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Illinois State Police making 911 upgrades

The upgrades were completed using various regional providers, including Comtech ESI-net, IN-digital ESI-net, Motorola ESI-net, AT&T Statewide ESI-net. Photo: Shutterstock


Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – The Illinois State Police (ISP) announced an upgrade to all 169 Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP) throughout Illinois. All 169 locations are now powered through Next Generation 911 (NG911).  The agency says this new update upgrades the traditional 911 service from voice-centric networks to secure, IP-based (internet-based) infrastructure designed to support today’s communications.

The upgrades were completed using various regional providers, including Comtech ESI-net, IN-digital ESI-net, Motorola ESI-net, and AT&T Statewide ESI-net.

Transitions to Next Generation 911 began with the first PSAP switching from the old to the new system in Grundy County on June 21, 2022, and concluded with the final PSAP cutover to AT&T Statewide ESI-net in Northbrook on March 4, 2026.

The upgrade to NG911 means people in Illinois will have more efficient and reliable 911 emergency services. In a legacy 911 system, a wireless call to 911 could be routed to emergency services based on the location of a cell tower as opposed to the location of the caller. That could mean the call would have to be transferred to emergency services that were closer to the caller, causing a delay in response time. NG911 improves this by supporting geospatial call routing based on the caller’s actual location.

“We’re dedicated to providing Illinois with reliable, modern emergency communications service,” said AT&T Illinois President Eileen Mitchell,” in a press release.

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