challenge of NSI phones
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Established in 1987– Annapolis HQ, Seattle, Tampa, London– Data Centers in WA, AZ, MD– NOCs in Seattle and Annapolis– NASDAQ: TSYS
Strategic Offers– Wireless Location & Messaging Solutions– Satellite Services and Deployable Systems– Homeland Security– Professional Services
Industry Relations– Founding Member: SMS Forum, PAM Forum, IN Forum– Member: 3GPP, CTIA, ETSI, GSM, NENA, APCO, OMA, TIA, ESIF, NRIC VII,
IETF
TCS Fast Facts
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• Meets wireless E9-1-1 Phase I and Phase II FCC requirements
• Provides standards-based VoIP i2 E9-1-1 service (Owns the original i2 patent)
• Displays caller location to police, fire and emergency personnel (life-saving information)
• Supports 24/7 monitoring and operations
• Operates 2 fully redundant data centers
• Serves over 100 million subscribers
• Processes over 125,000 calls/day• Has completed over 100,000,000
E9-1-1 calls to date• Operates the only TL9000 certified
NOC in the 911 industry
TCS E9-1-1 Solutions
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Seattle Network Operations Center
Seattle Data CenterBackup NOC &
Data CenterPhoenix, AZ
TCS Facilities/NOC/Data CenterTCS Facilities/NOC/Data Center
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What is an NSI Phone?
– Every cell phone is unique and must be positively identified via an electronic “handshake” with the wireless switch before service is activated.
– An NSI phone is one that has not completed the handshake, or has failed the handshake.
• Discarded (failed)• Newly purchased (failed)• Power –up (not complete)• Service lost/restored (not complete)
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Why are NSI Phones Capable of 9-1-1?
• Congressional pressure (Eshoo, D-Ca)– FCC Mandate
• Similar to “warm dial tone” for landline• For 9-1-1 calls, carriers skip the
handshake• The road to hell…..
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How do NSI Phones Work?
• Call routing based on cell sector (same as normal wireless call)
• PSAP receives ESRK, but no CBN
• The CBN is typically 911 + 7 digits of Electronic Serial Number
• Location info is provided (assuming capability of phone and PSAP)– Accuracy not adequate to pinpoint user
(same as normal Phase 2)
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NSI Phones Are Perfect Harrassment Tools
• No phone number=no CBN, in exact location, not traceable
• Many children find amusement by playing with their NSI phones
• Older users are malicious
No good deed goes unpunished
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Consequences
• Dispatcher in Chicago, victimized by one too many prank calls, chastised child for playing with the phone. The call was legitimate, however, with tragic results and lawsuits.
• Numerous anecdotal reports of false reports of serious crimes causing responders to kick in the doors of innocent, sleeping, unsuspecting victims
• Intentional misdirection of police away from a crime in progress.
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Statistics
• Tennessee– 2% of NSI calls are legit– Oct-Dec ‘06: 54 different callers dialed 9-1-1
from an NSI phone more than 10 times (max=140)
– Of these 54 people, 8 were children
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More Statistics
• Florida– 12-county survey for one month– 4% of all NSI calls were legit
• Michigan– 2-month survey– .05% of 1000 NSI calls were legit (5 calls)
• Washington– Snohomish County-6 week survey– 2% of 553 NSI calls were legit
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What is Being Done About NSI Phones?
• FCC has amended the NSI mandate to allow carriers to block harassment calls
• Carriers are reluctant to block calls due to liability concerns and cost considerations– Who has authority to identify a harasser?– No existing technology to block specific NSI
calls.
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What is Being Done About NSI Phones?
• Petition to FCC– NENA, APCO, NASNA, several states– Petition called for FCC Notice of Inquiry
• FCC Notice of Inquiry (Nov 3, 2003)– 70+ Respondants with various
recommendations:• Block all NSI Phones; terminate NSI requirement• Block specific NSI Phones using various
technologies
– NENA submitted reply response
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NENA Response to FCC Notice of Inquiry
– Opposed termination of NSI requirement and supported blocking of individual calls
– Called for Advisory Working Group for negotiated rule making
– Identified issues to be resolved• What technology to be used to block calls?• How to define a harassment call; what triggers
blocking?• Liability• How long should blocking persist on any one phone?• Funding/Cost Recovery
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Options
– Terminate all 9-1-1 service for NSI phones (if the phones don’t work for regular calls, why should there be an expectation for 9-1-1?)
Or,
– Block Harassment Calls from specific phones
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Technology for Blocking Individual NSI Calls
• Block at the PSAP– Recommended by carriers– Assuages liability concerns– Places burden for blocking on the entity that
wants the calls blocked– Does hardware/software exist to block NSI
calls?– Can calls be routed to recording?
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Technology for Blocking Individual NSI Calls
• Block at the MSC/MPC– Development work required– How to communicate block order?– Automated timer on blocks– Calls can be routed to recording– Possible call processing delays for all 911
calls
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Potential issues if all NSI wireless handsets are blocked
• The carrier processing the call may not be able to distinguish a handset that has no active account with any carrier from a handset subscribed to a carrier with whom the carrier processing the call does not have an automatic roaming agreement.
• A carrier may block a 911 call due to billing errors or disputes or a simple case of a check lost in the mail.
• Immediately and for several seconds after power on, MSC to MSC handoff, recovery from loss of service in a tunnel etc, system "reboots", and other normal network events a handset will appear to be non-initialized and be blocked from making 911 calls.
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Potential Issues if we block individual wireless handsets
• Each suspect handset will have to be blocked on every carrier with a compatible air interface or the handset will simply roam to another compatible network.
• Bad actors will simply get another NSI handset at a yard sale or thrift store. There is a virtually unlimited supply of such handsets.
• Bad actors may donate the blocked handset to a thrift store which could prevent a decent citizen from making a 911 call to request help for someone else who really needs it.
• Call processing can be delayed or complicated as the telephone’s electronic serial number on every 911 call will have to be compared to a list of blocked serial numbers.
• Because it is extremely difficult, perhaps impossible, to uniquely identify NSI handsets even using the ESN of the handset, the wrong handset may be blocked when attempting to block a harassing caller or other inappropriate 911 calls.
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Thank you
Dick Dickinson
Sr. Director, Public Safety
TeleCommunication Systems, Inc
206-792-2224