1 edit | 911 Service is free from any landline.... Just so you know, I work for a 911 Dispatch Center in South Florida, and in South Florida, Not sure about anywhere else, you can simply plug a phone into any wall outlet and it will call 911. This is just as a cell phone. It doesn't matter if the service is active or not, but you can still call 911.
I believe this should work anywhere there is a phone outlet, and no service. So in essence, these phone companies, through a PR Company, are trying to scare people from cutting their landlines, and not educating them on the fact that simply having a phone hooked up, with no service, should in fact call 911. This will give the 911 operator your address, the last name that was on the account (or the phone company that services that address) and the phone number that used to be assigned there, unless its been given out. If that's the case, it will use a fake number, or sometimes a 911 areacoded number (doesn't exist in the US).
I am not in anyway advocating everyone testing this, but if you do be sure not to hang up. and just let the dispatcher know your testing your line. They will thank you, and won't send the Police to your door asking what the problem is.
EDIT Sorry about double posting, was working on this inbetween transmissions, at work! |
WhatNowPremium
join:2009-05-06
Charlotte, NC | That only works if the dial tone is still there. If the line has been dead for an long extended period the connection may have been physically disconnected for some reason. They are left connected as long as possible so you can call 911 for emergencies and 611 to reactivate service by computer.
In some areas the local governments all want a piece of the 911 pie. There will be a county dispatch center and a small town will have their own instead of combining the funds and having a single better center. You guys can blame the telcos all you want but most of the problems are because of some government decision on how to spend the money. The cell towers in an area can have the best equipment but if the 911 center it goes too does not have the equipment to use it you are out of luck.
Unless you have been in big and small 911 centers and know what equipment they have installed and the people manning it your cell phone and tower may be the least of you problem.
They save a lot of people but sometimes things fall through the cracks and someone dies. |
