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RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS OF PROBLEMS RELATED TO FALSE 9-1-1 CALLS ORIGINATING ON WARM LINES
Communications Division
Policy Analysis Branch
April 2010
Memorandum
This staff report was written by Michael Aguilar, Regulatory Analyst under the supervision of Sazedur Rahman, Program and Project Supervisor, at the direction of Robert Wullenjohn, Communications Division Policy Analysis Branch Manager. This report has not been endorsed by the California Public Utilities Commission, and solely reflects the analysis of the above named individuals.
Introduction
This report is based on a limited study of State 9-1-1 call records for 9-1-1 calls originating on warm lines received by PSAPs during the months of January through April 2009. Additional information was derived from in-person interviews conducted at four representative PSAPs in Los Angels County during June 2009, and from trouble ticket investigations conducted by AT&T and Verizon during July 2009 through September 2009.
Research Findings
1. Total Number, Growth Rate, and 9-1-1 Database Costs of Warm Lines
1.1. 1.5 Million Warm lines represent over 12% of active residential lines[1]
· AT&T reported REDACTED lines as of July 12. Based on their 2008 Annual Report, warm lines represent about 12.1% of active residential lines (G.O 66-C Protection Requested).
· Verizon reported REDACTED lines as of August 7. Based on their August 7 response to its data request, warm lines represent about 13% of active residential lines.
1.2. Warm line service varies among the service providers[2]
· The name and nature of warm line service varies between the major ILECs and how it is shown on PSAP call taker screens. The service is usually limited to only one wall jack.
Characteristic / AT&T / VerizonWarm line name / Quick Dial Tone (QDT) / Express Dial Tone (EDT)
Permits inbound calls / Yes / No
Calls limited to: / 9-1-1 only / 9-1-1 and 6-1-1
Dial Tone / Yes / Yes
1.3. $2.2 Million in annual database costs to the 9-1-1 Program
· Each warm line has a record in the 9-1-1 Databases maintained by AT&T and Verizon. The current monthly cost for the 1,482,775 lines is $184,433. (AT&T’s rate is $138.00 per 1000 records; Verizon’s rate is $97.75 per 1000 records).
· On an annualized basis, the yearly cost would be $2,213,191 if the number of warm lines remained constant which is not the case.
· As warm lines are also maintained by the GRC-LECs and some CLECs, these amounts do not represent the total warm line cost to the California 9-1-1 program.
1.4. Growing at 400,000 lines annually at an additional $338,286 cost
· The ILECs did not measure the number of warm lines at the same time, but reported increases in the number of warm lines reveal that lines are increasing at the average rate of 1093 a day or about 400,000 lines annually.
Growth in Warm Lines and 9-1-1 Database Costs-- 2009ILEC / Date / Number / Change in / Change / Avg. Daily / Database / Daily
of lines / numbers / in days / change / rate/1000 / Cost
AT&T / April 30 / REDACTED
July 12 / REDACTED / 45,998 / 73 / 630.1 / $138.00 / $87
Verizon / May 11 / REDACTED
August 7 / REDACTED / 39,829 / 86 / 463.1 / $97.75 / $45
(G.O 66-C Protection Requested).
· This equates to an average increase of $4,337 a month in 9-1-1 database costs which will result in an accumulated $338,286 paid annually by the 9-1-1 Office.
1.5. Warm Lines will continue to grow if wireline subscribership declines
· Although there is not a direct 1:1 historical ratio between the decrease in wire line subscribers and the increase in warm lines, warm lines will continue to grow since current ILEC business practice is to provide warm line pursuant to statute and maintain disconnected lines, permitting new service orders to be completed with minimum cost and delay.
· The number of AT&T warm lines has more than doubled between October 2006 and April 2009, increasing 130% since October 2006.
· Verizon was not able to provide any historical data for the period prior to this study, but its number of warm lines increased 8.6% during the recent 3 months.
