FCC Mandates Text-to-911 From All US Wireless Carriers

An anonymous reader writes "On Friday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to require all U.S. wireless carriers and popular messaging applications to support texting to emergency response units via 911. AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile implemented this capability back in 2012; the FCC's vote will make it mandatory for all carriers that operate in the country as well as all messaging applications that interconnect with the SMS structure in the U.S. to follow suit. One technological hurdle this mandate faces is the difficulty of tracing "the exact physical origin of a text message, particularly in residences with multiple floors."" Somehow I doubt that cellphone calls are consistently traceable to that degree, either, and I've lived in houses with extensions spread over several floors, too.

Comments

text is easier to give addresses

[AndroSyn]

I think in some regards being able to send an SMS in an emergency, with important details like the exact address(including quadrant in cities like Washington DC). There are often cases in DC where they send an ambulance or something to the correct street address but the wrong quadrant and end up being 5 miles away from where they need to be.

Re:text is easier to give addresses

[AndroSyn]

GPS doesn't help so much when you are in an apartment building with 50 units.

Carriers aren't the weak point

[PvtVoid]

The problem is that local emergency infrastructure is incapable of handling the technology. Every call 911 from a cell phone, for example, in New York? You get sent to a centralized, state-wide call center, and the first thing they ask is: "What town are you in?" Then they manually route you to an emergency center nearby. They have no infrastructure to use the location info from your phone, despite the fact that it has been mandated in the cell phones themselves for many years. People have died because of this, but there is no funding to upgrade the system.

You can make the phones as high-tech as you wish, if you don't back it up with government funding for the corresponding infrastructure, it's completely useless.

Re:Carriers aren't the weak point

[jbolden]

Look at your phone bill there is a 911 charge on it. There is funding.

Useful for low-coverage areas

[bill_mcgonigle]

Lots of places can get a text through where voice calls will fail. Especially if you're down in a ravine off a road in a marginal area.

Now then, I've had a cell phone for 18 years and nothing has changed (regarding coverage gaps - the bills have gone way up). Curious that the FCC is just noticing this now - maybe one of the Commissioners left the metropolis for a few days.