Text-to-911

November 21, 2012 - The next open meeting of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will be held on Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 1:00pm EST. Agenda items include: a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking related to broadband services; a Report and Order related to increasing support for rural health care services; and a Report, Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking related to Next Generation 911 (NG 9-1-1) services that would develop and deploy Text-to-911.

August 22, 2012 – The Federal Communications Commission’s Emergency Access Advisory Committee (EEAC) will convene a meeting on September 14, 2012.  The EEAC was mandated by the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (CVAA) to investigate technologies, procedures and practices that would enable people with disabilities to access forthcoming Next Generation 911 (NG911) emergency services.  The EEAC working groups will present on topics such as an interim text-to-911 solution, interoperability, incorporating communication assistance at the emergency call center

Ed Price, co-director on the Wireless RERC’s App Factory project was recently featured on NPR’s Marketplace discussing with John Moe, host of Marketplace’s Tech Report, Verizon’s recent testing of a text-to-911 system in Durham, NC.   During the radio segment Ed details some of the issues the text-to-911 solution faces, like how the 911 center currently does not know the exact location of the caller.  However, he also states that while the solution is not yet complete, it could be used as an interim solution for the deaf or hard of hearing.