WEBVTT - How 9-1-1 Technology Works 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.960 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:08.760 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:12.879 tech Stuff from how stuff Works dot Com. Join Josh 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:15.280 and Chuck, the guys who bring you stuff you should know, 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:17.680 as they take a trip around the world to help 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.720 you get smarter in a topsy TRV economy. Check out 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:23.439 the all new super Stuff Guide to the Economy from 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:31.360 how Stuff Works dot Com, available now exclusively on iTunes. Hi, There, everybody, 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:35.080 and welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Polette. 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:37.160 I'm an editor here at how stuff works dot com, 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:39.440 and sitting next to me, as usual, is the very 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:45.800 helpful senior writer Jonathan Strickland. You know what I think 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:48.240 you need help? Do I? Yes, when I need help? 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:54.040 Do you? Because you're in the United States that it 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:56.680 occurred to me after we researched this that it is 0:00:56.720 --> 0:00:59.920 once again a very United States centric podcast, So we 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:03.840 apologize to our friends overseas and to the north and South. 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:07.319 And okay, okay, well, let's let's just say, how does 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:10.880 a rescue number fill in the blank? Here? You know 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:15.480 where you are. Well, you're making some pretty big assumptions there, Pete, 0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:18.840 because I haven't looked into any others other than one. Okay, well, 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:21.000 I think the technology is basically there, so let's talk 0:01:21.040 --> 0:01:24.480 about the same. Alright, So let's first talk about how 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:27.360 nine one one is set up. We were gonna really 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:30.800 focus kind of on on how it works when you're 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:35.720 using a cellular phone or heaven help you avoid phone. Um. 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:38.319 But but before we get into that, it's best to 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:40.120 know kind of the basics of how it works in 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:42.480 the first place. Sure, I mean, it wasn't all that 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:46.080 long ago that there wasn't any kind of standardized number, 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:48.680 you know. You know, it's only been since the mid 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:52.560 nineteen sixties that for the sixties eight was when the 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:55.320 first one went live, right, Well, I mean they had to, 0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:58.960 you know, work on getting it organized and it wasn't 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:01.600 even a national thing. It is very localized and it's 0:02:01.600 --> 0:02:03.920 still listen, it's it's it is. It is very much 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:07.600 a regional system. So um, yeah, there's no national system. 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:11.840 It's all uh managed by by different counties and cities. 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:17.079 Yeah yeah, different uh, different governments and and different regions 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:22.040 are overseeing these things. So as you can imagine, coordination 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:25.720 is a is kind of a tricky, tricky business. One 0:02:25.800 --> 0:02:29.120 and um, usually you know you're you're pretty much supporting 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:32.280 it through taxes and uh maybe a fee to your 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:36.519 phone carrier. Yeah, yeah, I mean it's uh. In addition 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:38.560 to building out the network, they have to pay people 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:42.080 to sit at the switchboard and listen to people with 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:45.000 emergency calls and those people who call to complain about 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:47.560 traffic and that there are no chicken nuggets at the McDonald's. 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:49.959 You totally stole it before I could say it. Yes, 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:54.200 I win, okay, so um, yes, uh, let's let's say 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:57.679 let's start with the landline um approach, because that that's 0:02:57.680 --> 0:02:59.600 the easiest one to talk about when you're when you're 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:02.200 making a call, and it is the first one they 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:04.919 had to, uh to worry about building out. Right, so 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:07.800 when you actually dial, it goes to a different hub. 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:10.919 It doesn't actually go to the same hub that regular 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:13.120 phone call will go, right, because the phone company knows 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:15.360 when you make a phone call, it has to that's right, 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:18.519 that's right for them to bill you exactly exactly. So 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:20.600 when you make a nine one one call, the phone 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:23.040 company knows you're making an emergency call. It goes through 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:26.280 this hub and then it goes to the closest public 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:31.119 Safety Answering Point or P s a P SAP SAP, 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:34.000 so it goes to the closest one to whatever region 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:37.119 you're calling from. So that way the response is going 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:40.840 to be very localized and theoretically will be the fastest 