FCC Issues Interim TRS Rules

The issue of 911 access by those who are hearing impaired, blind or otherwise incapable of using a voice telephone to dial 911 has been on the burner for over 10 years, and now the FCC has issued another Report & Order on Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS). The issue of handling the calls has generally been solved by local PSAPs equipped with the proper gear. The essential issue now is the routing of emergency calls to the appropriate PSAP, hopefully the one that would directly dispatch assistance to the caller. In this latest Order, the FCC issued some rules to make it easier for so-called “communications assistants” to take caller information and relay it to the PSAP. But the FCC points out that the rules are, “pending adoption of a solution that will permit Internet-based TRS providers to immediately and automatically place the outbound leg of an emergency call to an appropriate public safety answering point (PSAP).” Download (pdf) the Order here.