2. Number and characteristics of 9-1-1 calls from warm lines
2.1. Average of 9346 calls monthly to 9-1-1 from warm lines statewide
· The Statewide data shows that 8602 calls were generated in January, 10,208 calls in February, and 9155 calls in March, for a monthly call average of 9346.
· Although some parties believe warm line calls increase during the winter months due to increased electrical shorting caused by rain and wind, there were no data showing that relationship and the PSAPs did not perceive increased calling during bad weather.
· The call data is collected by PSAP which are located in one ILEC territory but can be connected to selective routers from both the AT&T and Verizon networks; thus a PSAP can get 9-1-1 calls from both AT&T and Verizon warm lines.
· The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) call records are identified separately in the State’s call record database.
Number of 9-1-1 Warm Line Calls on each Network during March 2009Type or Line \ Network / AT&T / LAPD / VZN / SUM
QDT from AT&T line / 5752 / 1189 / 133 / 7074
EDT from Verizon line / 556 / 302 / 1223 / 2081
Total / 6308 / 1491 / 1356 / 9155
2.2. Less than one-half percent of warm lines originate calls to 9-1-1
· The statewide March data shows that 9,155 calls originated from 2834 warm lines which represent approximately 0.2% of the 1,396,945 warm lines reported by AT&T and Verizon for the April-May period.
2.3. Most warm lines calls are not repetitive random calls from a problem line
Metric \ Frequency per month / Once / 2 or 3 / 4 to 8 / 9 or more% of Calls / 20% / 18% / 20% / 42%
% of Lines / 58% / 23% / 11% / 7%
Source: Call Data Records provided by CA 9-1-1 Emergency Communications Office
· According to call records, a majority (58%) of the warm lines generating 9-1-1 calls did so only once, confirming that warm lines per se are not problem lines.
· When combined with lines that generate only 2 or 3 calls a month, an overwhelming 81% of lines generated less than one call a week but accounted for only 38% of monthly calls. In addition to legitimate calls for help, many of these calls were probably made to test the availability of access to 9-1-1.[3]
Average Number of Calls per Month / Once / 2 or 3 / 4 to 8 / 9 or moreNumber of lines generating calls / 1826 / 731 / 356 / 213
Number of calls from those lines / 1826 / 1663 / 1910 / 3947
Average call(s) per line per month / 1 / 2.3 / 5.4 / 18.5
2.4. Excessive repetitive calling to 9-1-1 accounts for almost 6,000 false calls a month but is limited to only 569 problem warm lines
· PSAPs reported that it is highly unlikely that a real caller is dialing 9-1-1 once a week or more, especially since police are dispatched to investigate each 9-1-1 calls and will warn callers about making nuisance and unnecessary calls.
· 569 warm lines or 18.2% of the lines dialing 9-1-1 generated an average of 10.8 calls to 9-1-1, and accounted for a disproportionate 62% of all monthly calls from warm lines. Some of the lines generated 50 or more calls to 9-1-1. Thus, warm lines were generating almost 6,000 false calls to 9-1-1 per month during the study period.
· A high number of repeat calls may be the best indicator of a problem or nuisance line. A history of repeat calling to 9-1-1 whether due to technical reasons or human behavior was the factor most often used by PSAPs to identify problem or “nuisance” lines needing to be fixed or disconnected.
2.5. At least 3% of 9-1-1 calls from warm lines required fire or emergency medical response`
· The CA 9-1-1 Office reported that state wide call records can not be used to identify the number of real 9-1-1 calls (with an actual caller reporting an emergency) versus the number of false 9-1-1 calls (due to bad lines). Only the dispatch records available at the PSAP would contain facts on the nature of the call and what the police learned when they were dispatched to the residence. However, call data records can be used to identify how many calls were transferred by primary PSAPs to secondary PSAPs for response. Secondary PSAPs dispatch primarily for fire and emergency medical units, and take only calls transferred from primary PSAPs.
· The 9-1-1 Office analysis of the statewide data for March 2009 showed that 270 calls or 3% of 9-1-1 calls from warm lines were transferred to secondary PSAPs for fire or emergency medical response. The March 2009 data is considered as representative of any month of the year.