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:46.880 response that you could expect under you know, any normal circumstances. Now, UM, 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:50.240 when you call the the phone company sends to that 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:55.440 SAP P s a P. That the your information, so 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:58.280 that person will know the operator will know like this 0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:00.840 is where the phone calls originating. UM, in case you 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:06.080 aren't able to speak, If you are unable to actually talk, UH, 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:08.280 they can at least see where the calls coming from 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:11.800 and send help to that address. And this happens, you know, 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:14.360 more often than you would think. You may not be 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:18.359 able to speak because you smoke inhalation, you might be 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:22.480 choking on something. In some cases, people's pets have dialed 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:27.960 dialed one, and in some cases it was necessary. I 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:30.000 mean more than one case you had an animal dial 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:32.280 nine one one and it really didn't need to do that. 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:37.200 But but there are stories about rescue animals that did 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:41.920 dial nine one in order to contact UH emergency services 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:45.280 when their their owners. UM suffered some sort of trauma 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:48.200 and uh, you know, of course that doesn't happen all 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:50.920 that often. But the way the system works is the 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:53.360 operator sees, okay, this call is coming from this address, 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:55.960 I will send help there. I can't quite ascertain exactly 0:04:56.000 --> 0:04:58.480 what's going on, and so they, you know, pretty much 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:03.880 decide at the spur of the moment which services to send. UM. Otherwise, 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:07.040 of course the dispatcher will talk to the you know, 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:09.159 the operator or dispatch will talk to you, and then 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:12.280 you would explain what the emergency situation was, and then 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:17.840 they would send the appropriate respond respondents. Right. So UM, 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:22.560 that's the that's just the basic uh response. There's actually 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:26.240 another thing called the enhanced nine one one response, which 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:29.160 is even a little more complex than that. Yeah, E 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:33.039 nine one one is UM actually fairly common now, I 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:36.920 would think, yeah, yeah, back in two thousand and six, 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:40.200 I think it was penetration in the market, So by 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:43.160 now I would expect that number to be much higher. 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:48.279 So UM, and it actually uses an even more sophisticated system. 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:51.560 The hub that you dial into UM actually makes some 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:57.240 additional determinations, goes in and get some info from a 0:05:57.279 --> 0:06:00.240 couple of servers on the telephone system side to try 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:04.320 to get even more detailed information about where you are 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:06.680 and and who to route the call to to maybe 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:09.920 speed up the service just that much more. Right, Yeah, 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:12.960 you're talking about things like, you know, to everything from 0:06:13.000 --> 0:06:17.640 determining how many emergency calls are already out to you know, 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:21.240 maybe maybe this person's address would make you think that 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:23.800 they are closest to this P s a P, but 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:27.479 in reality they'd be closer to another one. Um. It 0:06:27.560 --> 0:06:30.960 also will bring up information such as what what sort 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:35.880 of obstacles a response team might encounter en route to 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:39.479 the address, like if there's a street that's closed or 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:44.240 anything along those lines. Um. So it really is of 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:48.440 course designed to help these emergency responders get to you 0:06:48.880 --> 0:06:52.880 much more quickly and safely than they would otherwise. And 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:56.760 as it turns out, this enhanced nine one one functionality 0:06:56.800 --> 0:07:02.320 is essential to getting wireless nine one functionality to to 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:05.640 actually function the right way, because otherwise it would be 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:08.839 very difficult for the the wireless provider to get the 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:12.360 information on where you are now. You know, a cell 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:16.480 phone can only be so accurate as to where they 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:19.400 can figure out where your location is because it's triangulating 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:22.640 based on the signals from different cell phone towers in 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:25.840 your area. Uh. So it's a little like GPS in 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:28.800 that way, because it is is determining your location based 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:33.360 on the transmitters on the ground and where the phone 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:36.240 is telling it that it is. You know, it seems 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:38.280 closer to this one, it seems rather away from that one. 