Calling 911 on Verizon Phone May Be Dangerous

[analog_kidd]

I got woken up last night at 2:30 am by some people at the neighbors house loading something into a van. Seemed a little strange to me, and we have had several break-ins lately, so I called the police. Turned out to be nothing.

What disturbed me though is that I used my cell phone to call the police, and as soon as I made the call, my phone made a very loud ring-tone announcement, and displayed "Calling 911" on the display. When the call ended, I got a similar announcement. My phone was set to silent, so this was something that my phone thinks is a good feature.

What bothers me about this "feature" is that if i'm trying to quietly call the police, my phone will give me up. What if there is a BG rustling around in my house, and I want to call the police before I go confront them. Or my wife calls while I'm looking around.

I looked around the settings of my phone (a newer LG Chocolate), but found nothing to turn this off. I think I'll call Verizon later this week and see if they know anything.

This is the first time I've ever called 911 from a cell, and I bet there are others who have never done so. Thought I'd make others aware of this.

[fury2neon]

I think the 911 "feature" is an override that can be used on all phones even those that are no longer in service. I think it is something you are just stuck with.

[Mike.357]

yanno, it must be for your own good.

[fury2neon]

How come the stuff that is always good for me either taste bad, cause major inconveniences or pain?

Just wondering...

[Guest looneeetunes]

thats something good to know. i too have been trying to catch a thief, he got into the house about three weeks ago (we didnt lock the deadbolt, and we think he slid a card into the lock)he didnt get anything we were gone maybe five min. last week our foster son saw him thru his bedroom window at about twelve a.m. and the bg saw him and ran off before i could get out,this week he got gas out of wifes van. at any rate we dont have a lan line, we only use cell phones. i was thinking this week, if i saw him first and had time to call before i acted i would, but i dont know if my phone would do that or not, never had to call.

[Guest Boomhower]

thats something good to know. i too have been trying to catch a thief, he got into the house about three weeks ago (we didnt lock the deadbolt, and we think he slid a card into the lock)he didnt get anything we were gone maybe five min. last week our foster son saw him thru his bedroom window at about twelve a.m. and the bg saw him and ran off before i could get out,this week he got gas out of wifes van. at any rate we dont have a lan line, we only use cell phones. i was thinking this week, if i saw him first and had time to call before i acted i would, but i dont know if my phone would do that or not, never had to call.

Hope your collecting evidence and filing reports with your local PD.

[Mike.357]

whats the number for 911? Maybe get that and program it in the speed dial so dialing 911 does not make the phone got battsnot.

[Guest looneeetunes]

well we called the police out the night he got in, and really nothing was done, they said they would up patrol in my area, and even drive down my driveway,,, well my drive is 500 feet from the road, and they would have to turn around at the house... havent seen them yet. i am in blount county and there is a terrible shortage of leo's due to pay i think for starters..i think i have been forgotten. my son wanted to talk to a leo about a month ago, about a girl he goes to school with who is possibly being abused.. we called at 4:00 pm and they got here at 8:45. well even when we called about the guy getting in it took an hour and fifteen min. i have ordered a really good security system, it should be here if mail runs tomorrow, i have some experience putting them in and my dad has more experience. this setting up all night isnt cutting it, i stayed up last week watching for him after fosterson saw him, till about 3 to 4 each night. got to feeling sure he wasnt comming back,so went to bed, then the gas thing, been stayin up again. when it all boils down to it i guess, when i am asleep i figure i have insurance to cover things outside,and have bought locking gas caps. but this commin in thing is a diffrent thing all together. cant stand to think i would sleep thru a break in... so sleepless in maryville here till security system comes...

[Guest looneeetunes]

whats the number for 911? Maybe get that and program it in the speed dial so dialing 911 does not make the phone got battsnot.

not sure but i think you can call 411 for the number, if its listed

[Guest dotsun]

I think it's just your phone, I've called 911 on my motorola phone and it doesn't do that.

[Guest Verbal Kint]

I think it's just your phone, I've called 911 on my motorola phone and it doesn't do that.

Everyone break out their cell phones and dial 911 right now, so we can take a majority poll! Just tell them it's for research.

[Guest dotsun]

I didn't mean I just tried it, silly.

[Marswolf]

I think I'll call Verizon later this week and see if they know anything.

Please do that and let us know what you find out.

First I've heard of this.

[Guest looneeetunes]

when we called the other day, we called dispatch. i dunno if that isnt as quick?? or in my area maybe the operative word would be , just as slow.

