---
title: "Disaster Strikes: Examining Emergency Cell Phone Service by Alan Hearty"
description: Alan Hearty's article examines the emergency cell phone service issue in the telecommunications industry. Read the California Wireless Law Blog for more...
---

[California Wireless Law Blog | The Latest News & Analysis](https://www.calwirelesslaw.com)

# [Disaster Strikes: Examining Emergency Cell Phone Service by Alan Hearty](https://www.calwirelesslaw.com/disaster-strikes-examining-emergency-cell-phone-service)

 Written by [Alan Hearty](https://www.calwirelesslaw.com/author/alan-hearty) | December 14, 2012 at 11:27 PM

In a natural disaster or other emergency, one of the first things you’re likely to reach for is your cellphone. Landlines are disappearing. More than 30 percent of American households now rely exclusively on cellphones. This article examines the trend in deregulation of the emergency issue in the telecommunications industry. Since 2010, more than 20 states have passed laws limiting their regulation of telecoms. “The FCC is very concerned about the nature of their overall authority and whether rules would survive a court challenge,” says Harold Feld, senior vice president of Public Knowledge, a technology advocacy nonprofit. “So their approach is to push and nudge and come up with things that would be more acceptable to the industry.”[\[Read the full article\]](https://www.propublica.org/article/how-cellphone-companies-have-resisted-rules-for-disasters)

[View full post](https://www.calwirelesslaw.com/disaster-strikes-examining-emergency-cell-phone-service)

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