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By Sarah Krouse 

Americans regularly ask their Amazon Echo and Google Home devices to play music, share the weather and call friends. Yet most still can't ask their smart speakers to call 911.

Technology giants such as Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google that sell popular internet-connected speakers have largely stopped short of making them conduits for emergency calls, even as the devices have evolved to ring cellphones and landlines. Such devices are now used in 20 million U.S. homes, roughly double the number a year earlier, according to ComScore Inc.

There are regulatory and technical reasons why the devices aren't always able to make emergency calls. Internet reliability is a potential problem, as is the need to transmit accurate location data and a callback number to emergency call takers, emergency communications professionals say.

Most speakers only offer one-way calling and don't have the same real-time GPS data that smartphones do. Even sending 911 caller location data from cellphones has proved challenging because much of the nation's 911 infrastructure developed around landline phones.

Creating the ability to call 911 from a smart speaker would require an additional monthly 911 surcharge that customers or the technology companies would have to pay to support emergency call infrastructure. Current monthly 911 surcharges vary by state or county, but typically range from $0.25 to $3.00 and are included in consumers' wireless and landline phone bills.

A regulatory exemption that spares certain calling services such as Skype from having to reach local emergency call centers has to date shielded smart-speaker makers from having to overcome those hurdles.

The Federal Communications Commission is in the early stages of considering -- and asking the telecommunications industry -- whether it should pass more stringent rules akin to those for cellphone or landline 911 calls for services such as mobile apps or senior monitoring devices that can call 911. It is unclear if any such new rules would apply to smart speakers because many don't currently connect to the system.

A spokeswoman for Amazon said customers can use the company's Echo Connect, a device that can be linked to landlines or other home phone services, to make emergency calls. The standard Amazon Echo and Echo Dot cannot make emergency calls. "I can't speculate on our future plans," she said.

"There are a number of technical and regulatory guidelines involved in enabling 911 calls," said a Google spokeswoman, adding that customers can use the Google Assistant app on their cellphones to dial 911.

Dan Henry, director of government affairs at 911 industry group the National Emergency Number Association, supports adding emergency calling to such smart speakers as long as they provide location information and a callback number.

"We're of the opinion that 911 needs to evolve," Mr. Henry said, "and that the mechanisms that arise should be able to take up the mantle and connect to 911."

Bridget Taylor, a 62-year-old in Jonesboro, Ark., fell getting out of her bathtub this spring, but she didn't have her cellphone with her to call for help.

"As soon as I was pulling myself up, I thought, 'Alexa is within my voice and I wish I could just yell -- call 911'," she said. Ms. Taylor, who pays about $40 a month for her elderly mother's emergency help button, said she hopes smart speakers like the Echo one day eliminate the need for her to buy one for herself.

It is important to tell children the limitations of smart speakers, said David Hill, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics' council on communications and media.

Children eight and younger, in particular, might believe the device is able to do tasks that adults know are beyond the gadget's capabilities or that there is a little person inside, Dr. Hill said.

"As part of your family safety meeting," Dr. Hill said, "you want to talk about how to call 911 and make sure the kids know that Alexa won't do it for you."

Write to Sarah Krouse at sarah.krouse@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 06, 2018 05:44 ET (10:44 GMT)

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