Cell Phone 911 calls know where do you stand

[Brokenbear]

Many of us no longer have land lines and rely on cell phones when in an emergency


Do you know some service providers may not pass through a 911 call ? (Most now do but possibly not all)


Before you need it know.. know if it works on your phone and through your service provider and what information and in what order YOU have to calmly provide to the emergency services personnel for 911 to be effective!


Bear

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

A phone without a service provider will connect to 911

[murf205]

I learned that lesson and it saved my life. I went into anaphylactic shock after getting stung by yellow jackets while cutting my sons yard. I could feel myself loosing consciousness so I called 911 and immediately gave them the address and my vehicle description. Fearing that they might drive past without seeing me, I stepped out of my van to wave them down but lost it in the driveway. I woke up with a paramedic sticking me with an epi pen and he told the ambulance driver, "you better hurry, his B/P is only 50/30". Keep that phone charged and be aware of where you are and your surroundings!

[M-Tecs]

https://www.911.gov/calling-911/frequently-asked-questions/
All wireless phones, even those that are not subscribed to or supported by a specific carrier, can call 911. However, calls to 911 on phones without active service do not deliver the caller’s location to the 911 call center, and the call center cannot call these phones back to find out the caller’s location or the nature of the emergency. If disconnected, the 911 center has no way to call back the caller.

These uninitialized phones are often used to place malicious or fake calls to 911 call centers. These calls are a burden on the 911 system because 911 call centers are required to find out whether or not an emergency truly exists.

Oftentimes, parents provide these uninitialized wireless phones as toys to young children, unaware that if the child dials 911, a live call will be connected with the local 911 call center. It is recommended that parents remove the phone’s battery before giving these phones to children.

More details here
https://www.survivalsullivan.com/making-emergency-calls-without-signal/#:~:text=Yes%2C%20all%20wireless%20and%20wired%20p hones%20can%20call,there%20is%20no%20access%20to%2 0your%20carrier%E2%80%99s%20network.

[elmacgyver0]

Oftentimes, parents provide these uninitialized wireless phones as toys to young children, unaware that if the child dials 911, a live call will be connected with the local 911 call center. It is recommended that parents remove the phone’s battery before giving these phones to children.

Yeah, but then they are no fun!

[elmacgyver0]

On an additional note, use the old phones for your Strike Man an MantisX apps.
Your kids can play with the dog.

[Brokenbear]

I claim no innate knowledge folks but I just arranged for a 911 test of my phone and service provider as we just cut off our land line

Do not do this unless you make arrangements with your emergency services personnel PRIOR to testing which I did obviously did so ..

From my test I can tell you these results : First it worked .. I live in a rural portion of a first class county but unincorporated ..my first words were "this is a test per Lt Dillion" ..then I asked what he could tell me about me ..nothing was his answer ..except he was able to tell which county the tower was located in that my cell phone had made contact with ..no address, no name, no nothing ..

So be aware ..exact location, nature of emergency, and name are paramount to quick response ..it all goes back to situational awareness ..if you cannot describe with in something like a city block if not at home ..or instructions to your deer stand ..or whatever you are sunk ..pretty simple really

Bear

[GregLaROCHE]

A phone without a service provider will connect to 911

That’s what I always thought.

[Handloader109]

I think that the real issue with cell phones and 911 is that very few cell phones give any location information that is worthwhile to the operator. You have to stay on the line to insure they get to you

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

[hc18flyer]

As a 40+ year Firefighter/EMT in a rural county. We have had way too many delays due to incomplete or accurate information. Many are younger folks who haven't provided sufficient info. We all expect to be conscious and lucid when we need help, unfortunately many times we are not! The wasp sting or a severe asthma attack are but 2 of many situations. Please provide you and your spouse's heath conditions, and any necessary location data in your profile. It truly can save your life! Tom

[murf205]

Very true Tom. I'm sure that's what saved my life. I was suspect of the small town having the ability to Ping my exact location so I gave them the exact address FRST, because I knew I was going out quickly. That experience caused a change in my life.

