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Cellular forums Home > Archive > Verizon wireless > February 2006 > VOIP horror story
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| Agent_C 2006-02-24, 5:48 pm |
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Remove This wrote:
> http://www.kstp.com/article/stories/S14441.html?cat=1
Their own fault... They obviously didn't set up their 911 service when
they signed up for VOIP. They're supposed to link their number (and
location) to the local municipality's 911 exchange.
A lot people don't do this, so the carrier has to manually look up the
account details... determine which municipality to transfer the call
to; and then put it through. That's what was happening while they were
on hold.
It sounds like the carrier did exactly what they were supposed to.
A_C
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| Mike T. 2006-02-24, 5:48 pm |
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"Agent_C" <Agent-C-hates-spam@nyc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:1140801009.538600.238990@z34g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
>
> Remove This wrote:
>
> Their own fault... They obviously didn't set up their 911 service when
> they signed up for VOIP. They're supposed to link their number (and
> location) to the local municipality's 911 exchange.
>
> A lot people don't do this, so the carrier has to manually look up the
> account details... determine which municipality to transfer the call
> to; and then put it through. That's what was happening while they were
> on hold.
>
> It sounds like the carrier did exactly what they were supposed to.
>
> A_C
>
We've always got our cell phones close to us, and they are pre-programmed
with LOCAL emergency numbers. (ie, not 911, all 10 digits) -Dave
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| Remove This 2006-02-24, 5:48 pm |
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"Agent_C" <Agent-C-hates-spam@nyc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:1140801009.538600.238990@z34g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
>
> Remove This wrote:
>
> Their own fault...
Careful. Might want to wait for the "autopsy"
--
I work for the ILEC ...." stuff happens! "
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| Remove This 2006-02-24, 5:48 pm |
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"Mike T." <hello@howyadoin.now> wrote in message
news:43ff3fbd$0$4996
5$892e7fe2@authen.yellow.readfreenews.net...
> We've always got our cell phones close to us, and they are pre-programmed
> with LOCAL emergency numbers. (ie, not 911, all 10 digits) -Dave
Smart move, at least for the next few milleniums...As long as you remember
where you "are"
--
I work for the ILEC ...." stuff happens! "
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| George 2006-02-24, 5:48 pm |
| Agent_C wrote:
> Remove This wrote:
>
>
>
> Their own fault... They obviously didn't set up their 911 service when
> they signed up for VOIP. They're supposed to link their number (and
> location) to the local municipality's 911 exchange.
>
> A lot people don't do this, so the carrier has to manually look up the
> account details... determine which municipality to transfer the call
> to; and then put it through. That's what was happening while they were
> on hold.
>
> It sounds like the carrier did exactly what they were supposed to.
>
> A_C
>
But vonage 911 doesn't work like "real 911". They were supposed to do it
but are dragging their feet. "real 911" is what you get on a normal
landline phone. The call is immediately sent to the proper call center
and the operator sees your information and in some centers gets a map of
your location and the locations of emergency vehicles. You could be
having a heart attack or some other situation where you can't relate any
information and emergency services will show up. The vonage 911 simply
connects you (if you provided the info) to a clerical number at the 911
center and you need to provide your information.
My neighbor is alive today because of "real 911". He came home and felt
sick. His wife was still out. He dialed 911, had a heart attack and
died. The paramedics were able to restart his heart. If he had been
using vonage (or others) his family would have been burying him last year.
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| On Fri, 24 Feb 2006 12:17:49 -0500, "Mike T." <hello@howyadoin.now>
wrote:
>
>"Agent_C" <Agent-C-hates-spam@nyc.rr.com> wrote in message
>news:1140801009.538600.238990@z34g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
>
>We've always got our cell phones close to us, and they are pre-programmed
>with LOCAL emergency numbers. (ie, not 911, all 10 digits) -Dave
>
that may not work in all jurisdictions, dave. take west suburban
chicago where i am. all of the old 7-digit emergency numbers were
dropped many, many years ago. if you dial the local police business
number they will tell you to hang up and dial 9-1-1 (if not an
emergency). if your call to them is urgent they will forward the call
to the 9-1-1 center but then you'll lose valuable time. if you don't
travel much and you know that your local police/fire still have active
7-digit numbers then your plan will work.
73,
rich, n9dko
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| Isaiah Beard 2006-02-26, 5:48 pm |
| Rich wrote:
> that may not work in all jurisdictions, dave. take west suburban
> chicago where i am. all of the old 7-digit emergency numbers were
> dropped many, many years ago. if you dial the local police business
> number they will tell you to hang up and dial 9-1-1 (if not an
> emergency).
