GPS capable handsets will be required in all cell phones by 2018.

WASHINGTON - The Federal Communications Commission will require all telephone service providers - including those using Voice over the Internet Protocol (VoIP) - to provide GPS capable handsets for new subscribers, by 2018, to pinpoint the location of 911 calls.

However the agency did not set a sunset deadline for the use of phones that do not have GPS software, the location which must be determined by triangulation between cellular towers, for emergency services.

At current adoption rates, the FCC estimates that even without the new rules, 85 percent of cell phone users would have GPS capable handsets by 2018, thus minimizing the burden of complying with the new rules.

VoIP-provided 911 calls are currently treated as if they were landline calls because a significant number of the handsets used by VoIP subscribers are hold-overs from the subscribers' landlines.

However, technological advances have allowed VoIP users to be increasingly mobile, and so the registered land location of the user may not show where the user actually is when making a 911 call. First responders say that knowing the location from which the call originates is essential if the caller becomes incapacitated during the call.

Cellular networks already are required to provide the location of 911 calls using either GPS enabled handsets or by triangulating the caller's location using cellular towers.
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