Text Messaging Featured Article

People have become reliant upon text messaging. But what happens when someone has an emergency situation, and, whether due to a need for silence or a just as a natural response, text 911? Unfortunately, in most areas across the United States the text message won't go through to the 911 land line, leaving the endangered person without the necessary emergency response. The situation is beginning to change though, with limited text-to-911 services being deployed in some areas across 16 states.

One of the new cities to join in on the adoption of text-to-911 is Yuma, Ariz. In an article by one of Yuma's newspapers, the Yuma Sun, it was revealed that the city is planning on implementing text-to-911 services by the end of 2015.

The project to renovate the city's 911 services is a major undertaking, requiring new equipment, software, and an upgrade to the 911 services' infrastructure. City officials, while aiming for mid to late 2015, seem unsure of how long it will take to implement text-to-911 services.

It will also be an expensive undertaking for the city. Fortunately, the state of Arizona has a telecommunications services excise tax, charging $0.20 per month for every mobile and land line in the state. This tax goes into the state emergency telecommunications fund, which will in turn be funding Yuma's new project.

The FCC (News - Alert) has been supporting projects like this too, and in January 2014 the FCC adopted a policy that encourages mobile service providers to enable text-to-911 services. Listed companies will be required to enable the service by the end of 2014. AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile (News - Alert), and Sprint have already jumped into compliance.

Text-to-911 services have the ability to help save lives in cases where a person is unable to speak. There are a range of situations where this might be a possibility, from a robbery where a person is hiding to just a situation where someone is hearing impaired.

However, in most cases a voice call would be a more efficient way of connecting with 911. Voice calls will allow emergency dispatchers to gather information and gauge exactly what sort of response is necessary in an emergency. As text-to-911 becomes adopted in more areas, people must keep in mind that in almost all situations a call is a much better way to get in touch with 911.