[Harter66]

This is where the turning off of the location feature becomes a conundrum, a Sccodinger's cat if you will. Most smart phones will turn location on for 911 or regional ems alternative numbers . If the location feature is turned on then the phone is perpetually pinging WiFi and towers , building a precise location.......even in dead zones .

[AlaskaMike]

Something I wish more people would consider when shutting off their landline service is that in the event of a widespread power outage, your cell phone may quickly become an expensive paperweight. Your typical cell site has no generator and limited battery backup power, so if it loses AC power, the remaining uptime is measured in minutes.

When a cell site goes down, all the phones registered to it at that time will then try to latch onto the next nearest one, and the situation can frequently overload a local cell system and make it unusable at the worst possible time.

When cell phones work, they're convenient and work great. Unfortunately there are many things that will make them virtually unusable, and lots of those things would have little effect on the wireline telephone network. The end result is your cell phone quickly becomes unusable while your landline would still continue to work just fine.

[Brokenbear]

Something I wish more people would consider when shutting off their landline service is that in the event of a widespread power outage, your cell phone may quickly become an expensive paperweight. Your typical cell site has no generator and limited battery backup power, so if it loses AC power, the remaining uptime is measured in minutes.

When a cell site goes down, all the phones registered to it at that time will then try to latch onto the next nearest one, and the situation can frequently overload a local cell system and make it unusable at the worst possible time.

When cell phones work, they're convenient and work great. Unfortunately there are many things that will make them virtually unusable, and lots of those things would have little effect on the wireline telephone network. The end result is your cell phone quickly becomes unusable while your landline would still continue to work just fine.

You are correct ..my other phone uses the call letters KD0HFK :D

Bear

[MT Gianni]

Something I wish more people would consider when shutting off their landline service is that in the event of a widespread power outage, your cell phone may quickly become an expensive paperweight. Your typical cell site has no generator and limited battery backup power, so if it loses AC power, the remaining uptime is measured in minutes.

When a cell site goes down, all the phones registered to it at that time will then try to latch onto the next nearest one, and the situation can frequently overload a local cell system and make it unusable at the worst possible time.

When cell phones work, they're convenient and work great. Unfortunately there are many things that will make them virtually unusable, and lots of those things would have little effect on the wireline telephone network. The end result is your cell phone quickly becomes unusable while your landline would still continue to work just fine.

When my landline hit $85 a month it got shut off. Phone can be charged by vehicles, spare car jumper, solar and portable battery assisted chargers.

[stubshaft]

If at all possible, always call from a landline. When I worked as a dispatcher a landline would automatically pull up the address. When a cell phone call arrived, I would have to triangulate the signal and it would only give an approximate location, usually within 200 yards.

[GhostHawk]

We dropped out landline years ago. They wanted near 100$ a month for a dedicated phone line that still may or may not work in a power off situation.

Only had to call 911 once, that was a non emergancy call and my daughter specified ambulance + firefighters. Both doors in my house have sharp 90 degree bends right after the door. Can't get a gurney through either one. So when we had to send my wife in Ambulance we seated her on her rolling walker. Fireman at her feet, me at her head and rolled her all the way to the front steps. At which point firemen took over getting her down the steps and on the Guerny. God BLESS them they were amazing.

[georgerkahn]

One of the challenges, as I (having spent 16 years as an active EMT) -- 'specially in rural areas -- is the error in location. "Every town has a 'Main Street'". In addition to ascertaining 9-1-1 is operational on whatever device you (I hope not :)) might employ to use it, my most humble suggestion is to PROVIDE Village/Town/County and STATE location to whomever picks up/answers your plea!!!
"Hello -- I am at 123 Main Street in Anytown, Iowa and have fallen and cannot get up" -- or similar. Bion, your name is important to you -- but that's something the ambulance folks can get after they arrive. Yes -- dispatcher will ask for it. But, again, the Village/Town/STATE are of (again, imho) greatest important.
The 9-1-1 operator you HOPE to be talking with might be 11 miles distance; BUT, with the technology of completing calls -- the one who answers your call may in fact be several hundred miles away,
Just a suggestion....
geo

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Interesting information. My landline, which I have no intention of giving up, costs $53.17 a month with a guarantee when installed that it would never go up; and it hasn't gone up for about 5 years. The provider is Century Link. My flip cell phone is relegated to my desk drawer and only sees the light of day when I travel as a means to call AAA road service if needed. I'm pretty old school about communications, and if you phone me I'll see your name on caller I.D. and if I know you I'll answer. If not, I just push on and off, as I hate telemarketers. If you're not a telemarketer you'll immediately call back and I'll answer. If I'm not in the house I've got an answering machine. Works for me.

