Should 911 calls still be allowed from suspended cellphones?

WASHINGTON — A nearly two-decades-old requirement that wireless phones remain able to call 911 even if the phone's owner is no longer paying for wireless service could be changed.

The Federal Communications Commission has proposed ending that rule, saying low-cost wireless plans have proliferated, and the problems the rule has created for emergency call centers appear to outweigh the benefits.

"The record suggests that fraudulent calls to 911 from (such) devices constitute a large and continuing drain on public safety resources and that the problem is not abating," the agency wrote in May when announcing the proposed change.

A survey of most Indiana call centers in early 2008 found more than 90 percent of 911 calls received from phones without wireless service weren't legitimate. Nearly three in four were made by children playing with old phones.

Three years ago, Clark County kept receiving calls from someone claiming to be held captive in his home. Because calls from wireless phones without wireless service are harder to trace, it took about three days for law enforcement officials to find the caller, who was playing a prank.

Still, Brad Meixell, executive director of Clark County 911, said he's torn about whether the federal government should change the rules.

"It's a trade-off," Meixell said. "If you can save one life out of so many nuisance calls, is it worth it?"

The requirement was created in 1996 over objections from wireless carriers.

The aim was to allow emergency calls even if a wireless service account had been suspended because of failure to pay, or if a cellphone was kept as a spare in case of emergency.

"I personally keep an old cell phone in my car for emergencies always charged and ready, should my primary phone go dead or I accidentally leave it at home," John Hawk, a Florida resident recently wrote to the FCC, asking the agency to keep the rule. "While I grant you abuse might occur, it is clear that some senior citizens were hit hard by the economic damage of the last five to seven years and use this service."

A coalition of nine public safety organizations asked the federal government in 2008 to examine the issue. Indiana was among states that provided feedback.

The state's 911 advisory board surveyed call centers to find out how many non-emergency calls they received from such phones. The board told the FCC the calls had become a major distraction and can interfere with assisting in a true emergency.

National public safety organizations, however, argued there should be another way to address such problems, rather than revoking the rule. But since then, the National Emergency Number Association has changed positions, saying the rule needs to be scrapped.

The National Association of State 911 Administrators, whose members are divided over whether the rule should be changed, offered multiple examples of problems the rule is causing:

-- A call center in Grand Rapids, Mich., received 1,162 calls from such phones in April, of which only a small percentage were legitimate.

-- A mentally handicapped caller placed more than 20,895 calls to a call center in Iowa in 2014. It took nearly a year to identify the caller.

-- A county in Florida reported it receives two to six fraudulent calls a day, which take an average of two to four hours of a public safety technician's time.

In Indiana, the number of fraudulent calls has gone down since the 2008 survey, said Mark Grady, president of INdigital, the company that runs the network that wireless providers connect to in Indiana to deliver 911 calls.

"Maybe we're just in a lull," he said. "There are occasional flare-ups, but not the extent and magnitude that we had."

The reasons for the drop could include that adults are less likely to give their children smartphones to play with than a cheap flip phone, he said.

Of the 3.4 million calls processed by call centers around Indiana last year, 174,000 (5 percent) were from wireless phones without wireless service, said Barry Ritter, executive director of Indiana's Statewide 9-1-1 Board.

The agency doesn't have a breakdown on how many of those calls were not emergencies. And it has not taken a position on the FCC's proposal.

Meixell said the biggest problem he has with calls from such phones is that operators can't call them back. While there's a location identifier, the phone could be anywhere within 100 meters of that point, making it difficult to find the caller.

"When we were dealing with the false reporting, that took up resources that were being sent to an area," he said. "If you've got somebody being malicious, then it's definitely a problem."

But wireless companies, which initially opposed the requirement, now oppose ending it.

People expect 911 to "just work" from any phone, CTIA-The Wireless Association told the FCC. The trade group said those who rely on wireless devices without regular service include lower-income populations, the elderly and people with disabilities.

In addition, the change would cost companies time and money.

"Carriers would have to take significant steps to modify their networks — again," CTIA officials wrote.

Telford Forgety, director of government affairs for the National Emergency Number Association, said the group understands the rational desire of wireless carriers to avoid having to change their networks. But, Forgety wrote to the FCC in July that "costs to the public of maintaining the status quo — both in dollar terms and in safety and security terms — are clearly greater."

The FCC has no set deadline to make a decision.

Contact Maureen Groppe at mgroppe@gannett.com or @mgroppe on Twitter.