FCC Committee Posts Text-to-911 Update

A committee formed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has posted presentation materials from its meeting last week, providing insights into the future timelines for implementing text-to-911 services. According to the Emergency Access Advisory Committee (EAAC), eight jurisdictions are now accepting SMS text messages from citizens who use “911” as the destination number, but added that it could be “many years” before the last public safety answering point (PSAP) adopts the service. The committee primarily handles issues of equal access to the nation’s emergency reporting systems, and has focused on texting 911 as a way to provide improved service to people with disabilities. The presentations covered many of the issues raised when cellular 911 technology was being adopted, including funding, liability and technical standards. For example, one presentation noted that in 2012 there was, “chaos with multiple vendor solutions per city/county/state.” Without standards, “Texting to 9-1-1 (was) in danger of turning into (a) regional service, unlike nationwide voice calling to 9-1-1.” Determining a texter’s location is still problematic, especially for indoor locations. Download (pdf) the individual presentations after the break.

Click these links to download (pdf) the presentation documents posted by the FCC.

• Emergency Access Advisory Committee – Update on Text-to-911
• Location for NG911, by Harold Schulzrinne
• Service Coordination Group Milestones
• ATIS/TIA Joint SMS-to-911 Standards, Activity Progress
• Timeline Alignment, Subcommittee 7
• TTY Transition Group, Extra Reports

There are eight PSAPs now accepting SMS text messages, in some cases just from one carrier.

This diagram from one EAAC presentation shows the complexity of the systems required to accept, process and route SMS text messages to a PSAP.