U.S. carriers commit to nationwide text-to-911 service

Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ), AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T), Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) and T-Mobile USA all agreed to offer nationwide text-to-911 services by May 15, 2014, with "major deployments" starting next year.

The FCC has been holding discussions on a text-to-911 service for some time. But demand for the service is unclear: For example, in July the city of Durham, N.C., told the FCC that the SMS-capable 911 service it launched in August 2011 with Verizon and Intrado had received only one SMS to its 911 call center. Nevertheless, the FCC argues that the service will help people contact 911 in situations where it's too dangerous to speak or if they're disabled. Article