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:40.760 We think he or she is in this area right here. 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:46.560 And UM, this is important because around of all phone 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:51.480 calls that go into originate from a wireless phone like 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:56.360 a cell phone. And UM, obviously when you have that 0:07:56.360 --> 0:07:58.240 that number of calls coming in, you do need a 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:01.960 way that you can, you know, retained where this person is. Um. 0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:04.400 There are a couple of different ways of doing this 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:08.760 besides the one you mentioned is probably the most common. Uh. 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:13.320 That one is the uh it's a network based location 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:15.320 finding is kind of the way we think of it. 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:18.920 It's in the sense that it's all based upon how 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:21.480 far away you are from at least usually I think 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:24.040 three towers that's what they need in order to to 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:27.360 determine where in general you are. I think that's the 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:32.360 number that I saw most frequently. And yeah, it's it's 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:36.360 accurate to between one dred three, which is you know, 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:40.200 not that bad considering, but there's if you're you know, 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:42.720 in your car and it's on fire with flame shooting 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:44.640 out through the hood, I think they'd probably be able 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:47.120 to find you once they got once they got within 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:49.240 three they probably be able to figure out what they know. 0:08:49.720 --> 0:08:52.199 But the other way you can do this is actually 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:55.640 using a handheld device like your Your phone itself has 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:59.200 within it a location device that would help in that. 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:02.400 If you have a phone that has a GPS receiver, 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:06.760 it could it could send the information it's receiving from 0:09:06.800 --> 0:09:12.000 the satellite on through the signal and therefore give extremely 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:16.400 accurate location information to whomever's on the phone. Right, So 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:18.760 it's getting the the information from the GPS and sending 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:21.599 it over the cell phone network, right, That's exactly what 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:24.600 it's doing. However, you have to keep in mind if 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:27.840 you're inside, that's not going to help you out too much. 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:30.080 You really need to have an open view to the 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:33.640 sky in order to to really get those signals from 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:37.400 the satellites. Uh, if you are in any kind of 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:41.000 like heavily wooded area or maybe downtown in a really 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:44.600 crowded city, um, it may not respond as well. So 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:47.640 that's not always necessarily, Like, just because you have a 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:50.760 GPS receiver in your phone doesn't necessarily mean it's going 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:53.320 to give it the most accurate information all the time. 0:09:53.440 --> 0:09:55.280 It all depends on the situation you're in and the 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:58.760 environment around you. That's true, because I'm guessing that if 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:02.120 you were saying in a the story building and you 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:05.720 have a GPS device and it's saying, well, you know 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:09.520 he's here at this location, then the rescuers have to 0:10:09.559 --> 0:10:12.679 go look on every floor because it doesn't say, well, 0:10:12.679 --> 0:10:15.079 you know he's on the fifth floor and sweet five forty, 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:18.559 so well yeah, yeah, so even if it could get 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:20.319 the signal in the first place, so there, so there 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:22.719 is a limit, Yeah, there are there are limits. And 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:25.480 the whole reason for this in the first place is 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:29.440 because the the FCC was very much concerned with making 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:31.920 sure that when you dial nine one one on a 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:34.360 cell phone that you are able to get the help 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:39.080 that you require, and uh, they demanded demanded things to 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:41.880 be rolled out the sort of the enhanced nine one 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:44.280 one for cell phones to be rolled out into two phases. 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:49.240 The first phase was just using location determining your location 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:52.360 will be determined based upon whichever cell tower you are 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:56.079 connecting to with your phone, and unfortunately that doesn't really 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:59.240 give you a whole lot of accuracy. We're talking like 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:04.880 six to thirty miles, and six to thirty miles is 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:07.600 not great. Now, hopefully, if you are actually able to 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:11.040 communicate with the operator, that won't be as big a 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:13.400 deal because you'll be able to tell that person where 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:16.520 you are right right under Phase two. It's it's much 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:22.720 more accurate within fifty according to the government information. And uh, 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:24.719 I was actually looking into this now. Here's the other 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:26.559 issue is that you might wonder, like, okay, well, how 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:31.000 far into phase two are we? That is practically impossible 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:34.880 to answer without contacting each and every P s A 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:39.360 P in the nation because it's on a per carrier basis. 