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A call box or callbox is a (usually metal) box containing a special-purpose direct line telephone or other telecommunications device which has been used by various industries and institutions as a way for employees or clients at a remote location to contact a central dispatch office.
Some taxi companies used callboxes before the introduction of two-way radio dispatching as a way for drivers to report to the dispatch office and receive customer requests for service. Taxi callboxes were installed at taxicab stands, where taxis would queue for trips.
Also, before the introduction of two-way radios, some police agencies installed callboxes or "police boxes" at street locations as a way for beat officers to report to their dispatch office. Before the development of emergency telephone numbers and the proliferation of mobile phones, some firefighting agencies installed callboxes at various street locations so that a pedestrian or driver spotting a fire could quickly report it.
A related device is a trackside telephone, a communication unit that is located along the route of a railroad. These may be wired landline phones or wireless ones. Rail networks have this type of phone installed so that rail operating centres and trackside users can communicate. [1]
A growing number of retailers use call boxes in their stores as a way for shoppers to summon service (Shopper Call Box) as well as for store employees to summon assistance (Director Call Box). Retail call boxes are generally wireless devices that communicate to in-store communication devices via radio frequency (303 MHz) or through 802.11 networks.
Call boxes also exist at regular intervals along the sides of many highways and rapid transit lines around the world, where drivers or passengers can use them to contact a control centre in case of an accident or other emergency. These call boxes are often marked by a blue strobe light which flashes briefly every few seconds. [2] Boxes in remote areas often now have solar cells to power them.
US highways with callboxes have included most of the major highways in California, Florida's Turnpike and Interstate 185 in Georgia. Rather than a telephone, these devices simply have four buttons to push: blue for accident or other emergency (send police/fire/medical), green for major service (mechanical breakdown, send a tow truck), black for minor service (out-of-gas or flat tire), and yellow for cancel.[ clarification needed ] Roads in other places may have voice call boxes, though these are more expensive and must either be wired long distances, or rely on spotty rural mobile phone service.
Many cellular callboxes in California now include a TTY interface for hearing-impaired users.
Call boxes have the advantage that their location is immediately known, while mobile phone users in trouble do not necessarily know where they are. In California, a cellular call to 911 connects to the California Highway Patrol, whereas a callbox will connect to a dedicated regional answer center. The DTMF automatic number identification (ANI) or caller ID from the callbox will be used to display the callbox sign number and its location on the computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system.
An emergency callbox can also have a secondary function as a remote terminal unit (RTU). Experimental systems deployed around Sacramento, California, were used to connect fog sensors and closed-circuit television using the cellular transceiver within the callbox. [3]
In California, freeway callboxes were used about 98,000 times in 2001. That number dropped by 80 percent to 19,600 times in 2010, or about 1 call per box per month. The cost of callboxes for the Service Authority for Freeways and Expressways (SAFE) program in the San Francisco Bay area is $1.7 million annually. [4] As a result, since 2009 approximately half of the callboxes have been removed from certain California highways, preferentially leaving them only in places where cell phone coverage is poor. [5]
Florida previously had callboxes installed at one-mile intervals along all its Interstate Highways as well as Florida's Turnpike. These boxes were all removed by 2014 after a 65-percent decrease in usage over an eight-year period, in line with increased mobile phone usage. The boxes were costing the state roughly $1 million per year to keep operational. [6]
On many North American college and university campuses, callboxes are installed at various locations around campus so that students, staff, or visitors can contact campus security in case of an emergency. New York University, for example, hard-wires their call boxes to the university-wide communications system. [7] Other voice call boxes use mobile phone service, and are solar-powered, so no wiring need be extended to the middle of a parking lot or other remote location. As a result, they can function during a power outage if the cell site is still powered.
