CTIA told an aide to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai that work remains before carriers can consistently transmit vertical location data on 911 calls to public safety answering points. "Consider a phased-in approach that reflects the nascent and evolving state of commercially available vertical location technologies that will be demonstrated in the upcoming 9-1-1 Location Accuracy Test Bed LLC’s Stage Za,” it recommended, posted Thursday in docket 07-114. Carriers' June comments supported a 3-meter standard for indoor wireless 911 calls, saying technological challenges need solving (see 1906190011).
FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly wants a U.S. unified nonemergency wireless number. Keep 911 for emergencies, yet "streamline the myriad of existing wireless numbers that are used in many parts of the country to report critical situations that do not rise to the level of true emergencies,” he told the Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Emergency Number Association Thursday. “These calls offload routine incidents and other non-emergencies, usually to the state police or highway patrol, while preserving 9-1-1 for more serious purposes.” Many states have a number, including #77 in Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey for dangerous driving, he said. “If you live close to state lines, jurisdictional boundaries, or travel extensively, good luck remembering all of the different short codes,” he said. O’Rielly also highlighted the work he did to fight 911 fee diversion and that colleagues of both parties are against such fee shifting. ATSC 3.0 offers “super-advanced emergency alerting” beyond what's available on most platforms, he said. “No one is quite sure how ATSC 3.0 will develop, if at all, or whether it will be a smashing success,” he said: “While a number of the larger broadcast station groups have embraced the technology and see the benefits that it can bring, the technology remains in the testing phase.”
FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly blasted Montana 911 fee diversion. “Initiate a process to reverse this blatant misappropriation of funds and provide a firm commitment that such a practice will not occur again,” the GOP commissioner wrote Gov. Steve Bullock (D), released Tuesday. Citing 2018 filings, O’Rielly said the state diverted $2 million in 2017 (see 1812190059) and the governor’s office sought to divert more. Montana officials reportedly “intended to use the 9-1-1 fee diversion to help right-size the number of college professors in the Montana University System, including by pursuing buy-outs,” O’Rielly wrote Monday, saying it would be very "egregious." He called “completely inaccurate” the state’s claims that diversion “would not jeopardize Montana’s eligibility for federal grants to modernize its 9-1-1 systems.” The state already “lost out on a portion” of a $109 million grant program, he said. Bullock’s office didn’t comment.
FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly walked back accusations that the U.S. Virgin Islands diverted 911 fees in 2017, in a letter to U.S. Virgin Islands legislator Donna Frett-Gregory Wednesday. O’Rielly said in a July letter (see 1907180030) to the governor that because over $1.2 million in 911 fees were diverted in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2017 he wouldn’t back additional USF funds for USVI without changes to how 911 fees were handled there. “[T]aking all the facts into consideration, it does not appear that 9-1-1 fees collected by the USVI were diverted for calendar year 2017,” O’Rielly conceded, praising Frett-Gregory’s willingness to consider legislative changes to 911 fee collection. He said additional staff review showed the Virgin Islands’ 2018 filings didn’t provide a complete picture of how the fees were collected and allocated. “I appreciate the opportunity to clear-up this situation,” O’Rielly said. “I expect that the USVI will remain in compliance with the non-diversionary provisions contained in U.S. federal law,” he said.
Puerto Rico told FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly it enacted a law June 21 prohibiting transfer of 9-1-1 Emergency System Bureau and other telecom funds for purposes other than ensuring the rendering and stability of the 911 and telecom services, the territory's Telecom Bureau said, posted Tuesday in docket 09-14. O'Rielly says the territory was ending such fee diversion (see 1811290047).
Mutliline telephone systems (MLTS) providers and equipment vendors proposed changes in how the FCC implements new laws on better 911 access, in recent ex parte correspondence in docket 18-261. The commissioners are expected to vote Thursday on a draft report and order circulated in mid-July on implementing Ray Baum's Act (see 1902150036) and Kari's Law Act of 2017 (see 1907090047) to provide better location identification to emergency workers who take phone calls from apartment buildings, offices and other multi-unit spaces and to ensure callers who use MLTS phones can reach 911 quickly (see 1812110025).
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An apparently widespread AT&T outage Tuesday morning prevented some wireless users from being able to contact emergency services, according to AT&T and tweets from first responders in several states. “Earlier this morning some wireless customers may have been unable to connect to 911,” an AT&T spokesperson emailed. “This has been resolved and we apologize to anyone who was affected.” AT&T didn’t specify the precise locations and duration of the outage. Police departments in Minneapolis, Hot Springs, Arkansas, Dutchess County, New York and other far-flung localities tweeted about the outage and described it as “nationwide.” AT&T “is experiencing a nationwide network service outage impacting the ability to reach 9-1-1 on a cell phone if you have AT&T,” tweeted the Frisco, Texas, PD at 7:45 a.m CDT. Minneapolis PD reported service being restored in a matter of hours. The National Emergency Number Association didn’t comment.
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AT&T supports a 3-meter standard vertical location (z-axis) accuracy metric for indoor wireless calls to 911 but technological challenges remain. The FCC got varying advice in initial comments (see 1905210061) and replies show little movement toward consensus. Replies were due FCC Tuesday in docket 07-114 and most posted Wednesday.