I guess that makes sense considering most of the less-intelligent public
will dial 911 for even the most mundane issues, but I can see where that
will cause serious confusion with adjacent locales, especially if
there's one that doesn't want you calling 911 unless your house is
burning AND someone's stabbed you 50 times.
I guess the problem is that everyone has a different perspective on what
constitutes an "emergency." Evidently, west suburban chicago has just
given up altogether on trying to define it.
--
E-mail fudged to thwart spammers.
Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply.
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| On Sun, 26 Feb 2006 12:37:09 -0500, Isaiah Beard
< sacredpoet@sacredpoe
t.com> wrote:
>Rich wrote:
>
>
>
>
>I guess that makes sense considering most of the less-intelligent public
>will dial 911 for even the most mundane issues, but I can see where that
>will cause serious confusion with adjacent locales, especially if
>there's one that doesn't want you calling 911 unless your house is
>burning AND someone's stabbed you 50 times.
>
>I guess the problem is that everyone has a different perspective on what
>constitutes an "emergency." Evidently, west suburban chicago has just
>given up altogether on trying to define it.
our approach was, and is, that all dispatchable calls are best handled
on 9-1-1 where we sort them out and dispatch by priority, not first
in, first out. anything that did not require the dispatch of a police
officer, firefighter or medical unit was asked to hang up and call the
station 7-digit business number. worked very, very well for us. the
call center has 45 or so inbound 9-1-1 trunks. apart from a major
storm we never had reports of a busy signal.
73,
rich, n9dko
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| David S 2006-02-27, 2:48 am |
| On Fri, 24 Feb 2006 22:56:44 GMT, Rich < rich@donotsendmeemai
l.com> chose to
add this to the great equation of life, the universe, and everything:
>On Fri, 24 Feb 2006 12:17:49 -0500, "Mike T." <hello@howyadoin.now>
>wrote:
>
>
>that may not work in all jurisdictions, dave. take west suburban
>chicago where i am. all of the old 7-digit emergency numbers were
>dropped many, many years ago. if you dial the local police business
>number they will tell you to hang up and dial 9-1-1 (if not an
>emergency). if your call to them is urgent they will forward the call
>to the 9-1-1 center but then you'll lose valuable time. if you don't
>travel much and you know that your local police/fire still have active
>7-digit numbers then your plan will work.
Where I live (just a few miles from you), we have a 7-digit number that
goes straight to the 911 desk. In fact the last four digits of that number
are 0911.
The main problem I see with using regular numbers instead of 911 is that
the phone and the cellular system won't treat it as an emergency call --
the phone will stick to its PRL instead of taking the best signal it can
find regardless of the carrier.
I used to also worry that the call would be charged as a normal call, until
I realized that 45 cents per minute overage is a cheap price to pay for
putting out a fire sooner or saving a life. (Not to mention that I never
use even half of my minutes anyway.)
--
David Streeter, "a guy's guy" -- Dave Barry
http://home.att.net/~dwstreeter
Remove the naughty bit from my address to reply
Expect a train on ANY track at ANY time.
"I always felt the sexual emancipation was for both sexes, otherwise it
doesn't work. It really wasn't a guy's ploy to get laid." - Hugh Hefner
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| On Mon, 27 Feb 2006 05:28:51 GMT, David S
< dwstreeter@spamisnau
ghty.att.net> wrote:
>On Fri, 24 Feb 2006 22:56:44 GMT, Rich < rich@donotsendmeemai
l.com> chose to
>add this to the great equation of life, the universe, and everything:
>
>
>Where I live (just a few miles from you), we have a 7-digit number that
>goes straight to the 911 desk. In fact the last four digits of that number
>are 0911.
>
>The main problem I see with using regular numbers instead of 911 is that
>the phone and the cellular system won't treat it as an emergency call --
>the phone will stick to its PRL instead of taking the best signal it can
>find regardless of the carrier.
>
>I used to also worry that the call would be charged as a normal call, until
>I realized that 45 cents per minute overage is a cheap price to pay for
>putting out a fire sooner or saving a life. (Not to mention that I never
>use even half of my minutes anyway.)
dave, our concern and the primary reason for dropping the old 7-digit
numbers was missing an emergency call if, and when, a 7-digit line
rang at the dispatcher's console at the same time a 9-1-1 line rang.
the priority would be given to 9-1-1 lines but that doesn't mean
there wouldn't have been an emergency/urgent call on the 7-digit line.
case in point. i recall several years ago a fellow was at home
cleaning his handgun. two mistakes...he failed to unload it and had it
pointed at his gut when it went off. instead of dialing 9-1-1 he
called the station number because, and i quote, "i wasn't hurt that
badly". lucky for him the station was open (small town) and the desk
clerk was able tog et his address before he passed out. she forwarded
the info to the 9-1-1 center and help was dispatched. he survived.
73,
rich, n9dko
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