The Federal Communications Commission has passed rules that will require all wireless calls to the 988 lifeline to be georouted. Geographic routing ensures that attempts to reach the National Suicide Prevention Hotline for intervention services will be sent to the location where the call is made, not the caller’s area code and exchange.
After the rule takes effect, national providers will have 30 days to implement georouting for these calls. Smaller, non-national providers have a 24-month deadline to comply. The agency also released a proposal that the same georouting policy be applied to texts sent to 988.
Over the past few years the FCC has taken several steps to expand the reach of the 988 lifeline. After voting to make the three-digit number a shortcut to reach the National Suicide Prevention Hotline in 2020, the agency expanded the service to include text support in 2021. T-Mobile was one of the first telecom companies to activate 988 to allow customers to access mental health services.
If you’re struggling and need someone to listen, please call 988. The full number is 1-800-273-8255 (1-800-273-TALK), or you can reach Lifeline by webchat.
If you’re a Prime member, you can save $50 on the recently released Colorsoft Kindle, also known as the first Kindle with color. This is the first discount we’ve seen since this model debuted.
We encountered a “yellow band” problem with our review unit, but we later received an updated reader for which Amazon made “reasonable adjustments” to resolve the issue.
The software and display adjustments the company implemented worked — and we actually liked the overall effect better. Check out our review for the full story.
A new model of AirTags may arrive later this year, but as it is, we consider Apple’s current AirTag to be the best Bluetooth tracker for iPhone owners. That’s not the lowest price ever, but it’s higher than the $73 going rate for a four-pack that we’ve seen in the past few months. It’s also available at Best Buy.