· This 3 percent represents only the minimum number of emergency calls from warm lines because it does not include calls dispatched direct by primary PSAPs that are Police and Police/Fire primary PSAPs. These primary PSAPs dispatch directly for fire and emergency medical but the dispatches are not transferred and do not show up in the data. In addition, the 3 percent estimate does not count the police dispatches for emergencies that require law enforcement presence. These dispatches are also not transferred and do not show up in the data.
· The order of magnitude of the Statewide March data agrees with both the April Los Angeles County data and the findings from the PSAP interviews where a detailed review of dispatch records was performed.
Data Source / Warm line Calls / Medical, Fire, or other Emergency Call / % of CallsDispatch Type
Statewide-March / 9155 / 270 / Transferred / 2.9%
LA County- April[4] / 597 / 13 / Transferred / 2.2%
PSAP1 Interview - April data / 12 / 2 / Direct / 16.7%
PSAP2 Interview - April data / 89 / 3 / Direct / 3.4%
3. PSAP practices and perceptions of 9-1-1 calls from warm lines[5]
3.1. Selecting Representative PSAPS for interviews
· The stakeholders[6] agreed on four PSAPs to represent the different climate zones, network ages and population densities within Los Angeles County, which may have a bearing on the number and causes of problem warm lines. The selected PSAPs on the AT&T network were Pasadena PD, Palmdale Sheriff and South Bay Regional. The selected PSAP on the Verizon network was Long Beach PD.
· The four PSAPs agreed to participate in the study and make their records and personnel available for review. The interview was led by CD Staff with the participation of the Los Angeles County PSAP coordinator and representatives from each ILEC.
3.2. Findings from the PSAP Interviews
· The definition of what is a real or legitimate 9-1-1 call varies between PSAPs, but all agreed that repetitive false calls caused by faulty circuits or bad telephone equipment is a problem they want fixed by the telephone company, and if it not fixed, they want the line disconnected.
· Only two of the four PSAPs had previously identified false calls from warm lines as a problem prior to the interview, and one had previously requested the ILEC to disconnect a warm line which it did.
· Units are always dispatched to silent calls from warm lines unless the watch commander had indicated otherwise. When there are higher priority calls at the same time, the silent or static warm line call will be given a lower priority. Standard protocol is to always attempt call back on a silent or static call but usually the call back to the warm line encounters static or there is no answer because there is no phone attached to the warm line.
· Call history from the address which might identify problem warm lines and prevent future dispatches, is usually not researched in response to the call because it requires an extra step that is typically not possible due to demands of answering other calls.
· The dispatch log is usually not updated with what the police learned from the location of the warm line call although this practice varies with the shift and among PSAPs. No PSAP routinely analyzed call history to systematically identify warm line addresses with a history of repetitive false calls.
· Weather was not perceived as a factor in the frequency of calls from warm lines.
· All PSAPs prefer a single point-of-contact at the ILEC for submitting trouble tickets.
3.3. PSAP conclusions and recommendations to the CPUC
· The majority of public safety personnel question the utility of warm lines for accessing 9-1-1 on the basis that they find that most people use cell phones to dial 9-1-1. In addition, they often find that the false 9-1-1 warm line calls come from vacant properties or from locations where the residents were not aware of the existence of warm line service, did not possess a telephone to connect to the warm line, or were subscribing to CLEC phone service. In addition, Verizon warm lines do not permit call back.
· PSAPs confirmed that false calls from “bad lines” (whether warm line or not) waste call taker and dispatched police resources, tie-up incoming 9-1-1 phone lines, and unnecessarily disturb innocent citizens that may reside at the address of the warm line.
· PSAPs will continue to respond to all 9-1-1 calls from warm lines due to liability issues. That is why they request a facilitated process through which they can request the carrier to disconnect all nuisance or problem lines whether warm line or not, especially but not limited to crack houses and vacant houses used for criminal activity.