T-Mobile is overhauling how it handles 988 crisis calls

In order to make emergency services more accessible, the US uses three digit numbers that are easy to remember. For example, you can dial 911 anywhere in the US to contact the police and report an emergency. While lesser known than the former number, 988 is equally important for those facing a mental health crisis. Today T-Mobile has announced a new move that will greatly improve this service for its customers.

Right now if you call 988 you are directed to mental health services based around the caller’s area code. Of course, in the digital age this matters less, as many people keep their old area codes even if they move multiple states away. This means that the services they are connected with might be too far away to provide meaningful help in the time of a crisis.

To make the 988 number more useful for dialers, T-Mobile is working closely with the US Department of Health and Human Services and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Adminstration to implement a new geo-routing system that identifies the caller’s region and uses this to connect them, as opposed to only going by the phone number’s associated area code.

To be clear this method isn’t as invasive as geolocation, since T-Mobile and the 988 Lifeline don’t actually collect your exact location. They just collect enough data to ensure the caller is connected with the closest crisis center to their current area. Overall it’s a small change but a positive one and it’s good to see T-Mobile in the headlines for something that’s not so negative for a change.