Today’s emergency networks are dangerously insufficient. According to the National Emergency Number Association, 88 percent of emergency communications centers (ECCs) experienced outages between 2024 and 2025.
The problem is that legacy 9-1-1 systems are becoming less reliable every year. Old analog systems, still in use today, were built for a time when calls were made with landlines and managed by selective routers. Unlike modern internet communication systems, redundant call pathways were not built in, meaning an entire ECC could go down from a single point of failure.
They also struggle to manage cell phone callers and frequently misroute them to ECCs far away from the emergency—a huge issue when 80 percent of emergency calls originate from mobile devices. When emergency communications break down, consumers are at risk.
Nate Karren is a policy analyst with the American Consumer Institute, a nonprofit education and research organization. Follow Nate on X @NateKarrenOnX