Currently you cannot text 9-1-1 for help, but that is changing. The federal communications commission says the nation's four largest wireless carriers have agreed to relay text messages to emergency centers by May of 2014. The four carriers that have signed on to the plan are AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile, which cover 90% percent of the population.

The FCC says texting 9-1-1 could be better in some situations when a phone call could put the caller in danger.