Tennessee approved a statewide trial of text-to-911 service as part of a new emergency service Internet Protocol network (ESInet), AT&T said Tuesday. “AT&T will work with the Tennessee Emergency Communications Board to provide a Text to 9-1-1 trial service, allowing for emergency 9-1-1 Short Message Service (SMS) text messages from AT&T wireless subscribers to be received by Tennessee 9-1-1 call centers,” the carrier said (http://xrl.us/bnon6d). “The trial will use the existing ESInet and statewide IP network backbone, key components in the state of Tennessee’s Next-Generation 9-1-1 plan.” National Emergency Number Association CEO Brian Fontes “applauds” the trial and anticipates text-to-911’s availability nationwide, he said in a statement Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bnon5n). The trial “will enable PSAPs [public safety answering points] in Tennessee to begin receiving 9-1-1 SMS texts from AT&T wireless subscribers through the state’s ESInet” and “will allow PSAPs to develop best practices and methods to receive and integrate these types of emergency communications in the future,” AT&T said.

Carriers already have multiple incentives to make their systems robust in the event of emergencies, and the FCC shouldn’t impose additional regulations, CTIA said in reply comments to a public notice asking about communications following the June 29 derecho wind storm. T-Mobile and MetroPCS offered similar comments. Carriers potentially face new backup power requirements in the wake of the 911 problems encountered in the days following the massive storm, which packed high winds and shut off power to millions (CD July 20 p1). The FCC imposed a requirement once before, later dropping the post-Hurricane Katrina mandate (CD Dec 2/08 p1) before it could take effect. Several jurisdictions in the Mid-Atlantic region expressed continuing 911 concerns.

The Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) recommended testing requirements for backup power in light of 911 problems following the June 29 derecho wind storm that hit parts of the Northeast and Midwest. APCO also raised questions about Verizon’s response after problems emerged, the subject of an FCC investigation (CD July 3 p1). But industry commenters counseled the FCC against imposing backup power requirements or other new regulations on carriers as a result of the problems that followed the storm.

The June 29 “derecho” storm cut off 911 calls to four Mid-Atlantic public safety answering points and did more damage as a whole than Hurricane Irene, said a report by Verizon. It’s set for delivery at a closed-door meeting of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) Wednesday. With the FCC poised to look again at whether it should impose backup power rules, Verizon went out of its way to clarify that its backup power facilities worked with only two exceptions, even though the carrier lost power at 100 locations. The derecho-related problems are the subject of an ongoing FCC investigation. The council first voted to investigate July 11 and said “the elected leadership of our region expects far better than this” (http://xrl.us/bnkpi8).

The Texas 9-1-1 Alliance, the Texas Commission on State Emergency Communications and the Municipal Emergency Communication Districts Association urged the FCC to adopt location accuracy requirements for multi-line telephone systems (MLTS). “In almost all Internet Protocol MLTS contexts, E-911 solutions are feasible,” the groups said (http://xrl.us/bnjq8i). “The fact that the service may be ‘nomadic’ is not a valid reason for the Commission to delay in proceeding to promulgate nationwide E-911 IP MLTS rules or best practices. Certain wireless IP and campus hot-spots and hybrid situations may present special and unique challenges, but these can be addressed separately via exceptions as the Commission has done in its wireless E911 rules to address mobile satellite services and wireless indoor location issues."

Motorola Solutions upgraded its computer-aided dispatch system at the York-Poquoson-Williamsburg Emergency Communications Center in Virginia, the company said Monday (http://xrl.us/bnjm9y). The new dispatch system is known as PremierOne CAD. It comes with an “intuitive user interface,” flexibility that allows multiple agencies to use it, “geographic information system (GIS)-driven” sensibilities and “integrates with the Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG 9-1-1) phone system, ASTRO 25 radio system and mobile data terminals in the field, the company said. That leverages assets and technologies in use by York and Poquoson Counties and Williamsburg first responders, the company said. The emergency communications center oversees a region of about 90,000 residents, it said.

Ohio will be revisiting the details of its Lifeline service thanks to two recent applications, the Ohio Public Utilities Commission unanimously confirmed in its meeting Wednesday. TracFone Wireless and Virgin Mobile USA had both applied on June 22 for a rehearing of the commission’s May 23 finding and order, which “established certain requirements for the provision of Lifeline service, including those necessitated by the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) Report and Order in In the Matter of Lifeline and Link Up Reform and Modernization, Lifeline and Link Up, Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, Advancing Broadband Availability Through Digital Literacy Training,” the commission said (http://xrl.us/bnhfj9). It judges that TracFone and Virgin Mobile have “sufficient reason” to question its ruling and now promises “further consideration,” the commission said. In its June 22 objection, Virgin Mobile called the Ohio commission’s Lifeline order “unreasonable and unlawful,” “contrary to the public interest in that it is discriminatory and anti-competitive with respect to prepaid Lifeline service providers,” and in requesting a rehearing, added it hopes the commission “reverse its finding that reimbursement from USAC to prepaid wireless Lifeline providers is includable for purposes of calculating the 9-1-1 assessment” and “reverse its order directing the remittance of 9-1-1 fees that would have been collected retroactively to the date of ETC designation” (http://xrl.us/bnhfma). In its application for a rehearing, TracFone asserts “non-billed, free Lifeline services are not prepaid services and Ohio law imposes no such 911 fee remittance obligations on non-billed free Lifeline services where there is no available mechanism for collecting such fees from qualified low-income consumers of such non-billed free services,” and said one subset of ETCs, wireless resellers, shouldn’t be singled out for a retroactive obligation for fees that couldn’t have been collected.

911 calling problems were widespread in the wake of the derecho that hit the Midwest and East Coast June 29, Public Safety Bureau Chief David Turetsky said in a report Thursday at the FCC meeting. The agency sought comment on communications breakdowns Wednesday (CD July 19 p15). Turetsky said 911 problems hit parts of country beyond the already well-publicized incidents in northern Virginia. Chairman Julius Genachowski said the FCC will revisit the issue of backup power for telecom facilities.

It’s feasible for Multi-Line Telephone System manufacturers to provide precise 911 location information, but groups that commented Friday differed on the proper role of the FCC in encouraging that capability. Some thought the FCC should pass rules explicitly extending location service requirements to MLTS manufacturers and operators, while others said the FCC was better positioned as an agency to guide the development of voluntary industry standards.

Telecom relay service communications assistants need “a faster speed-of-answer benchmark, skills-based routing, and national certification,” consumer advocates for the deaf told the FCC in a June 28 meeting, said a recent filing (http://xrl.us/bndrzz). The advocates supported a speed-of-answer benchmark faster than the 30-second average if feasible, the filing said. Relay service priorities will include split-screen technology, the filing noted. Challenges are that “VRS must be compatible with nextgeneration 9-1-1;” “interoperability tests that show more than one-half of all VRS phones have problems talking to one another;” and “the roles of VRS provider and equipment/SIP registrar are not clearly separated in the VRS reform proposals,” said Christian Vogler, director of Gallaudet University’s Technology Access Program, the filing said. “Just as teachers and other professionals are required to receive certification, so too should interpreters receive certification,” the advocates noted, despite apparent opposition from interpreters. They also want to choose specific CAs: “Consumers want to be able to select the communications assistant who handles their VRS calls, just as they are able to do with community based organizations that provide interpreters,” the filing said. The advocates included representatives from the Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, National Association of the Deaf and the Association of Late Deafened Adults.