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NORTH CAROLINA — The nation's four largest cellphone carriers have signed on to allow customers to text 911 in the event of an emergency.
The deal involving AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile would go into effect in May 2014.
Right now, only a handful of call centers are able to receive texts, including one in Iowa.
Under the new agreement, the FCC said texters will get an answer regardless of whether their call center is able to receive texts. If it is not, they will get an automated response to call 911 instead.
WSOC
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