The Federal Communications Commission approved text-to-911 service in emergency situations after a 3-2 vote.
Innovations in technology have brought a high degree of convenience for consumers. With almost every individual owning a mobile phone, contacting 911 emergency service in the United States has become feasible. But a voice call is not possible in all emergency situations and recognizing this, the Federal Communications Commission approved text-to-911 service.
The decision, which requires all telecom operators to support text-to-911 by the end of 2014, was made after a win of 3-2 vote. An official press release announced the decision Wednesday, and cited the new service as a "complement" and not a "substitute" to the existing 911 calling service. In addition to the wireless carriers including AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile, the text-to-911 service extends to interconnected text messaging providers that allow exchanging text messages between U.S. phone numbers.
The FCC excluded messaging apps that do not rely on a U.S. phone number for communication, such as users of games and social media.
The use of text-to-911 can be useful in situations where voice calling can endanger life or when the caller is unable to get a reliable voice reception to call 911. Most notably, people with speech disabilities or who are deaf or hard of hearing can take full advantage of text-to-911.
"Approximately 48 million Americans are deaf or hard of hearing, and approximately 7.5 million Americans have speech disabilities," the FCC said in a statement. " ...consumers who are deaf, hard of hearing, or speech disabled should use relay services or other existing methods to contact 911 if text-to-911 is unavailable."
Republican Commissioner Ajit Pa who voted against it points out some cons. The service is unavailable in over 98 percent of the country, which means users will not be able to get a response for their emergency text.
"Nothing in this order will change that fact any time soon," Pa told Daily Dot in a statement.
It also raises concerns over the respondents' ability to ask follow-up questions to address the problem more efficiently, Mashable pointed.
