Why couldn't I reach 911?

[DawnM]

I thought that no matter where you were you could call 911 and it would connect you to the nearest emergency service. We used it 2 years ago in FL when a drunk driver ran into a pole in front of us and had no problem.

Last month we witnessed a mother and her son get hit by a car in a parking lot. I dialed 911 and I was given a "you must dial an area code first" and I tried that and still couldn't get through. Fortunately there was another person who rushed to the scene and could dial 911 immediately.

I still have CA numbers on my phone even though we have relocated to NC. We didn't change them right away because my husband still has CA clients he deals with.

Do I have my phone set wrong somehow? It really unnearved me.

Thanks,

Dawn

[Jay2TheRescue]

In theory you should be connected to the closest Emergency Operations Center (EOC). I know when I used to run rescue I would hang out at the EOC sometimes as some of our squadmembers were dispatchers. They would get a lot of cell phones skipping and communicating with a tower 60 miles away from their actual location. In those cases they just gave the caller the direct line to call the correct EOC.

[viewfly]

Originally Posted by DawnM

I thought that no matter where you were you could call 911 and it would connect you to the nearest emergency service. We used it 2 years ago in FL when a drunk driver ran into a pole in front of us and had no problem.

Last month we witnessed a mother and her son get hit by a car in a parking lot. I dialed 911 and I was given a "you must dial an area code first" and I tried that and still couldn't get through. Fortunately there was another person who rushed to the scene and could dial 911 immediately.

I still have CA numbers on my phone even though we have relocated to NC. We didn't change them right away because my husband still has CA clients he deals with.

Do I have my phone set wrong somehow? It really unnearved me.

Thanks,

Dawn

Call your provider and complain LOUDLY. 911 should work all over. Don't let them give any excuse about CA numbers on your phone. If they aren't helpful, give the story to the local newspapers. And tell them that you will.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

In theory you should be connected to the closest Emergency Operations Center (EOC). I know when I used to run rescue I would hang out at the EOC sometimes as some of our squadmembers were dispatchers. They would get a lot of cell phones skipping and communicating with a tower 60 miles away from their actual location. In those cases they just gave the caller the direct line to call the correct EOC.

I have a question here now after I have thought about it. How does skipping effect Cingular's E 911 plan to triangulate a caller's location based on the towers that recieve the signal? I know other carriers are going to a GPS based system that would probably be uneffected by skip.

[Charlyee]

Originally Posted by DawnM

I thought that no matter where you were you could call 911 and it would connect you to the nearest emergency service. We used it 2 years ago in FL when a drunk driver ran into a pole in front of us and had no problem.

Last month we witnessed a mother and her son get hit by a car in a parking lot. I dialed 911 and I was given a "you must dial an area code first" and I tried that and still couldn't get through. Fortunately there was another person who rushed to the scene and could dial 911 immediately.

I still have CA numbers on my phone even though we have relocated to NC. We didn't change them right away because my husband still has CA clients he deals with.

Do I have my phone set wrong somehow? It really unnearved me.

Thanks,

Dawn

As others have said, you have to call your provider and have them straighten it out. 911 is supposed to work from a cell phone even if it is not linked to a provider. Used, discarded cell phones, not linked to any provider are given out by the shelters to call 911 in the case of an abuse. Actually in a GSM phone it does not even need to have a SIM card.

So there is absolutely no reason why you couldn't have called 911 from your phone.

[Gamer03]

Originally Posted by viewfly

Call your provider and complain LOUDLY. 911 should work all over. Don't let them give any excuse about CA numbers on your phone. If they aren't helpful, give the story to the local newspapers. And tell them that you will.

I agree with you 100% viewfly.

We have a call for action program on our CBS local news channel. People call in on that program every once in a while and let themselves be heard on tv for whatever there problem may be.

[ZaphodB]

Call your carrier and complain.

If that doesn't produce results, call the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) in Raleigh and file a complaint.

As, and everyone else has says, the pen is mightier than the sword. Contact the media.

(That's one of my favourite bands, BTW -- the Pen Is Mightiers)

[hillbilly44]

Better yet file a complaint with the FCC. That'll really get some folks shook up

[DawnM]

Thanks. I did phone Sprint and tell them about the problem. They seemed quite concerned about the issue. I am phoning them again to discuss this. I told them that I have small kids myself and this would NOT be acceptable if something were to happend to them. I need a service that is reliable for calling in an emergency.

We will see what the outcome is.

The accident that I witnessed was horrible. I ended up having to give several statements to the police and then again to the insurance company involved.

So please WATCH for kids in parking lots! It can happen at any time. I worry a lot with my SUV. I just can't see behind me if I need to back up.
Dawn

[viewfly]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

I have a question here now after I have thought about it. How does skipping effect Cingular's E 911 plan to triangulate a caller's location based on the towers that recieve the signal? I know other carriers are going to a GPS based system that would probably be uneffected by skip.

