textto911
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Carriers have to let you text 911 by the end of the year
You've had the option of texting 911 in a handful of US cities for a couple of months, thanks in part to voluntary efforts from bigger cellphone carriers. However, the FCC doesn't want you to be left out solely because you're on a smaller network. The agency has just adopted rules requiring that all American wireless providers have the capability for text-to-911 by the end of the year. You won't necessarily get emergency messaging by that point, but carriers will have six months to implement it in a given region if a local call center makes a request.
Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile agree to collectively push text-to-911 capabilities by 2014
We've been hearing about new capabilities for emergency 911 services for years, but it looks like the industry is ready to move as one to make text-to-911 a reality across the US. The Big Four wireless carriers, as well as The 911 Association and the Association for Public-Safety Communications Officials International has submitted an agreement to the FCC that outlines plans to work together on standards, procedures and technology deployments that will provide a "seamless introduction" of the tech across the US. They're not guaranteeing it will be available everywhere in two years, but the specific signposts noted are support for bounce-back notifications by June 30th, 2013 that tell texters when the service isn't available in their area and a "commitment" to nationwide rollouts by May 15th, 2014. So far, efforts to make your thumbs more useful in an emergency have been disjointed, but a concerted effort by industry giants should let you avoid busy signals and dropped calls at the worst possible time sooner rather than later. Check out a press release from the group, as well as a word from the FCC (which will consider the proposal on December 12th), after the break or the agreement itself in PDF form at the source link.
AT&T teams up with the state of Tennessee to start text-to-911 trials
Verizon's certainly at the forefront when it comes to involving text-based emergency services with mobile devices in the US, and thus it's natural for rival AT&T to have to keep up in this department -- much like with those Long Term Evolution rollouts. The good news is that AT&T has announced it's partnering with the Tennessee administration in hopes of taking advantage of the state's "next-generation" 911 IP infrastructure; one which has been in the works for a few years now. Naturally, the trials are limited to AT&T subscribers in The Volunteer State, and for those folks the text-to-911 process will be as self-explanatory as it sounds, with the Rethink Possible carrier taking care of all the backend work by sending such messages to emergency call services. While it's indeed only a small chunk of the country, it's definitely a step in the right direction -- that said, only time will tell how efficient this solution can be.
