For US Customers, Text Access To 911 Slowly Rolls Out 58
SmartAboutThings (1951032) writes "After it was long rumored and discussed about, the ability to text 911 in case of emergency is slowly rolling out in the United States to subscribers of AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless. For the time being, the service is available in areas of Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Montana, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont and Virginia. According to the FCC, the service will gradually roll out to more areas and by the end of this year, virtually anyone with a cellphone and enough service will be able to make use of it. Which means that all carriers will support it." TechCrunch has a deeper article that explains why "you probably can't use it yet," and links to the FCC's own explanation of the service.
Re:Specific use cases (Score:2, Insightful)
The woman hiding in a closet or under a bed hiding from an intruder is a good example. The one I recall, she texted her friend who called 911 but they didn't make it in time unfortunately.
[John]
When seconds count, the police are minutes away.
Re:Better in thought than in practice (Score:4, Insightful)
This is great idea, right up until they start receiving a zillion drunk texts or things like "EMERGENCY!!! I'M REALLY HIGH AND TACO BELL IS CLOSED! SEND HELP IMMEDIATELY!!!"
Obvious solution: The hefty fines ($200 per call in California) for making non-emergency voice calls to 911, could also apply to non-emergency text messages.
Re:Specific use cases (Score:3, Insightful)
That's not a soundbyte; it's the truth. His point is that the police don't actually protect anyone.