October 5, 2011 05:14 pm EDT

FCC wants all cellphones to be GPS-capable by 2018 for improved 911 service

There's still no real indication of when you'll be able to send text messages, photos and videos to 911, but the FCC has now set a date for another promised enhancement to the service. The agency is aiming to increase the service's location accuracy requirements, and to that end it wants all cellphones and VoIP devices to be GPS-capable by 2018 (A-GPS, specifically). As the FCC notes, it expects 85 percent of all cellphones to have built-in GPS by that point anyway, which it says should "contribute to minimizing subsequent costs" required to meet the cut-off -- it's not, however, adopting a specific sunset date just yet. As you might expect, however, there's not exactly unanimous support for the move in the industry, and the FCC itself notes in its recently-published document that AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Motorola and the CTIA all insist that "a unitary standard is not technically or economically feasible at this time."

FCC wants all cellphones to be GPS-capable by 2018 for improved 911 service originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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