Vermont Monday became the first state to let customers...
Vermont Monday became the first state to let customers of the four major carriers text 911 when the state and T-Mobile began implementing the service, said Vermont Enhanced 9-1-1 Board Executive Director David Tucker in an interview Wednesday. Verizon began…
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offering the service in Vermont in 2012, and AT&T and Sprint followed last year, he said. The four major carriers met a voluntary May 15 deadline (CD Dec 10/12 p1) to make their networks capable of transmitting texts nationwide. Vermont is the only state where all public service answering points (PSAPs) are able to handle the texts, he said. About 98 percent of the state’s wireless subscribers, excepting those of smaller carriers not subject to the deadline, can now text 911, he said. Nationally, the May 15 deadline doesn’t mean text-to-911 will be available to all consumers, said National Emergency Number Association CEO Brian Fontes in a news release Friday (http://bit.ly/1o6jGQE). Text-to-911 “availability will ultimately depend on funding and the deployment of hardware, software, and training programs” at the nearly 6,000 911 centers across the country, Fontes said. “Progress will vary from one community to the next.” Traditional voice calls to 911 are the fastest and most efficient way to call for help, Tucker said. The text technology is “especially important to the deaf or hard of hearing, or people in a dangerous situation like domestic violence or an intruder in the house when a person may be afraid of making a voice call,” he said.