DG

[MrWolf]

A lot of folks, me included, have landlines which are really VOIP lines. Per the FCC:

Portable interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services can be used from virtually any internet connection anywhere, which raises challenges for the emergency services community in determining the location from which a 911 call has originated.

You should be aware that:

VoIP 911 calls may not connect to the 911 call center serving your current location or may improperly ring to the administrative line of the 911 call center, which may not be staffed after hours or by trained 911 operators.
VoIP 911 calls may correctly connect to the 911 call center but not automatically transmit the caller's phone number and/or location information.
VoIP customers may need to provide location or other information to their VoIP providers, and update this information each time they change locations for their VoIP 911 service to function properly.
VoIP service may not work during a power outage or when the internet connection fails or becomes overloaded.
Tips for subscribers to fully interconnected VoIP service
If you have or are thinking of subscribing to an interconnected VoIP service, you should:

Provide your accurate physical address to your interconnected VoIP service provider to ensure that emergency services can quickly be dispatched to your location.
Be familiar with your VoIP service provider's procedures for updating your address, and promptly update address information in the event of a change.
Have a clear understanding of any limitations of your 911 service.
Inform children, babysitters and visitors about your VoIP service and its 911 limitations, if any.
If your power is out or your internet connection is down, be aware that your VoIP service may not work. Consider installing a backup power supply, maintaining a traditional phone line or having a wireless phone as a backup.
If you have questions about whether the phone service you are receiving is an interconnected VoIP service, contact your service provider for further information.
911 call centers currently lack the technical capability to receive photos and video. In addition, the ability to send text messages to 911 is only available in certain areas.

Know what you have and don't assume - always brings up Felix Unger in court image.
Ron

[Wayne Smith]

An allied question - If I have my cell phone with a 757 area code, and go on vacation to NC or the other side of the country, where does my cell phone dial 911 - the area I am in or my local 757 911? I've not had to make an emergency call in such a situation.

[MaryB]

An allied question - If I have my cell phone with a 757 area code, and go on vacation to NC or the other side of the country, where does my cell phone dial 911 - the area I am in or my local 757 911? I've not had to make an emergency call in such a situation.

It will try to use your phones GPS data if it has it, then it resorts to the nearest cell tower(s) and of they have triangulated a fix on you. I only have 1 cell tower in range so they can not get a fix on me that way. And I keep GPS turned off because it is a battery pig.

My "landline" was thru my cell provider, it went to the local office then converted to the internet...

[Bmi48219]

We got rid of our landline a year ago. Other than for occasional local or toll free calls we didn’t use it. Our reason for keeping it and paying $60 / month was it connected our alarm system to the sheriff’s office.
About 15 months ago I awoke at 2:30 am to see two sheriffs at our door. They were responding to a 911 call (with no report) from our address. We hadn’t dialed that call. I thought maybe the alarm company had called them but ADT told me they couldn’t place a call from my telephone, only from their office. A few days later the same thing but in the early afternoon. And a week later the same at 1:30 am. That time they insisted on waking up my wife to make sure she was OK.
Even crazier, the landline connection sucked. For months more often then not you’d get nothing but static when you picked up the handset. I demonstrated this to the sheriffs on each occasion. AT&T had been trying to diagnose that trouble for months (months I refused to pay for). After several repair techs had tried, one finally found the problem in a phone connection box several lots away. There was a short in our line that intermittently dialed random numbers. I guess after so many shorts it finally hit a 911 sequence, sending that signal to the sheriff, three different times.
A year ago ADT gave our neighborhood a no cost upgrade to wireless transmitters. The battery lasts 72 to 96 hours in the event of a power outage. And you can set or disengage the alarm remotely.
So yeah, our landline worked only too well for 911 calls.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

My Landline provider (CenturyLink) has many options to keep it cheap.
I signed up for measured service (local) and I never use it for long distance, if I do use the landline for a long Distance call, I use a calling card (1.2¢ min).
That keeps the monthly landline bill at $21 a month.