0:11:39.360 --> 0:11:42.120 It's on a per P S a P basis. They 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:44.520 have to work together in order to get this Phase 0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:49.840 two rolled out. So um yeah, it's I couldn't even 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:55.160 tell you, like, how how many different locations have Phase 0:11:55.200 --> 0:11:59.560 two rolled out versus Phase one? Um, it's uh and 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:01.800 that's kind of scary when you think about it. I mean, 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:03.760 you know, you really don't know when you call nine 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:07.480 one one if how accurate their their information is going 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:10.800 to be um. Of course if you can talk, then 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:13.760 that might be able to solve some issues right there. 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:17.200 But yeah, you know, uh, just to point this out, UM, 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:20.480 from what I was reading during my research fees on 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:23.640 this podcast, Uh, the experts say the very first thing 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:25.880 you should do when you call nine one one is 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:31.320 to tell them where you are. Um. Especially yeah, exactly 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:33.760 because they said that that that is probably the most 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:36.800 important thing, especially if you're in a situation where you're 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:40.520 not able to communicate well, because um, you know, then 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:43.400 they can go ahead and figure out how to get 0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:47.040 to you and from there, you know, assist you. But yeah, 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:49.440 that's you know, don't forget to just go ahead and 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:52.839 tell them where you are, um, because that is is 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:56.439 essential when you're dealing with wireless and v O I P. 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:01.000 I didn't think to at this in my notes, But 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:03.240 we should also addressed the fact that if you carry 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:07.559 a satellite phone, that can give information very quickly to 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:10.400 an emergency response team exactly where you are. Because again 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:13.720 that's working on the same sort of of uh kind 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:16.880 of way as a GPS receiver. You're receiving yourself signals 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:20.600 through satellite UM, and there are many satellite emergency phones 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:23.840 that are on the market for people who like, you know, 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:27.040 like to hike in the Yukon. Sure's things like that. 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:29.640 You know, people who really do go into these you know, 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:34.440 high risk environments because they're they're adventurers at heart, and uh, 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:38.560 these sort of phones help help get that information out. 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:40.800 And usually it's a simple button you press and it 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:45.360 sends an emergency signal and it includes your coordinates like 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:48.199 on Star in cars. Yeah, essentially, yeah, it's on Star 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:52.360 for hikers. Yeah. And very expensive. Yes, yes, they are 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:55.679 not cheap. Yeah, we're not talking like your voice plan. 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:58.720 I think they're significantly right. Both the phones and the 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:01.400 plans cost quite an out of money. But if it's 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:03.840 a matter of life and death because you're an adventurer 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:06.800 and like like to go out and you know, party 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:10.280 with grizzly bears who might eat you and who doesn't write, 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:13.240 you know, I might be worth the investment. So let's 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:18.440 move on to voipe over Internet protocol. That's true. Now, 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:21.480 voice over Internet protocol we've talked about before in this podcast. 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:24.640 This is uh, yeah, this is uh, this is It 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:27.600 sends your phone call like it would send it sends 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:31.440 it over the internet esppecially over the cellular network, and uh, 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:34.360 like every other kind of information that's sent over the 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:37.880 internet's broken up into packets, gets little pieces, teeny tiny 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:40.520 pieces like you know, like a Mike TV and Willy 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:42.640 Wonka flies through the air, and it gets to the 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:44.920 other side and gets re it gets put back together, 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:47.560 and then it becomes the phone call on the other end. Uh. 