FCC Investigating Wireless Service Disruptions Following Virginia Earthquake
The 5.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Virginia Tuesday, leading to a overload in wireless networks throughout the region, highlights an issue still to be addressed by the FCC -- the inability of wireless customers to make emergency 911 calls during the period they didn’t have service. Advocates of a national wireless public safety network were quick to cite the incident as further proof they need access to the 700 MHz D-block. But some observers said the inability get through to 911 services raises far more troubling questions. One former FCC official said the equation is simple, if people can’t connect to the network they can’t call 911.
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The FCC is investigating the overload of wireless networks following the earthquake. The FCC estimates that 70 percent of 911 calls are placed from wireless phones.
"We are very concerned by incidents where emergency wireless calls to 911 after yesterday’s earthquake were hampered by network congestion,” Public Safety Bureau Chief Jamie Barnett said in a statement released late Wednesday. “Thankfully, there have been no reports thus far about serious injuries or lives lost. Nevertheless, these are the moments when mobile phone service is needed most -- and disruptions puts lives at risk.” The bureau is contacting wireless carriers and public safety call centers to determine the “cause of reported outages in an immediate effort to identify and address the problems,” Barnett said. “Yesterday’s events are also a stark and somber reminder of the urgent need for Next Generation 911 services that allow text, photo and video emergency message capabilities.”
Brian Fontes, CEO of the National Emergency Number Association, said the incident shows why the nation needs a next-generation 911 network. “I tried to use my cellphone during the earthquake and sure enough [the call] failed,” Fontes told us Tuesday. “What I was able to do was text. … The real issue is I'm not even allowed to text to 911 because many of the nation’s call centers are not capable of accepting texting. … In this day and age when texting can work and voice phone calls don’t, wouldn’t it just on its face appear that it be logical that you'd be able to communicate to 911 through texting?”
Fontes said he was pleased that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has repeatedly emphasized the need for a system that allows texting to 911. “It’s a prominent issue in the deaf community,” Fontes said. “It’s a prominent issue in situations like yesterday.”
Public Knowledge Legal Director Harold Feld said the overload of wireless networks raised troubling issues that need to be answered. “The temptation to use any event as ’see, this is why I am right’ is too strong to just rely on self-reporting,” Feld said. “I have no doubt broadcasters will self-report how [the Emergency Alert System] worked wonderfully and network operators will stress what went right. All of that is true, but we need hard data and real analysis of where are the stress points in the communications network and what are the best ways to disseminate information.” Feld said giving public safety the D-block won’t make any difference. “There is no indication that any first responder networks were overwhelmed, and no one is talking about making D-block accessible to the public for 911 or information dissemination,” he said. “If anything, this supports auctioning the D-block so the carriers have more capacity.”
One industry lawyer agreed, calling the complaints about the D-block disingenuous. “If anything it supports the opposite result,” the official said. “Perhaps you should take the spectrum and given it to wireless so that there’s more capacity for wireless.”
But CTIA President Steve Largent said on the group’s blog the bottom line is wireless networks worked like they were designed to after the quake. “No wireless towers went down and no networks failed as a result of the sizable earthquake,” he said. “In fact, contrary to some reports of ‘outages,’ wireless networks processed the huge surge of communications attempts across the nation at rates massively higher than normal.” Largent said millions used their wireless devices to communicate even if they didn’t immediately have voice service. “They were sending reports through text messages, tweets or Facebook updates about the situation at their location,” he said. “While television and radio played a role in helping to disseminate information to consumers, most Americans used their mobile devices to find out if their family and friends were safe.” CTIA did not comment on the 911 issue. Major wireless carriers also declined to comment.