STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER JESSICA ROSENWORCEL
Re: Location-Based Routing for Wireless 911 Calls, PS Docket No. 18-64. 
One day when the unthinkable occurs, you might have to pick up the phone and dial 911.  Before 
any police radio crackles, fire engine blares, or ambulance races—you will need to reach a 911 operator.  
That is one call you want to go through.  
I know.  Because I have watched our nation’s 911 operators in action in more than two dozen call 
centers all across the country—from Vermont to Virginia and California to Colorado and Alaska to 
Arkansas.  In each and every one I saw operators take calls with steely calm and then help ensure that 
help is on the way.  But what I saw in Little Rock stays with me.  The center was small but active.  The 
desks were humming as the calls came in.  The pride the public safety officials had for their work was 
palpable.  
But the one thing that was most memorable?  I learned that in the city of Little Rock if you call 
911 using your wireless phone in the corner of the 911 call center your call will not get routed to Little 
Rock.  Instead, it will be answered by a 911 call center in North Little Rock—which is all the way on the 
other side of the Arkansas River.
That’s unnerving.  When you make a 911 call location accuracy matters.  That kind of 
imprecision from calling should leave all of us concerned.  Because when emergency strikes—and you 
call 911 from any phone anywhere—you need first responders to find you fast.
Here’s the good news.  With this Notice of Inquiry we explore why some 911 calls are routed to 
the wrong call center.  Though we know that this is often the result of the growth of wireless technology 
and the way our 911 systems have been pieced together over time—we are going to try to do something 
about it.  To this end, we ask questions to quantify how many calls go to incorrect call centers and how 
often this problem occurs.  We also ask about recommendations to remedy this situation that have been 
made by our Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council.  This effort is 
important—and it has my full support.