a method of locating a mobile telephone includes steps of receiving , transmitting , increasing and determining . in the receiving step , a first base station receives a call from a mobile telephone , the call including a dialed number and a tdma signal . in the transmitting step , the base station transmits a control message to the mobile telephone when the dialed number meets a predetermined criterion , such as being 911 . the control message instructs the mobile telephone to transmit the tdma signal at a maximum power . in the increasing step , the mobile telephone increases the tdma signal to maximum power in response to the control message . then in the determining step , location information for the mobile telephone is determined based on at least one characteristic of the tdma signal received at at least one of the first base station and other base stations . in an alternate embodiment , the method is practiced in a mobile telephone and the power level is automatically increased in response to the dialed number meeting a predetermined criterion .