New York City has a large system of call boxes intended to summon a police or fire department response, where calls are routed to local dispatchers, instead of the general 9-1-1 queue. The New York City Fire Department reports that 2.6 percent of emergency calls they receive originate from call boxes, 88 percent of which are false alarms. [8] City officials have attempted to remove the callboxes, however in 2011 federal judge Robert W. Sweet denied the City's request to lift an injunction preventing their removal. [9]
Call boxes may be either wired or wireless. Wireless systems use radio frequencies in the VHF or UHF business band radio spectrum. Many callboxes can be programmed to be compatible with virtually any brand of VHF or UHF business band portable or fixed-base radio. Many in the United States require an FCC license, but some are certified for use on special FCC license-free business frequencies.
If the required distance is greater than the range of the wireless call box, an external antenna can extend the range. In the FCC-licensed frequency range, radio repeaters can extend this range even more. [10]
A wireless call box that runs on solar power can be truly wireless, since no power lines need to be run to it.
In the United States, the Gamewell Company of Newton, Massachusetts, manufactured fire alarm call boxes, beginning in the 1880s. [11] These would telegraph a location code to the central fire station when a lever was pulled in the box. [12]
Although it is difficult to determine when and where the earliest highway emergency phones were developed, undoubtedly one of the earliest examples were the freeway phones developed in Western Australia in 1966. This system was developed by Alan Harman, an employee of a Western Australian security firm, Central Station Security Company, Electronic Signals Pty Ltd, who came up with the idea after reading of a pile-up on the Kwinana Freeway. The newspaper article mentioned that assistance had been difficult to provide to those involved in the pile-up. The system Harman envisaged was a series of telephone units in a box on a short post, spaced at 160-metre intervals (520 ft) along Perth's freeways. Picking up the handset would trigger an alarm in the Main Roads control centre and police, fire or ambulance could then be determined by the caller. Harman developed the system with the approval of the Main Roads Commissioner and Chief Engineer, by adapting the existing design of communication facilities used at the security firm in which he worked. [13]
A wireless network is a computer network that uses wireless data connections between network nodes. Wireless networking allows homes, telecommunications networks and business installations to avoid the costly process of introducing cables into a building, or as a connection between various equipment locations. Admin telecommunications networks are generally implemented and administered using radio communication. This implementation takes place at the physical level (layer) of the OSI model network structure.
In radio communication, a transceiver is an electronic device which is a combination of a radio transmitter and a receiver, hence the name. It can both transmit and receive radio waves using an antenna, for communication purposes. These two related functions are often combined in a single device to reduce manufacturing costs. The term is also used for other devices which can both transmit and receive through a communications channel, such as optical transceivers which transmit and receive light in optical fiber systems, and bus transceivers which transmit and receive digital data in computer data buses.
9-1-1, usually written 911, is an emergency telephone number for Argentina, Canada, Dominican Republic, Jordan, Mexico, Palau, Panama, the Philippines, Sint Maarten, the United States, and Uruguay, as well as the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), one of eight N11 codes. Like other emergency numbers around the world, this number is intended for use in emergency circumstances only. Using it for any other purpose is a crime in most jurisdictions.
Enhanced 911 is a system used in North America to automatically provide the caller's location to 911 dispatchers. 911 is the universal emergency telephone number in the region. In the European Union, a similar system exists known as E112 and known as eCall when called by a vehicle.
An emergency telephone number is a number that allows a caller to contact local emergency services for assistance. The emergency number differs from country to country; it is typically a three-digit number so that it can be easily remembered and dialed quickly. Some countries have a different emergency number for each of the different emergency services; these often differ only by the last digit.
Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter. Radio waves with frequencies above the UHF band fall into the super-high frequency (SHF) or microwave frequency range. Lower frequency signals fall into the VHF or lower bands. UHF radio waves propagate mainly by line of sight; they are blocked by hills and large buildings although the transmission through building walls is strong enough for indoor reception. They are used for television broadcasting, cell phones, satellite communication including GPS, personal radio services including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, walkie-talkies, cordless phones, satellite phones, and numerous other applications.
Automatic vehicle location is a means for automatically determining and transmitting the geographic location of a vehicle. This vehicle location data, from one or more vehicles, may then be collected by a vehicle tracking system to manage an overview of vehicle travel. As of 2017, GPS technology has reached the point of having the transmitting device be smaller than the size of a human thumb, able to run 6 months or more between battery charges, easy to communicate with smartphones — all for less than $20 USD.