Skipping? 60 miles away? I assume the given local EOC # still goes through the more distant tower. I assume there are no closer towers?
This is my guess. When a cell user is communicating with a tower, the tower determines how long in time it takes that signal to transverse between the cell and the tower. It does the same with other nearby towers in order to triangulate ( a roughly loose term).

I don't see any problem with this. Real GPS do exactly the same thing. They time how long signals transverse from 3 satellites to the GPS unit and triangulate. Satellites can be pretty far away from each other and the GPS user. The concept of time delay triangulation for Network E911 and GPS is the same. The same thing is/can be done for astrometry.

It should work. If there really are other nearer towers (and that work with the cell provider) they will be forced to be receptive.

[NYCDru]

Originally Posted by hillbilly44

Better yet file a complaint with the FCC. That'll really get some folks shook up

Agreed. Complain to the FCC and to Sprint. Also, planetfeedback.com . Write a letter.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by viewfly

Skipping? 60 miles away? I assume the given local EOC # still goes through the more distant tower. I assume there are no closer towers?
This is my guess. When a cell user is communicating with a tower, the tower determines how long in time it takes that signal to transverse between the cell and the tower. It does the same with other nearby towers in order to triangulate ( a roughly loose term).

I don't see any problem with this. Real GPS do exactly the same thing. They time how long signals transverse from 3 satellites to the GPS unit and triangulate. Satellites can be pretty far away from each other and the GPS user. The concept of time delay triangulation for Network E911 and GPS is the same. The same thing is/can be done for astrometry.

It should work. If there really are other nearer towers (and that work with the cell provider) they will be forced to be receptive.

I know it is strange but I've been in the Stafford County EOC when it happened, A cellular 911 call came in from a tower in the southern end of the county and the caller was in Winchester. The dispatcher just read them the local # to call the local EOC directly. She said it had happened a lot, and the # for Winchester was written on a post-it note on her computer

[Yankees368]

I know that the only time I ever had to call 911 on my cell phone, it worked perfectly. I was connected in one second, and the phone went into emergency mode. Flawless.

[z00m]

I agree this could be a problem.
Why not write a letter or email so there's a paper trail

[hillbilly44]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

I know it is strange but I've been in the Stafford County EOC when it happened, A cellular 911 call came in from a tower in the southern end of the county and the caller was in Winchester. The dispatcher just read them the local # to call the local EOC directly. She said it had happened a lot, and the # for Winchester was written on a post-it note on her computer

That's not a skipping tower signal but an incorrect routing from the cellsite to the switch

[DawnM]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

I know it is strange but I've been in the Stafford County EOC when it happened, A cellular 911 call came in from a tower in the southern end of the county and the caller was in Winchester. The dispatcher just read them the local # to call the local EOC directly. She said it had happened a lot, and the # for Winchester was written on a post-it note on her computer

Well, I for one would not have had a paper and pencil handy to write down any number to call directly! When I am on my cell I am either driving or out somewhere. That is definitely a huge problem!

Dawn

[DawnM]

I called 911 several times while living in Los Angeles. I never got through right away.....911 would take sometimes 30-40 rings to answer! I know it was the dispatchers though and not the phone.

Lest anyone think I just call 911 all the time just for fun, let me explain. My friends joke that I seem to bring trouble with me. I have called for an overturned car on the freeway (accident), a brush fire starting near the 101 Freeway, a man beating the living daylights out of a fellow co-worker (construction site workers and I actually had to testify in court for that one.) I witnessed a few shootings too in LA.

I worked in inner-city schools in LA. I wasn't out looking for trouble! HA!

Dawn

Originally Posted by Yankees368

I know that the only time I ever had to call 911 on my cell phone, it worked perfectly. I was connected in one second, and the phone went into emergency mode. Flawless.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by DawnM

Well, I for one would not have had a paper and pencil handy to write down any number to call directly! When I am on my cell I am either driving or out somewhere. That is definitely a huge problem!

Dawn

Unfortunately the EOC was only set up to transfer callers to neighboring juristictions. If a caller in Fredericksburg called 911 and their phone connected to a Stafford tower she can push a button and send the caller directly to the Fredericksburg EOC. Winchester wasn't set up because they weren't nearby. Maybe this has changed since it was hapening more frequently, I haven't run rescue in a couple of years now.

[Fire14]

Originally Posted by DawnM

I called 911 several times while living in Los Angeles. I never got through right away.....911 would take sometimes 30-40 rings to answer! I know it was the dispatchers though and not the phone.

