Cellular phones topics - I did NOT call 911!!

Author

I did NOT call 911!!

Mikey the Quick

2007-08-21, 10:33 pm

I've gotten three calls (so far) from the Costa Mesa, California
police department, saying that I called 911, and they want to make
sure I'm okay.

1. I did NOT call 911!!

2. I was in Cozad, NEBRASKA at the times I supposedly called, so I
hope a 911 call would go somewhere closer!!

Operator lady insisted my phone called them, so apparently this
doesn't happen very often.

I didn't know where Costa Mesa was, so backtraced the phone #, and it
took me to the city's webpage. While there, I dropped an e-mail to
the police dept., thought it might be helpful.

Phone is a Tracfone, if that makes a difference.

This brings up many questions I've had about cell phones:

Q#1: If an old deactivated phone calls 911, can the operator tell?
What number shows up on their screen?

See, my theory is that some old phone with my # got moved to CA, and
some little kid found it and started playing with it. BUT I've had my
phone over a year, never a problem before. I supposedly called once
on Saturday Night, and once Monday Afternoon, for which they called me
twice, for some reason.

Q#2: Would you block the police department? I've never blocked
anyone before, didn't figure I would block a police department!
They've only called me three times, no big deal yet. If I block them,
does it just go to voice mail, or does it shut them out completely?

(Hmmm....CAN you block a number with Tracfone? Can't seem to find a
way on my Nokia 2126....)

Q#3: Anything else I can do? Can the police department block ME? I
doubt I will ever be spending time near Costa Mesa....

Thanks, all!

Mike
O-

Russell Patterson

2007-08-22, 4:33 am

Any phone, even without a service contract can be used to call 911.
Good idea to never give away a cell phone you no longer use, if
someone can start making crank 911 calls with it. OTOH, if you have
an elderly relative that has no use for a cell phone, let them have it
for their own security. Just teach them how to keep it charged and
how to dial 911 in an emergency. They can't use it for anything else
unless they take it to a dealer and activate it.

On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 20:00:44 -0700, Mikey the Quick
<mdmarshall@my-deja.com> wrote:

>I've gotten three calls (so far) from the Costa Mesa, California
>police department, saying that I called 911, and they want to make
>sure I'm okay.
>
>1. I did NOT call 911!!
>
>2. I was in Cozad, NEBRASKA at the times I supposedly called, so I
>hope a 911 call would go somewhere closer!!
>
>Operator lady insisted my phone called them, so apparently this
>doesn't happen very often.
>
>I didn't know where Costa Mesa was, so backtraced the phone #, and it
>took me to the city's webpage. While there, I dropped an e-mail to
>the police dept., thought it might be helpful.
>
>Phone is a Tracfone, if that makes a difference.
>
>This brings up many questions I've had about cell phones:
>
>Q#1: If an old deactivated phone calls 911, can the operator tell?
>What number shows up on their screen?
>
>See, my theory is that some old phone with my # got moved to CA, and
>some little kid found it and started playing with it. BUT I've had my
>phone over a year, never a problem before. I supposedly called once
>on Saturday Night, and once Monday Afternoon, for which they called me
>twice, for some reason.
>
>Q#2: Would you block the police department? I've never blocked
>anyone before, didn't figure I would block a police department!
>They've only called me three times, no big deal yet. If I block them,
>does it just go to voice mail, or does it shut them out completely?
>
>(Hmmm....CAN you block a number with Tracfone? Can't seem to find a
>way on my Nokia 2126....)
>
>Q#3: Anything else I can do? Can the police department block ME? I
>doubt I will ever be spending time near Costa Mesa....
>
>Thanks, all!
>
>Mike
>O-

B'ichela

2007-08-22, 7:33 am

In article < 6vjnc3dpjg4hf33f31et
1m8q5ctmdlccuo@4ax.com>, Russell Patterson wrote:
> Any phone, even without a service contract can be used to call 911.
> Good idea to never give away a cell phone you no longer use, if
> someone can start making crank 911 calls with it. OTOH, if you have
> an elderly relative that has no use for a cell phone, let them have it
> for their own security. Just teach them how to keep it charged and
> how to dial 911 in an emergency. They can't use it for anything else
> unless they take it to a dealer and activate it.
What about GSM phones? If I never give the SIM card away can
they still call 911?

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Todd Allcock

2007-08-22, 12:33 pm

At 22 Aug 2007 11:26:02 +0000 B'ichela wrote:

> What about GSM phones? If I never give the SIM card away can
> they still call 911?
>

GSM phones can call 911 even without a SIM intalled.