Automatic meter reading (AMR) is the technology of automatically collecting consumption, diagnostic, and status data from water meter or energy metering devices and transferring that data to a central database for billing, troubleshooting, and analyzing. This technology mainly saves utility providers the expense of periodic trips to each physical location to read a meter. Another advantage is that billing can be based on near real-time consumption rather than on estimates based on past or predicted consumption. This timely information coupled with analysis can help both utility providers and customers better control the use and production of electric energy, gas usage, or water consumption.
Base station is – according to the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Radio Regulations (RR) – a "land station in the land mobile service."
A cordless telephone or portable telephone has a portable telephone handset that connects by radio to a base station connected to the public telephone network. The operational range is limited, usually to the same building or within some short distance from the base station.
A two-way radio is a radio transceiver, which is used for bidirectional person-to-person voice communication with other users with similar radios, in contrast to a broadcast receiver, which only receives transmissions.
A public-safety answering point (PSAP), sometimes called public-safety access point, is a call center where emergency/non-emergency calls initiated by any landline, mobile or Voice Over Internet Protocol ("VOIP") subscriber is terminated. It can also happen that when 112 is dialed in then a logic is implemented by mobile or network operators to route the call to the nearest police station. It is a call center in almost all the countries including Canada and the United States responsible for answering calls to an emergency telephone number for police, firefighting, and ambulance services. Trained telephone operators are also usually responsible for dispatching these emergency services. Most PSAPs are now capable of caller location for landline calls, and many can handle mobile phone locations as well, where the mobile phone company has a handset to location system. Some can also use voice broadcasting where outgoing voice mail can be sent to many phone numbers at once, in order to alert people to a local emergency such as a chemical spill.
A security alarm is a system designed to detect intrusions, such as unauthorized entry, into a building or other areas, such as a home or school. Security alarms protect against burglary (theft) or property damage, as well as against intruders. Examples include personal systems, neighborhood security alerts, car alarms, and prisons.
An intercom, also called an intercommunication device, intercommunicator, or interphone, is a stand-alone voice communications system for use within a building, small collection of buildings or portably within a small coverage area, which functions independently of the public telephone network. Intercoms are generally mounted permanently in buildings and vehicles, but can also be detachable and portable. Intercoms can incorporate connections to public address loudspeaker systems, walkie talkies, telephones, and other intercom systems. Some intercom systems incorporate control of devices such as signal lights and door latches.
An emergency telephone is a phone specifically provided for making calls to emergency services and is most often found in a place of special danger or where it is likely that there will be a need to make emergency calls. It is also sometimes known as blue lights.
Dispatch is a procedure for assigning employees (workers) or vehicles to customers. Industries that dispatch include taxicabs, couriers, emergency services, as well as home and commercial services such as maid services, plumbing, HVAC, pest control and electricians.
A fire alarm box, fire alarm call box, or fire alarm pull box is a device used for notifying a fire department of a fire or a fire alarm activation. Typically installed on street corners or on the outside of commercial buildings in urban areas, they were the main means of summoning firefighters before the general availability of telephones. Fire Alarm Call Boxes are still widely used in many cities and towns.
Mobile radio or mobiles refer to wireless communications systems and devices which are based on radio frequencies, and where the path of communications is movable on either end. There are a variety of views about what constitutes mobile equipment. For US licensing purposes, mobiles may include hand-carried,, equipment. An obsolete term is radiophone.
Remote controls are used any time a two-way radio base station is located away from the desk or office where communication originates. For example, a dispatch center for taxicabs may have an office downtown but have a base station on a distant mountain top. A Tone remote, also known as an EIA Tone remote, is a signaling system used to operate a two-way radio base station by some form of remote control.
California uses a postmile highway location marker system on all of its state highways, including U.S. Routes and Interstate Highways. The postmile markers indicate the distance a route travels through individual counties, as opposed to milestones that indicate the distance traveled through a state. The postmile system is the only route reference system used by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). The system was operative by 1966.
