Modernizing Emergency Communication and 911 Service

The underlying systems of 911 calls today operate almost exclusively on analogue technology, using an architecture of circuits and switches developed when the American Telephone & Telegraph Company was a regulated monopoly providing most of the nation's telephone service. Modern communications innovations such as digitisation, packet switching, and Internet Protocol (IP) standards are alien concepts in an outdated system design that, critics maintain, "literally chokes off the use of all but the most rudimentary features of modern end-user devices and stifles the development of more specialised equipment and services." Systems for 911, unable to accommodate the latest advances in telecommunications technology, are increasingly out-dated, costly to maintain, and in danger of failure. This book explores the issues and challenges of modernising emergency communication and 911 service in the United States.