I’ve never had a need to call 911 from a hotel room and apparently that’s a good thing because in thousands of hotels in the United States don’t allow visitors to directly call 911.
This problem gained nationwide exposure after Karie Marie Hunt was murdered in a motel room where she was meeting her ex-husband. Hunt’s 9-year-old daughter tried to call 911 from the motel room, but the phone system was configured so that she would have had to dial “9” and then “911.”
Karie Marie Hunt’s father, Hank Hunt, created a petition at Change.Org asking the government and hotels to fix this problem,
We pray the lawmakers in our Congress and Senate hear the cries of Kari and her children and enact a law requiring all hotel and motel chains, including all “Mom & Pop” locations have all phone systems updated to E911 systems. These systems allow the 911 call to automatically connect to a 911 operator without having to dial a “9” in order to get an outside line and give emegency personnel the business name, floor and room or suite number. Total E911 fees/funds collected from the use of telephones in the United States was $2,322,983,616.36 in 2012. Total amount spent for E911 or 911 enhancements in the United States was $97,367,543.46 leaving $2,225,616,072.90 un spent. Where is this money? Some states such as Illinois, has diverted monies from the collection of E911 fees to it’s general fund therefore being spent on who knows what. The money is there, it’s being collected by who? THE GOVERNMENT! It’s being spent on very little E911 functionality or just sitting there. Why?
FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai gave a speech at a conference on 911 this week in which he said that his is a widespread problem that is going to take time to solve completely,
The data we’ve gathered suggests that the MLTS (Multi-Line Telephone Systems) at tens of thousands of buildings across the United States may fail consumers during the most important moments of their lives. As in Kari’s case, systems at these properties will not perform one of the most important purposes of the nation’s communications network—connecting 911 callers to help.
Pai noted he had received positive feedback and a promise of quick action from the hotel chains he contacted, but most of those tens of thousands of buildings are not part of any national chain.
Pai’s full remarks are below:
Continue reading “911 Is A Joke … Hotel Edition”