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:50.960 Here's the problem with voipe. Um, there's no physical location 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:55.360 associated with voipe at all at all. You your voice 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:59.680 is associated mainly with your computer or device upon which 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:02.840 you have voipe installed. That's true, I mean there is 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:06.840 you know, you can ping something a location and get 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:08.760 as sort of an idea of where it's going to 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:12.800 because you know, and internet. Anything you send through the 0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:16.600 Internet reaches lots of computers, tons and tons and tons 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:20.000 of computers because it's it's bouncing piece by piece over 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:23.480 you know, network by network, different stuff in between here 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:27.560 and there. The thing is, you know, there's very it's 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:31.160 this information that's coming around with it is very sketchy. 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:37.800 So it's you know, it's general idea of where someone is. 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:40.640 But the other thing is that, um, you know, it's 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:44.480 it's you can set a location when you set up 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:48.560 a voipe account. In fact, you're supposed to UM, which 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:51.520 would be you know, like the idea here is that 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:54.480 you're telling the company this is where I usually I 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:57.600 am usually at when I make my voice calls, like 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:00.200 if I I'm usually at home when I do this 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:02.720 VOPE system. So that way, if I were to ever 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:05.760 call nine one one over the VOPE system, chances are 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:09.800 this is the location that I'm calling from. UM. And 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:12.320 then theoretically you should have an easy way to update 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:15.000 that information so that if you were to travel, you 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:19.280 could say I happen to be in Prague. Not of course, 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:21.040 if you're in Prague, I don't know why you'd be 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:24.880 dialing one, but the point being that you should be 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:28.600 able to update your location so that UM, you're not 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:32.560 sending the operators on a married chase or really it's 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:36.400 just to let the phone company know which P s 0:16:36.440 --> 0:16:39.080 a P you're calling needs to be rounded to. Yeah, 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:40.920 it's not gonna do much good if you call nine 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:44.200 one one and the person answering the phone is eight 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:49.000 counties away and uh, you know, it's just as all 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:51.840 that's gonna do is waste valuable seconds. And of course 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:54.720 we know like in an emergency, every second counts. Yeah, 0:16:54.760 --> 0:16:57.960 if you're if you're a v O I P telephone customer, 0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:01.360 for example, if you Advantage or many of the others. 0:17:01.560 --> 0:17:04.600 A lot of the regular I s P s and 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:07.000 phone companies offer some kind of v O I P 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:10.879 service Now UM. They'll tell you whether or not you 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:14.600 can use UM, and they sort of have some of 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:16.960 the details ironed out. However, if you were to be 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:22.480 using some of the UM programs like Skype or Gizmo Project, 0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:25.840 I don't know that it would be as reliable as 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:28.240 you know, something like Vantage, which is you know, set 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:30.920 up to be. It's like, well, we know where he lives, 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:34.480 he's calling from this address. It's fine. Now, the FCC 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:41.200 says that any VOIPE provider has to provide support and 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:44.600 it has to work. Uh. They don't go so far 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:47.360 as to explain how that's supposed to happen, but they 0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:49.600 say this is how it has to be, so it's 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:51.800 left up to the providers to find a way to 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:54.360 make it work. Yeah, that's the thing. I mean, if 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:57.200 you're if they know that you have a voice power 0:17:57.320 --> 0:18:00.000 line system at your house and you're calling from your house, 0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:02.119 well they know where that is. They can it works. 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:05.119 It would work very similarly to a regular telephone call. 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:07.680 I would assume in that UM they would say, well, 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:10.760 h Chris is calling. We know Chris lives at this address, 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:14.439 send him here and that would be it. But you know, 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:17.560 it's not because of the voide. It's because they know 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:21.040 they already know where you live, right And according to 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:25.440 the f c C, interconnected voite providers must obtain affirmative 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:28.760 acknowledgement from all existing customers that they are aware of 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:31.280 and understand the limitations of their nine one one service, 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:33.560 and they do send that information to you if you're 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:35.760 a customer, because I am a v O I P customer, 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:39.480 so you actually received that excellent, So good on them. 