[AlaskaMike]

When my landline hit $85 a month it got shut off. Phone can be charged by vehicles, spare car jumper, solar and portable battery assisted chargers.

Sorry, I think you misunderstood. The issue isn't that your cell phone might run out of juice. The issue is that it's very rare for a cell site (the infrastructure your cell phone talks through, and which ties into the wireline telephone network) to have a generator. They typically only have enough of a UPS (battery backup) to last a short time to cover the more frequent short duration power outages.

You can keep your cell phone charged using any of 100 different means, but when the cell sites start going down that cell phone becomes useless.

[deces]

We got rid of our landline a year ago. Other than for occasional local or toll free calls we didn’t use it. Our reason for keeping it and paying $60 / month was it connected our alarm system to the sheriff’s office.
About 15 months ago I awoke at 2:30 am to see two sheriffs at our door. They were responding to a 911 call (with no report) from our address. We hadn’t dialed that call. I thought maybe the alarm company had called them but ADT told me they couldn’t place a call from my telephone, only from their office. A few days later the same thing but in the early afternoon. And a week later the same at 1:30 am. That time they insisted on waking up my wife to make sure she was OK.
Even crazier, the landline connection sucked. For months more often then not you’d get nothing but static when you picked up the handset. I demonstrated this to the sheriffs on each occasion. AT&T had been trying to diagnose that trouble for months (months I refused to pay for). After several repair techs had tried, one finally found the problem in a phone connection box several lots away. There was a short in our line that intermittently dialed random numbers. I guess after so many shorts it finally hit a 911 sequence, sending that signal to the sheriff, three different times.
A year ago ADT gave our neighborhood a no cost upgrade to wireless transmitters. The battery lasts 72 to 96 hours in the event of a power outage. And you can set or disengage the alarm remotely.
So yeah, our landline worked only too well for 911 calls.

They sure thought they had you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGqZz5DyDSQ

[higgins]

I've called 911 a few times because of wrecks nearby. The first thing they ask is the location of the emergency because some phones don't indicate your location. I called from a boat ramp once - no address just the name of the ramp and the operator said "OK I can see you" so even my G4 flip phone shows location to 911. Good to know

[Wag]

My phone has a setting that allows me to put in my address which then transmits to 911. If I'm at home it connects to my wireless and then the 911 operator can tell where I am, same as on a land line.

Problem is when I'm not at home, I have to tell them what address I'm at.

--Wag--

[WRideout]

An allied question - If I have my cell phone with a 757 area code, and go on vacation to NC or the other side of the country, where does my cell phone dial 911 - the area I am in or my local 757 911? I've not had to make an emergency call in such a situation.

So I am told, there is no (area code)911. Wherever you are, it will contact the nearest 911 call center. This worked for me twice, in the past.
The other Wayne

[upr45]

I install VoIP lines in my substation work. We test call 911 to ensure the correct address displays. some principals apply to cell 911 calls:
If your phone is on a cell booster the correct address may not display
If you call 911 and the phone system does not have your address info programmed -- your call will get routed to a 911 call center, these call centers are in various locations.
When you call 911 almost always the person answering will say "911, what is the location of your emergency ...". You should give the address if known to ensure responders are sent to correct location.

[AlaskaMike]

So I am told, there is no (area code)911. Wherever you are, it will contact the nearest 911 call center. This worked for me twice, in the past.
The other Wayne

Yes.

When you move into the footprint of a specific cell site and your phone registers with it, any calls you make are routed by that small telephone switch at the cell site. Each cell site routes 911 calls locally, so that's why there is no need to dial an area code when dialling 911 from a cell phone. And actually, this is no different from how any landline switch handles 911.

Note that this has nothing to do with how a dispatch center knows your physical location. Physically locating a cell phone making a 911 call has already been mentioned earlier in this thread.