Verizon Selects 911 Text Message Partner

Ready or not, public safety comm center will begin receiving 911 text messages from some Verizon Wireless customers starting early next year, the company has announced. In a press release last Thursday, Verizon said it has selected TeleCommunications Systems Inc. to “participate in an initiative” to allow its cellular customers to send SMS text messages requesting emergency assistance. The press release did warn its customers they should, “always first try to contact a 911 center by making a voice call,” but said SMS text messages, “will offer an alternative for customers on the Verizon Wireless network who are deaf or hard of hearing and cannot make voice calls or who could be placed in additional danger by speaking.” Verizon spokesperson Marjorie Hsu described Verizon as, “at the forefront of 911 public-safety innovations.” However, Hsu did also not describe the many identified problems with using text messages to transmit emergency messages, including no intelligent routing, no guarantee of delivery, no guarantee of timely delivery, no acknowledgement to the sender, and no location data sent with the text message. There are just a handful of comm centers now accepting text messages sent to 911, and there are no standardized policies and procedures for handling emergency text messages. Some comm center managers are afraid 911 text messaging will dramatically increase the number of prank and accidental messages to comm centers. Read a comparison of a 911 voice calls and 911 text messages here, and on that Web page also download (pdf) a study of text messaging limitations written by an independent group.