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:43.679 They're following the law. UM. But yeah, it is important 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:45.719 to remember that if you're a void customer that that 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:49.880 could become uh an issue. However, we should also point 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:53.640 out that, UM, you can also make nine one one 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:58.119 calls from any cellular phone or really any landline. I 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:00.200 think I think you can make an emergency call all 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:02.880 no matter what, you don't even even if you don't 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:04.879 have a plan anymore on a cell phone. If you 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:06.640 pick up a cell phone in don nine one one, 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:09.720 it has to work, right, that's true. I mean that's 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:12.280 if you have an old cell phone. Um. I've actually 0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:17.040 heard this mention before by a consumer. Um consumer rights 0:19:17.040 --> 0:19:20.000 advocates said, if you have an old cell phone, you know, 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:21.880 traded in for a new one, go ahead and keep 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:23.919 it charged up, the old one and throw in your 0:19:23.960 --> 0:19:26.280 glove compartment, because what if you leave your cell phone 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:28.880 at home, you get an accident, you still are supposed 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:30.320 to be able to call nine one one, and they're 0:19:30.320 --> 0:19:33.760 still supposed to connect those emergency calls. So it's a 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:35.960 good use for an old, beat up phone. Yeah. I know, 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:39.119 there's some charity organizations that accept donations of old phones 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:42.920 specifically to use them as emergency phones for underserf populations. 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:46.080 So um, so yeah, that's that's a good thing to 0:19:46.200 --> 0:19:48.040 keep in mind is even if you do use voide, 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:51.680 it may it may behoove you to keep a regular 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:55.120 old phone plugged in or a a cell phone laying 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:56.960 around so that you can rely on that in the 0:19:57.000 --> 0:19:59.760 case of an emergency, just in case the voide doesn't 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.040 work exactly the way you would hope it would work, 0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:04.879 and in which case you would want to tell them 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:09.720 where you are first. Yes, always remember that I'm done. 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:13.439 I am too excellent, because you know what that means. Yeah, 0:20:13.520 --> 0:20:21.479 it's time for listener mail. Yay. I'm trying a new 0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:25.600 approach this time. Yea, yeah, excellent, all right. This listener 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:29.720 mail comes from Andrew. Hi Andrew, He says hello, Hey, look, 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:32.800 he said hi back. My name is Andrew from Illinois. 0:20:33.000 --> 0:20:36.640 So he's the Andrew from Illinois. Hi, Andrew and Illinois. 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:39.800 He's in seventh grade and I'm subscribed to what is 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:43.960 it now? Seven? Yeah? All seven How Stuff Works podcasts. 0:20:44.520 --> 0:20:48.000 You are awesome, Andrew. I just thought i'd dropped you 0:20:48.040 --> 0:20:50.480 a line. Aligned to you guys at tech stuff and 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:53.880 say the specifics about the five major web browsers Internet Explorer, 0:20:53.960 --> 0:20:58.680 I have eight Mozilla, Firefox, Apple, Safari, Google, Chrome, and Opera. 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:03.120 I have all five on my laptop, and although Internet 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:06.240 Explorers the easiest to use, best for favorites and bookmarks 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:08.680 and a few other things, there's in no way the best. 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:11.520 Firefox is by far the best and safest of them all. 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:14.080 Safari is the fastest, Chrome is stripped down, making it 0:21:14.119 --> 0:21:16.800 an easier interface to use, and Opera makes the best 0:21:16.840 --> 0:21:20.199 backup browser and is great on older computers. I know 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:22.040 that you probably know all this already, but I just 0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:24.160 wanted to say what I believe about them. I never 0:21:24.200 --> 0:21:26.600 owned and hardly ever used a Mac before, by the way, 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:29.840 I just wanted to say that I am slash was 0:21:29.920 --> 0:21:36.240 bared and it is PM by five pm and seventh grade. 0:21:36.280 --> 0:21:40.560 Yeah that's okay, Yeah, I'm I'd say bedtime at ten. Yeah, 0:21:40.840 --> 0:21:45.080 we'll ask my bedtime now too. Good Lord, well, Andrew, 0:21:45.119 --> 0:21:48.360 thank you very much for writing it. Um five browsers 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:52.000 on one laptop. Oh, we'll see. That's that's because that's 0:21:52.119 --> 0:21:54.080 you see, he's not using a Mac. Because if he 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:58.639 was using a Mac, you have those plus OmniWeb and 0:21:58.760 --> 0:22:02.960 Camino at least if not, Shira, I'm almost sad that 0:22:03.000 --> 0:22:07.000 I picked this mail to read. You know, you're right though, 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:11.240 because each browser they're all they're all good. Uh, and 0:22:11.320 --> 0:22:13.680 it's it seems like from using all of them, there's 0:22:13.720 --> 0:22:16.560 always one thing about each one of them that goes. Man. 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:19.560 I wish everybody else would do this, but they don't. Yeah. Yeah, 0:22:19.560 --> 0:22:20.960 I can think right off the help of my head. 0:22:21.040 --> 0:22:24.480 For instance, UM, i'd say the Internet Explorer probably has 0:22:24.520 --> 0:22:31.000 the most widespread support any website to work in Internet Explorer. Um, 0:22:31.000 --> 0:22:34.080