Wednesday, October 8, 2014

You Will Soon Be Able to Text 911 for Help

FINALLY! You Can Soon Text Your Emergency


In a move that brings emergency services into the 21st century, you'll soon be able to text 911 for urgent assistance.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued a ruling that requires all cellular service providers to make texting 911 a possibility for its customers. The requirement will not only help save lives — especially in situations where a voice call might not be possible — it will also give those who are deaf, hard of hearing or have speech disabilities a better way to get immediate assistance.

The rules apply to wireless carries (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon) as well as "interconnected" text messaging providers that allow users to send texts to and from U.S. phone numbers. However, it doesn't apply to messaging apps that only support "communications among users of games or social media."
The FCC said text-to-911 should not replace calling 911, and serve only as a complement to the existing service.

"Today’s action will make text-to-911 more uniformly available and keeps pace with how Americans communicate," the FCC said in a statement. "More than one hundred 911 call centers serving portions of 16 states and two entire states (Vermont and Maine) are now accepting emergency texts, and there are already reports of lives saved."
The organization didn't say if location-based data will be used to trace text messages, and didn't address if the inability to ask immediate follow-up questions (which, depending on the situation, might be done more quickly on the phone) could complicate matters. 

See full article at: http://mashable.com/2014/08/08/text-911-for-help/

No comments:

Post a Comment