[analog_kidd]

I looked around the net and discovered that this is something new in the past few months. All new Verizon phones (and other carriers) will have this "feature" from here on out. I'm not too hopeful that Verizon will be able to help me disable this on my phone. My experience with the local folks is they know how to sell you a phone, and that's about it.

There was some discussion on a web forum about removing the 911 from the ICE (In Case of Emergency) contact from your phone. This did help on some models, but not on others. Mine is one of the ones that doesn't work.

Unfortunately, it is going to take someone getting attacked because their phone alerted the BG to their position, and then a Civil Suit being laid on the Cell Provider before something will probably get done.

We also have cancelled our land line and only use the cell. I think I may call the local police dept. office and find out if there is another number I can program in to get to the same dispatch. Also, even though we cancelled our land line, we still get a dial tone. If I try to place a call, though, I get a message that it can only be used to place 911 call. I still keep a phone plugged in just for this. In the future, I'll remember to use this phone.

[Guest c.a.s.]

My phone just displays "attempting emergency call", and does it's business.

[Marswolf]

Boy, this is a really stupid idea.

[strickj]

use this

http://www.espionage-store.com/shotalarm.html

[Marswolf]

Gee, I know VC, who are friends now, who could do that for 2.9 cents,

[analog_kidd]

Well, I called Verizon about this yesterday. They said that they have recieved a lot of irate calls about this, but they claim it is out of their hands. They say that the FCC regulated this feature to assist people with disabilities, specifically people who cannot speak. The phone will continue to ring the alert until the 911 call is ended and reset by the 911 Operator. This way when help shows up, they can find the caller by listening for the tone.

They thought it would be a good idea, until they actuyally put it into action. They are apparently working with the FCC to get the ruling changed. Unfortunately, Verizon specified the feature to all the companies who make phones for them, so it is locked into the phone's hardware. The manufacturers may be able to provide a firmware update to correct it, but that is up to the manufacturers (who probably would rather just sell you a new phone.)

Again, we have a government agency dictating what services a company must provide, just to help out the 0.01% of the population that needs the service, but puting the rest of us at risk. Then they don't give us an option of disabling the service. ARRGH!

[Guest db99wj]

Well, I called Verizon about this yesterday. They said that they have recieved a lot of irate calls about this, but they claim it is out of their hands. They say that the FCC regulated this feature to assist people with disabilities, specifically people who cannot speak. The phone will continue to ring the alert until the 911 call is ended and reset by the 911 Operator. This way when help shows up, they can find the caller by listening for the tone.

They thought it would be a good idea, until they actuyally put it into action. They are apparently working with the FCC to get the ruling changed. Unfortunately, Verizon specified the feature to all the companies who make phones for them, so it is locked into the phone's hardware. The manufacturers may be able to provide a firmware update to correct it, but that is up to the manufacturers (who probably would rather just sell you a new phone.)

Again, we have a government agency dictating what services a company must provide, just to help out the 0.01% of the population that needs the service, but puting the rest of us at risk. Then they don't give us an option of disabling the service. ARRGH!

So in other words, "They say that the FCC regulated this feature to assist people with disabilities, specifically people who cannot speak. The phone will continue to ring the alert until the 911 call is ended and reset by the 911 Operator. This way when help shows up, they can find the body by listening for the tone.

[molonlabetn]

My wife's Chocolate phone did not do this when we had to call 911 due to an accident we witnessed recently...

strange...

But, in the event that my phone did do this when the call occurred... it's not likely that noise would be especially audible over certain other loud noises.

[saintsfanbrian]

Land Line phones will still call 911 even if service is disconnected. This is again a feature that the phone companies allow so anyone can get access to police.

The one time I had to call the police recently I just called the standard number in the phone book, they were there within 10 minutes. Better response time than 911 would have been. I programmed this number into my phone. No need to have a phone doing goofy things.

The one time I called 911 from my cell phone it locked up and I could not perform any other action for quite some time. Nice feature, I can call 911 but I can't call anyone else that might actually be able to help.

[analog_kidd]

My wife's Chocolate phone did not do this when we had to call 911 due to an accident we witnessed recently...

strange...

Is your wife's phone an older model? Mine is the latest edition, and I got it about a month ago. The Verizon guy said that this is a new feature they are requiring on all new model phones.

[molonlabetn]

Is your wife's phone an older model? Mine is the latest edition, and I got it about a month ago. The Verizon guy said that this is a new feature they are requiring on all new model phones.

Yeah, it's one of the earliest models... hot pink too, it felt so wrong using it.

That would explain it.