Method and System for Initiating and Handling an Emergency Call

A portable computing device to make an emergency voice call, comprising:

• a cellular transceiver that communicates with a cellular base station, the cellular transceiver being configured to determine a cellular base station identifier that corresponds to the cellular base station;
• a processor that locates a public safety answering point identifier associated with the cellular base station identifier in a lookup table, the public safety answering point identifier corresponding to a public safety answering point responsible to handle emergency calls being routed through the cellular base station, the processor being configured to identify a voice call destination number associated with the public safety answering point identifier;
• and
• a dialer module that initiates communication with the public safety answering point utilizing the voice call destination number.

A method of making a voice call from a portable computing device, comprising:

• communicating with a cellular base station;
• determining a cellular base station identifier that corresponds to the cellular base station;
• locating a call center identifier associated with the cellular base station identifier, the call center identifier corresponding to a call center responsible to handle calls being routed through the cellular base station;
• identifying a voice call destination number associated with the call center identifier;
• and
• utilizing the voice call destination number in order to communicate with the call center.