--

"I don't need my cell phone to play video games or take pictures
or double as a Walkie-Talkie; I just need it to work. Thanks for
all the bells and whistles, but I could communicate better with
ACTUAL bells and whistles." -Bill Maher 9/25/2003

Topo Gigio

2007-08-22, 3:33 pm

"Mikey the Quick" <mdmarshall@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:1187751644.831041.259910@r23g2000prd.googlegroups.com...
> I've gotten three calls (so far) from the Costa Mesa, California
> police department, saying that I called 911, and they want to make
> sure I'm okay.
>
> 1. I did NOT call 911!!
>
> 2. I was in Cozad, NEBRASKA at the times I supposedly called, so I
> hope a 911 call would go somewhere closer!!
>
> Operator lady insisted my phone called them, so apparently this
> doesn't happen very often.

That doesn't make sense. Do you have a Costa Mesa number on the TracFone?
You must as the 911 operator called you. If you dial 911 with a Nebraska
number you will not ring 911 in California.

Is the phone is a candy bar style. If so one can inadvertently press 911,
112 or 08 even if the key pad is locked and that will ring 911.

RobertPatrick

2007-08-23, 4:33 am

Russell Patterson <me@privacy.net> wrote in
news:6vjnc3dpjg4hf33
f31et1m8q5ctmdlccuo@
4ax.com:

> Any phone, even without a service contract can be used to call 911.
> Good idea to never give away a cell phone you no longer use, if
> someone can start making crank 911 calls with it. OTOH, if you have
> an elderly relative that has no use for a cell phone, let them have it
> for their own security. Just teach them how to keep it charged and
> how to dial 911 in an emergency. They can't use it for anything else
> unless they take it to a dealer and activate it.
>
> On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 20:00:44 -0700, Mikey the Quick
> <mdmarshall@my-deja.com> wrote:
>
>
>

I don't know the correct terms, but could some jerk have cloned your number
to another phone? Somehow hijacked your phone's ID?

Russell Patterson

2007-08-23, 4:33 am

On Wed, 22 Aug 2007 19:54:49 GMT, "Topo Gigio" <thistooshall@pass.com>
wrote:

>
>"Mikey the Quick" <mdmarshall@my-deja.com> wrote in message
>news:1187751644.831041.259910@r23g2000prd.googlegroups.com...
>
>That doesn't make sense. Do you have a Costa Mesa number on the TracFone?
>You must as the 911 operator called you. If you dial 911 with a Nebraska
>number you will not ring 911 in California.
If you dial 911 on a cell phone it will connect to the nearest
jurisdiction where you are calling from. I've done it before to
report a car fire in Philadelphia while I was passing through the
city. This was some time ago when not too many people had cell
phones, but it worked that way then, and it does not make any sense to
have it any other way.

>
>
>
>Is the phone is a candy bar style. If so one can inadvertently press 911,
>112 or 08 even if the key pad is locked and that will ring 911.
>

Mikey the Quick

2007-08-23, 10:33 am

On Aug 22, 2:54 pm, "Topo Gigio" <thistoosh...@pass.com> wrote:
> "Mikey the Quick" <mdmarsh...@my-deja.com> wrote in messagenews:11877516
44.831041.259910@r23g2000prd.googlegroups.com...
>
>
>
>
>
> That doesn't make sense. Do you have a Costa Mesa number on the TracFone?
> You must as the 911 operator called you. If you dial 911 with a Nebraska
> number you will not ring 911 in California.
>
> Is the phone is a candy bar style. If so one can inadvertently press 911,
> 112 or 08 even if the key pad is locked and that will ring 911.

Well, see, that's the problem!! I KNOW my phone didn't call anyone
all day. So, one of two things happened:

1. Somehow some phone in California has my number, and they called
911.
2. There's a glitch in the 911 system in Costa Mesa, causing them to
call me three times, two days apart.

I don't know anyone in California, and don't believe I've ever called
there.

Mike
O-

Evan Platt

2007-08-23, 10:33 pm

On Wed, 22 Aug 2007 19:54:49 GMT, "Topo Gigio" <thistooshall@pass.com>
wrote:

>That doesn't make sense. Do you have a Costa Mesa number on the TracFone?
>You must as the 911 operator called you. If you dial 911 with a Nebraska
>number you will not ring 911 in California.

Doesn't matter. Calling 911 on a cell phone will call the LOCAL PSAP -
no matter where your number is 'registered'.
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Evan Platt

2007-08-23, 10:33 pm

On 23 Aug 2007 04:02:57 GMT, RobertPatrick <rp@nospammingg.com> wrote:

>I don't know the correct terms, but could some jerk have cloned your number
>to another phone? Somehow hijacked your phone's ID?

No, but if I took an old ANALOG cell phone and 'programmed' it with a
random number that just happened to be your number, that's a
possibility.

(The old analog phone wouldn't work except to call 911).
--
To reply via e-mail, remove The Obvious from my e-mail address.

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