dag@uunet.uu.net> (06/05/91)
A local newscast reported on some interesting highway emergency phones this morning. It seems that CalTrans is installing phones throughout the San Francisco bay area on major highways. The phones connect you directly to to highway patrol and in will be spaced as close as a half-mile apart. The phones will be installed in pairs, on each side of the highway, to discourage people from crossing busy roads. All that is fairly standard, the interesting part is that the phones are all cellular and run on solar power so no wires are needed to hook 'em up. The reported said that the phones could be installed in about twenty minutes. They are all being paid for by a one dollar surcharge on vehicle registration. They did not mention which cellular carrier the phones operate on and whether that company is getting any money. All bay area counties are getting the phones except SF, Marin and Napa because voters in those counties turned down the surcharge. The idea is pretty neat, but it does raise a few interesting questions. I wonder what kind of security measures are taken. I'm not to worried about some bad guy over hearing a distress call from an helpless motorist at four in the morning and getting there before the cops. I would be interested in whether or not someone could steal the serial number to one of the phones and reprogram their own phone in order to make calls at someone else's expense. It would also be interesting to see if most of the phones have the same serial number or if they are all different, and whether or not the phones are smart enough to send their location to the dispatcher when a call is placed. Cheers, darren alex griffiths (415) 708-3294 dag@well.sf.ca.us
Brian Kantor <brian@ucsd.edu> (06/08/91)
In article <telecom11.429.6@eecs.nwu.edu> decwrl!well.sf.ca.us!well! dag@uunet.uu.net (Darren Alex Griffiths) writes: > A local newscast reported on some interesting highway emergency phones > this morning. It seems that CalTrans is installing phones throughout > the San Francisco bay area on major highways.... Yes, they are solar-powered cellphones. When you open the door on the phone box (a bright yellow weatherproof housing about a cubic foot or so), the phone autodials the local CHP office on a special hunt group, downline signals its identification code (which is mapped by a computer at the CHP office to the location), and then cuts through to voice so you can speak to the dispatcher or phone attendant, who will take care of your problem or patch you through to someone who can. That means that even if you can't make an intelligible noise, they'll ask the beat patrol unit to stop by and check on a phone that's open, so it's enough to stagger from the burning wreck, grab the door open, then faint. The phones also have other sensors to signal low battery [presumably solar supply failure], tampering, tilt, or self-check diagnostic failure. I'm assuming the ones in SF are the same as the ones we've had here in SoCal for a couple of years; they're manufactured here and just over the border in Mexico by a division of Cubic Corp, and checked and installed by their techs. I'm told the phone number dialled, ident, and other such things are burnt into a ROM in the phone controller which also holds the software; apparently it's designed to make it difficult to use the phone for any other purpose were you to liberate one from its roadside loneliness. [This is from a friend of mine who is a senior field install/repair tech for these, and has travelled all over the state supervising installations. I didn't take notes but I think the previous description is fairly accurate.] Brian
brian@uunet.uu.net> (06/08/91)
In article <telecom11.429.6@eecs.nwu.edu> decwrl!well.sf.ca.us!well! dag@uunet.uu.net (Darren Alex Griffiths) writes: > A local newscast reported on some interesting highway emergency phones > this morning. It seems that CalTrans is installing phones throughout > the San Francisco bay area on major highways. The phones connect you > All that is fairly standard, the interesting part is that the phones > are all cellular and run on solar power so no wires are needed to hook > 'em up. The reported said that the phones could be installed in about We have had those here on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway for some time now. Pretty neat idea. As far as I know, the cellular companies cannot charge for emergency 911 calls. Whether this applies to non-911 emergency calls from the phones in question, I don't know. Even if the local government was required to pay for the calls, it's nothing like the cost ofinstalling wiring to each location. brian
David Lemson <lemson@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> (06/09/91)
