emergency phone provision

[adam2]

I would send the emergency text message to whatever number is recommended by the supplier of the cellphone for such purposes.

" HELP! SERIOUS ILLNES AT WURZLESHIRE VILLAGE HALL POST CODE XXXX YYY. SEND AMBULANCE" would suffice.

" HELP!  FIRE AT WURZLESHIRE VILLAGE HALL POST CODE XXXX YYY. SEND FIRE BRIGADE"

[callumb]

Seems that Apple do all the messages etc for you: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213426

Dial 911, if it can't connect via any network it will offer you the ability to send an SMS to 911 via satellite with all your needed info on where you are etc. Looks to be more for out in the wilderness than a town or city with no service because of storms etc.

[Dave m]

That's great if you have an iPhone and aren't inside a semi Faraday cage. Our building used to have so much steel in it that you couldn't make a mobile call without going outside. texts all arrived when you were half way home

Granted, I started this querying it on a theatrical licensing type issue but since we abandoned POTS, our wall mounted phones are replaced by half that number of VOIP 'phones" for emergencies, none of which are in corridors or public areas.

All individual Vox calls require us to log onto our computer. Tricky when you're holding the right hand fingers in your left hand.

Edited October 3, 2022 by Dave m

[adam2]

9 hours ago, callumb said:

Seems that Apple do all the messages etc for you: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213426

Dial 911, if it can't connect via any network it will offer you the ability to send an SMS to 911 via satellite with all your needed info on where you are etc. Looks to be more for out in the wilderness than a town or city with no service because of storms etc.

Thanks for the link and other info.

Looks like this service is not due to be available in the UK, though I consider it likely to be available in the future. Worth keeping an eye on, but of no near term help.

[Jivemaster]

Sadly unless you have and maintain a satphone you will be accessing a cell tower and network before you get to satellite networks and still rely on ground networks to handle the connection to and emergency call handler who may or not be in your country.

When the London tube bombings happened the cellphones in London all went off. 

Does anyone know what happened to cell phones during the Manchester concert bombing?

The emergency message facility on some satphones us very simply a single text message to one number giving your GPS coordinates and a very short message, to someone who will be there and coordinate a rescue.

Edited October 4, 2022 by Jivemaster
added

[Stuart91]

9 hours ago, Jivemaster said:

When the London tube bombings happened the cellphones in London all went off. 

My impression was that this was an intentional move by the authorities, to preserve bandwidth for emergency services?

[Jivemaster]

It may have been, but at the time I was driving an ambulance in London with no phone service and a good friend was coming to London in a van with others all with "the EOD suit" prepared to do the walk and they all lost mobile service. 

[Paul TC]

6 hours ago, Stuart91 said:

My impression was that this was an intentional move by the authorities, to preserve bandwidth for emergency services?

 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTPAS

[Stuart91]

11 minutes ago, Paul TC said:

 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTPAS

That's a useful read, thanks. This bit seems relevant to our discussion:

Quote

Not all calling by regular mobiles is prevented. Calls to an emergency services number (911, 112, 999) will ignore all MTPAS or global action messages.

 

[adam2]

On 10/4/2022 at 2:55 AM, Jivemaster said:

Sadly unless you have and maintain a satphone you will be accessing a cell tower and network before you get to satellite networks and still rely on ground networks to handle the connection to and emergency call handler who may or not be in your country.

 

Disagree, as far as I can tell, the whole point of this new service is that the text signal travels DIRECTLY from the cellular handset to the satellite, without any use of the cellular network.

The main market is for emergency connectivity in remote places without any cellular telephone infrastructure.

Once the satellite communication company have your text message they will pass this on to the emergency services, in the right country, they already know your location. The link from the satellite ground station to the emergency services is presumably via landline, but these are duplicated and equipped with backup power supplies. 

[Ynot]

On 10/4/2022 at 12:12 PM, Stuart91 said:

My impression was that this was an intentional move by the authorities, to preserve bandwidth for emergency services?

You may also find that isolating the cellular network during a terrorist event (or suspect event) could be done to prevent any further potential remote triggers being used.

[adam2]

On 10/12/2022 at 6:26 PM, Ynot said:

You may also find that isolating the cellular network during a terrorist event (or suspect event) could be done to prevent any further potential remote triggers being used.

Do terrorists actually detonate bombs by ringing a cellphone attached thereto ? There would seem to be a significant risk of premature explosion due to a wrong number or a marketing call, and also some risk of not detonating when "told to" due to lack of a signal. I understood that the "alarm clock" feature found om most phones was used, this requires no signal.

BTW, Friends in Scotland, near Stonehaven had a TWO WEEK power failure during storm Arwen, and several shorter  power cuts. No cellphone or land line telephone service was available during these events. No harm resulted but it could have ended very badly in the event of fire or sudden illness. They had electricity from a standby generator, which ran for 15 days, continually.

[sleah]

12 hours ago, adam2 said:

Do terrorists actually detonate bombs by ringing a cellphone attached thereto ? There would seem to be a significant risk of premature explosion due to a wrong number or a marketing call, and also some risk of not detonating when "told to" due to lack of a signal.

I'm sure it was an episode of Trigger Point (Fictional series about police explosives experts) that touched upon this. There was something else like a code or combination of numbers that had to be sent after the call was answered that triggered the device.

[kitlane]

On 4/16/2024 at 10:49 PM, adam2 said:

Do terrorists actually detonate bombs by ringing a cellphone attached thereto ? There would seem to be a significant risk of premature explosion due to a wrong number or a marketing call, and also some risk of not detonating when "told to" due to lack of a signal. I understood that the "alarm clock" feature found om most phones was used, this requires no signal.

 

There are certainly a lot of news articles online that indicate that they do.