Major Wireless Carriers Say They're On Track to Making Text-to-911 Possible
The four national wireless carriers are on target to make text-to-911 messages available to all public safety answering points capable or receiving them by a May 15, 2014, deadline, they said in reports filed this week at the National Emergency Number Association. That deadline stems from a voluntary agreement Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile signed with NENA and the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials last year, under FCC pressure (CD Dec 10 p1). All four carriers said they're already transmitting bounceback messages to subscribers who try to send emergency texts before 911 call centers can handle them.
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Verizon Wireless said it’s working with a vendor, TeleCommunication Systems, and expects to make text available in three forms to PSAPs by the deadline. These forms are SMS using a Web browser client, under which PSAP operators would log into an SMS911 gateway to receive and send 911 SMS messages; SMS to TTY, in which text messages are converted to text telephone (TTY) baudot tones prior to delivery to the PSAP and return TTY baudot tones are converted to text messages for transmission to the subscribers; and SMS over direct IP, in which a PSAP would have its own dedicated, redundant IP circuits to the SMS911 gateway. Verizon said it’s already working with 11 local jurisdictions on text-to-911. They are listed in the report (http://bit.ly/19YgD6w).
AT&T said it has yet to deploy a system for sending text to 911, but is working toward a trial in Tennessee to start later this year. “While we are investigating the possibility of another trial in another state, we have received eleven requests (two statewide requests, and nine county-specific requests) to provide text to 911 services,” AT&T said in its report (http://bit.ly/14qTBQk). “AT&T’s ability to launch additional trials or deploy the service to requesting PSAPs in advance of the May 2014 deadline will depend greatly on the degree of compatibility of PSAP solutions with the [Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions'] standards-based solution currently under development."
Sprint has put a number of potential text control center vendors to the test and plans to pick a firm to run its system “in the near future,” the carrier said (http://bit.ly/13lSXXD). “At the end of May, Sprint completed a six-month text-to-911 trial utilizing a hypertext transfer protocol secure solution, utilizing web-based routing, with the State of Vermont. ... Sprint continued its active participation in standards bodies and industry working groups, along with cooperative efforts with public safety answering points across the country."
T-Mobile said it has selected a vendor and is still designing a system for transmitting texts to 911. “T-Mobile has started laboratory connectivity efforts with the vendor,” the carrier said (http://bit.ly/19Yq1Hp). “T-Mobile is making progress with designing and developing an interim text-to-911 solution as a step towards a comprehensive Next Generation 911 system."
"This is an important milestone on the path to ubiquitous text-to-911 service,” said NENA CEO Brian Fontes. “Due to the incremental nature of text-to-911 deployment, it is essential that the public be made aware of when and where text-to-911 is available. NENA thanks the FCC and the wireless carriers for taking this swift action that nearly eliminates the risk of citizens in need mistakenly believing that a text message for assistance has been received by 9-1-1 in areas where the service is unavailable.”