Text-to-911

November 2016 – The Wireless RERC published a research brief summarizing the results of a study of 9-1-1 policies at the state and local levels in relation to text-to-911 and next generation 9-1-1 (NG911) deployments in the United States. The brief is a high-level summary of state emergency communications offices and public-safety answering point (PSAP) policies regarding text-to-911 and/or NG911 as it relates to people with disabilities’ access to emergency services.

October 2014 – The FCC posted two new videos this month that include American Sign Language (ASL) interpretations of information concerning emergency services and the FCC’s Advanced Video Communications Platform and in ASL Video. The original video that was posted in June 2014 provided information about the launch of an ASL Consumer Support Line that allows people who are deaf and hard of hearing to use the service via videophone.

August 2014 - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a press release August 8, 2014 establishing compliance deadlines for text-to-911 services. The adopted rules complement previous voluntary commitments made by the top four wireless carriers to support text-to-911 by May 2014. In addition to AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-mobile, certain IP-based text applications and the remaining wireless carriers are expected to support text-to-911 by the end of the year.

May 2014 – The Wireless RERC filed reply comments to the FCC’s Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding Facilitating the Deployment of Text-to911 and Other Next Generation 911 Applications. In accord with Sprint’s comments, the Wireless RERC agreed that, while relay service providers perform a valuable role in providing telecommunications access for people with disabilities, within the context of 911 calls relay services are not ideal.

March 2014 — The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) launched a new website this week highlighting best practices currently in place for implementation of text-to-911.  The website is designed to provide resources for text providers and public safety answering points (PSAPs), including lessons learned by the State of Vermont during their text-to-911 rollout and information on various technology solutions that can be used for text-to-911 implementations.  Currently the site provides sources from public safety organizations, such as the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) and Ass