The Federal Communications Commision is at it again with new rule changes. Most of the changes have been good so we can’t get too on them at this point but they have proposed kill the requirement for carriers to route any 911 call from any phone. Currently any old phone which may not be in use or has been disabled can still be used to call 911. Also if you are a traveler from another country and your cell provider does not have a roaming partner in the US you can use your phone to call 911 too.
This will put out out of business Cell Phones For Soldiers and the Cell Phone Bank which collects old / discarded phones and gives them away to domestic violence victims, the homeless, and families of military personal. You still have Hope Phones you can donate your old cell phone as they only recycle and refurbish old phones.
The logic behind this rule change is 70% of all 911 calls from these discarded phones are frivolous. They are fake calls, pranks, or children calling 911 on an old phone they found at home. But the flip side to this is 30% of those calls are still valid and legit emergencies. Emergencies that likely will go unreported with this new rule change.
Almost everyone has a cell phone now. I do not know anyone that doesn’t own one but I don’t know any homeless people. Do they need it? I don’t know any person that is in a current domestic violence situation. They might need it. This really is an out dated program but I am not sure if now is the time to get rid of it.
I suggest you give your opinion to the FCC about this. You have until June 6th, 2015.