Lest anyone think I just call 911 all the time just for fun, let me explain. My friends joke that I seem to bring trouble with me. I have called for an overturned car on the freeway (accident), a brush fire starting near the 101 Freeway, a man beating the living daylights out of a fellow co-worker (construction site workers and I actually had to testify in court for that one.) I witnessed a few shootings too in LA.

I worked in inner-city schools in LA. I wasn't out looking for trouble! HA!

Dawn

Oh, your 1 of those people, don't feel bad I get times when that happens to me, it's wierd how that happens to some people, and it's good to know your a person that cares and calls 9-1-1.

[ZaphodB]

Originally Posted by DawnM

I called 911 several times while living in Los Angeles. I never got through right away.....911 would take sometimes 30-40 rings to answer! I know it was the dispatchers though and not the phone.

Lest anyone think I just call 911 all the time just for fun, let me explain. My friends joke that I seem to bring trouble with me. I have called for an overturned car on the freeway (accident), a brush fire starting near the 101 Freeway, a man beating the living daylights out of a fellow co-worker (construction site workers and I actually had to testify in court for that one.) I witnessed a few shootings too in LA.

I worked in inner-city schools in LA. I wasn't out looking for trouble! HA!

Dawn

The last time I called I got the following:

"This is Mayor Jim Hahn. You have reached the 9-1-1 emergency system. All operators are busy, please continue to hold. If this is not an emergency, please hang up and dial 3-1-1. Este es el alcalde Jim Hahn. Está conectado al sistema de emergencia 9-1-1. Todas las operadoras están ocupadas, por favor espere. Si esta no es una emergencia, por favor cuelgue y marque 3-1-1."

It took eight minutes to get connected.

Jim Hahn, incidentally, can't speak Spanish for . Maybe if he spent more time in my neighbourhood...

[SQFreak]

Originally Posted by Fire14

Oh, your 1 of those people, don't feel bad I get times when that happens to me, it's wierd how that happens to some people, and it's good to know your a person that cares and calls 9-1-1.

Back when I still had Cingular, I was driving home from school one day and called 911 because a bush was burning. Literally. The workers at the shop calmly came out with a fire extinguisher and put it out as I sat at a traffic light across the corner. I let the operator know it seemed to be under control, but that it was still a burning bush at a major street corner.

Also, VZW's 911 service seemed OK here when we had to call, and it was a pre-E911 phone that was used - my father's old Moto StarTAC 7868W. (He just traded it in for an E815 last week.)

Can I ask your carrier? I'm in North Carolina too and I'm wondering if it might be a "SunCom is stupid" issue. Cingular Blue customers might still prefer SunCom over Cingular native in NC.

[DawnM]

No, I have Sprint. It was just the strangest thing and I was freaking out because there was blood everywhere. Thankfully it turned out to be a flesh wound and nothing internal was injured, but I was panicing.

Dawn

Originally Posted by SQFreak

Back when I still had Cingular, I was driving home from school one day and called 911 because a bush was burning. Literally. The workers at the shop calmly came out with a fire extinguisher and put it out as I sat at a traffic light across the corner. I let the operator know it seemed to be under control, but that it was still a burning bush at a major street corner.

Also, VZW's 911 service seemed OK here when we had to call, and it was a pre-E911 phone that was used - my father's old Moto StarTAC 7868W. (He just traded it in for an E815 last week.)

Can I ask your carrier? I'm in North Carolina too and I'm wondering if it might be a "SunCom is stupid" issue. Cingular Blue customers might still prefer SunCom over Cingular native in NC.

[DawnM]

I doubt Jim Hahn has spent much time in any neighborhood in LA other than campaigning.....HA!

Dawn

Originally Posted by ZaphodB

The last time I called I got the following:

"This is Mayor Jim Hahn. You have reached the 9-1-1 emergency system. All operators are busy, please continue to hold. If this is not an emergency, please hang up and dial 3-1-1. Este es el alcalde Jim Hahn. Está conectado al sistema de emergencia 9-1-1. Todas las operadoras están ocupadas, por favor espere. Si esta no es una emergencia, por favor cuelgue y marque 3-1-1."

It took eight minutes to get connected.

Jim Hahn, incidentally, can't speak Spanish for . Maybe if he spent more time in my neighbourhood...

[PADutchman]

Originally Posted by DawnM

I doubt Jim Hahn has spent much time in any neighborhood in LA other than campaigning.....HA!

Dawn

cellular 911 call problems can be very complex, and the trouble may be with the wireless carrier, or the local telco that all of the 911 trunking is handled through. Yes, folks, without the landline based stuff, our precious wireless devices wouldn't work very well----So, you tell your wireless provider, who in turn MAY turn it over to the local telco. It's actually very complex, and can involve numerous circuits, carrier systems, mapping / software cross-connects.....any ONE thing can make it fail. I'm amazed any of it works as well as it does.