EDITOR: For many people, a wireless telephone is a source of
comfort: knowing that emergency help is as close as the phone’s
keypad is often a main reason for people to have wireless phones
and to give them to their children.
EDITOR:
For many people, a wireless telephone is a source of comfort: knowing that emergency help is as close as the phone’s keypad is often a main reason for people to have wireless phones and to give them to their children.
Unfortunately, between 25 percent and 70 percent of all wireless calls to 911 are accidental, by some estimates, and these calls clog up the phone lines at emergency call centers and even inhibit the dispatch of emergency services to those actually in need.
Accidental 911 calls can result from a consumer inadvertently pressing a key on his or her handset that is automatically programmed to reach 911 by way of speed dial. Many older wireless phones are equipped with this feature, and many came pre-programmed with the feature turned on.
In these pre-programmed handsets, holding down one key for a few seconds – generally the “9” – activates the speed dial. The older wireless phones with this feature, especially those with an open-faced design, might bump against an item in the user’s purse or pocket, activating the automatic dial without the user even being aware that this is happening.
Accidental 911 calls, also known as unintentional 911 calls, pose a risk to public safety because an emergency call center must spend time and resources to determine whether the calls are truly emergencies or merely false alarms. Generally, a public safety operator will stay on the line, or will disconnect and try to call the caller back to verify any emergency. In either case, time that could be devoted to a true emergency is wasted, and a life could hang in the balance.
“Accidental 911 calls from wireless phones pose a risk to everyone’s safety,” according to K. Dane Snowden, Chief of the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB). “Through awareness and education, consumers, carriers, manufacturers, the government, and public safety groups can help to eliminate this problem.”
Wireless phone users can prevent accidental 911 calls in several ways. Locking the keypad of a phone prevents accidental calls, as does turning off the automatic 911 feature – your user’s manual will explain how. Also, one of the benefits of buying a newer handset is that very few of the newer phones have this feature, and if they do, the user has to activate it, so accidental 911 calls are infrequent with the later model handsets.
The Federal Communications Commission is working with wireless handset manufacturers, wireless carriers, and public safety agencies such as the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International, Inc. (APCO), and the National Association of State Nine One One Administrators (NASNA), to take steps to address the problem of accidental 911 calls.
As a result, wireless carriers, for example, have asked manufacturers either to turn off the 911 autodial feature before shipment of new handsets or not to offer the 911 autodial feature as an option at all. In fact, effective Jan. 1, 2003, all handsets certified by the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association – a trade association for the wireless industry – can not be factory programmed to dial 911.
In addition, many carriers have attempted to reduce the number of accidental 911 calls by providing their customers with educational information through inserts in their monthly bills, through direct mailings/newsletters, and through postings on their web sites.
For further information, consumers may visit the Commission’s CGB web site at www.fcc.gov/cgb. The site also contains links to related web sites that offer more facts and findings concerning the use of emergency numbers.
Dan Rumelt,
Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau
Federal Communications Commission