decwrl!well.sf.ca.us!well!dag@uunet.uu.net (Darren Alex Griffiths) writes: > A local newscast reported on some interesting highway emergency phones > this morning. It seems that CalTrans is installing phones throughout > the San Francisco bay area on major highways. The phones connect you > All that is fairly standard, the interesting part is that the phones > are all cellular and run on solar power so no wires are needed to hook > 'em up. The reported said that the phones could be installed in about Are you sure they're cellular? We have those along I-270 between St. Louis, MO and Collinsville, IL, and I believe they are either VHF or UHF, judging by the antennas. It's easier to build a lower-power- requiring radio that's VHF than Cellular! Also, these types of radios would be cheaper to operate, I'm sure (since you "cut out the middleman" by not using a cellular carrier). Also, I've seen these types of radios in Israel, where it's not surprising to see solar-powered utilities on the sides of the road. The radios there all have a little "Motorola" flag on them ... free advertising, which must have them gotten a break on the price of the phones. David Lemson University of Illinois Computing Services Consultant Internet : lemson@uiuc.edu UUCP :...!uiucuxc!uiucux1!lemson
lars@spectrum.cmc.com (Lars Poulsen) (06/10/91)
In article <telecom11.429.6@eecs.nwu.edu> decwrl!well.sf.ca.us!well! dag@uunet.uu.net (Darren Alex Griffiths) writes: > It seems that CalTrans is installing phones throughout > the San Francisco bay area on major highways. The phones connect you > directly to to highway patrol and in will be spaced as close as a > half-mile apart. The phones will be installed in pairs, on each side > of the highway ... the phones are all cellular and run on solar power. > They are all being paid for by a one dollar surcharge on vehicle > registration. The same type has recently sprouted along US 101 throughout Santa Barbara County. I *think* the Maricopa Highway (Santa Maria to Bakersfield) is getting them too. I seem to recall that GTE Mobilnet was mentioned when the paper wrote about them three months ago. > ... I would be interested in whether or not someone could steal the > serial number to one of the phones and reprogram their own phone in > order to make calls at someone else's expense. It would also be > interesting to see if most of the phones have the same serial number > or if they are all different, and whether or not the phones are smart > enough to send their location to the dispatcher when a call is placed. I would expect that the ESN is programmed to connect DIRECTLY to CHP; i.e. if you steal the ESN, you can make free calls but only to the police. If the calls are routed through the E911 system, it would make sense to supply location info, but I did not see any mention of this in the article. On a separate note, GTE has just this week-end converted my exchange from a 2EAX (?) to a new shiny 5ESS. I tried to ask if they will be offering ISDN soon, but could not find anyone who knew. Lars Poulsen, SMTS Software Engineer CMC Rockwell lars@CMC.COM
irvin@lombard.dartmouth.edu (06/10/91)
In TELECOM Digest V11 #429, Darren Alex Griffiths writes: > The idea is pretty neat, but it does raise a few interesting > questions. I wonder what kind of security measures are taken. I'm not > to worried about some bad guy over hearing a distress call from an > helpless motorist at four in the morning and getting there before the > cops. Actually, this could be QUITE dangereous. The motorists could be in danger of having a rapist, mugger, etc. over hear the conversation and dash to the site ahead of the cops (I doubt it would much of a feat to beat the cops to the scene). With the number of murders, robberies, etc. that happen to stranded moterists on Interstates, I think this is a serious concern. Tim Irvin
shibumi@uunet.uu.net> (06/11/91)
In Northern California, some of the new phones are outside the main cell areas. Specifically, there are some on Highway One north of Santa Cruz and some on I-580 in the hills between Oakland and Pleasanton. On those phones, they change the usual cell phone antennas for yagis. Most of the yagis on the Santa Cruz units point dead south towards Monterey. As to security, I wouldn't worry too much about it. The usual roadside robbery scam is to put a woman in apparent distress on a deserted road, to encourage concerned motorists to stop. When someone stops and approachs the car, the woman's compatriots appear and relieve the good samaritian of his or her valuables. This scam doesn't appear too often, since one report is usually enough to get the local highway patrol or state police to pay more attention. Kenton A. Hoover Chief Engineer | shibumi@well.sf.ca.us Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link +1 415 332 4335 | shibumi%kc6sst@w6rfn.ampr.org