Time for FCC To Drop Requirement Retired Cellphones Can Still Call 911, APCO Says
APCO told the FCC that, now that comments are in, it should move forward with the agency's proposal to end a requirement that nonservice-initialized (NSI) handsets -- cellphones no longer connected to a carrier network -- still must be able to connect to 911. In reply comments, carriers and public safety advocates lined up in opposition to dropping the requirement, largely as they had in the initial comment round (see 1506080043).
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“Maintaining the status quo, as some advocate, is not the solution,” APCO said. “The Commission has explored this issue for years, while the harm to PSAPs [public service answering points] from abusive, harassing, and fraudulent calls has grown substantially.” Public safety must take all calls to 911 seriously, the group said. “The false nature of the vast majority of NSI calls strains the limited resources of the emergency response community, especially because NSI calls aren’t delivered with location information or a call-back capability. This potentially delays a response to legitimate emergencies, placing the public in greater danger.”
Public safety officials have long pressed the FCC to address what they see as growing problem from prank calls, often from teenagers, to PSAPs (see 0803050126). APCO said it doesn't support any exception to the sunset “whether in limited cases where a device may appear as NSI to a carrier, or in the event that service terminates because pre-paid minutes lapse or a post-paid subscriber fails to remit payment.”
The National Emergency Number Association filed a single-page of reply comments. NENA understands “the rational desire of carriers” to avoid making the required changes to their networks to disable the NSI calling feature, the group said. But “the costs to the public of maintaining the status quo -- both in dollar terms and in safety and security terms -- are clearly greater,” NENA said. “In the absence of meaningful alternative proposals, then, NENA urges the Commission to issue a Report and Order sun-setting the NSI rules as soon as practicable.”
But CTIA said no longer allowing emergency calls on NSI handsets “would cause significant confusion and uncertainty for wireless callers.” PSAPs themselves are best positioned to address fraudulent calls to 911 “through call-blocking within their own networks or customer-premises equipment,” CTIA said. It cited comments from the city of Philadelphia on the extent to which people still rely on retired handsets to reach 911. “Each year, millions of legitimate emergency calls to 9-1-1 are made from NSI wireless handsets and service-initialized handsets that temporarily appear as NSI,” CTIA said. “Legitimate NSI emergency calls are unlikely to decrease in the near future as various organizations continue to promote the use of NSI wireless handsets specifically for 9-1-1 purposes.”
Verizon said NSI calls can save lives. “It is a misperception that all NSI 911 callers are small children, teenage pranksters, or troubled serial callers,” Verizon said. TeleCommunication Systems, a location technology company, estimated as many as 65 percent of NSI 911 calls may come from legitimate callers, and Philadelphia estimates more than 47 percent of the calls could be from legitimate 911 callers, Verizon said.