Suicide Lifeline Calls Getting Geo-routing, Like 911
Sep 25, 2024, 9:49 AM by Rich Brome @richbrome
updated Sep 25, 2024, 1:50 PM
The FCC today announced that wireless calls to 988 will be routed to nearby suicide & crisis centers based on the caller's actual location, instead of the previous area-code-based routing. This will make the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline work more like 911, where the cell phone's GPS and nearest-tower information is automatically used to route the call to the most appropriate call center. Two of US's largest wireless carriers — T-Mobile and one other — have already implemented this new "georouting" as of last week. The FCC will soon vote on a new rule requiring all carriers to implement this technology. FCC Chairwoman Rosenworcel says of the new rule: "Georouting means those responding to 988 calls have a lot more knowledge of local resources at their fingertips and are better equipped to get the caller the help they need, where they need it."
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