Is 911 phone service really necessary?

BTW, I've only used 911 once. My car broke down on the highway and I
called

In 1998 I was working in Indianapolis, Indiana when a man had an obvious
heart attack in the elevator. Being the closest office to the elevator the
man's son came in and asked us to call 911 and then returned to his father's
side. The 911 operator was very rude to me when I was unable to answer
questions regarding the man. She asked me things like "how old is the man",
"what makes you think he is having a heart attack?" etc., Finally, she told
me to go get the son who could answer her questions so I RAN as fast as I
could to the elevator and when I returned to the phone, she had hung up on
me.

I have NEVER had a good experience with 911 and would call them as an
absolute last resort for an ambulance. Calling them for the police is a
joke. If I could "unsubscribe" to 911 service, I sure as hell would.

SD

 

The evolution thang, ya know. Can't fight it forever. When

They already are, GP. They already are.

SD

 

I'm thinking of switching to VOIP for phone service but it doesn't offer 911
emergency calling. This got me thinking about the origins of this expensive
service.

It used to be you'd have fire, police and ambulance numbers by your phone or
programmed into your speed dial. No problemo. You call a number and tell the
person on the other end what had happened and give them your address.

But in our degenerating society, you can't count on people actually knowing
their own addresses, being able to read a phone book or speaking coherent
English. BTW, the 911 personnel on the other end (usually black women) often
can't either.

Thus, as usual, we adapt society to its lowest elements and we are all
forced, literally, to pay the bill.

BTW, I've only used 911 once. My car broke down on the highway and I called
911 on my cell phone for a tow. They never showed up.

GP

 

Speaking of low intelligence, 911 is not intended for towing your car.
Why didn't you call the regular 7 digit number? Oh, you were away from home.
End of argument.

 

How about a child reporting an emergency?

 

Frankly, I think it might be better if their trailer or housing project
burned down. The evolution thang, ya know. Can't fight it forever. When
civilization fianlly collapses, the pent-up supply of dumb people will be
causing accidents all over the place.

GP

GP

 

So if a person had clear preprogrammed and labeled buttons on their
phone for "fire", "police" etc. that they could teach to a child then it
wouldn't be necessary to have 911?

regards,
Ben

--
"What passes for wisdom may only be eloquent foolishness"

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why are you all feeding the troll?

 

We keep the landline so that if, all the heathen gods forbid,
something happens to either my husband or myself and we're home alone
with the kiddo, he can dial 911 and not be required to recite his
address during an emergency. Of course I don't expect this to happen,
but we've drilled our son on doing this (using a dead phone), as well
as on other emergency prodedures such as what to do if there's a fire
in the house.

 

Years ago one could dial "0" and tell the operator what you needed, in fact
I once reported our barn on fire in just this manner. Today, however, the
phone companies have cut back the use of live operators to the point that
something else was needed. 911 seems to answer the need.

 

This from someone who thinks a car breaking down is a 9/11 emergency,

 

911 is for emergencies only and not trivial things like calling for a tow
truck. Those types of calls are one reason 911 costs as much as it does.

 

GP

Respons in comp.dcom.voice-over-ip only

Professionally I do software for handling 112 calls in Denmark (like
911).
Our software uses as much information as it can get right from the call
itself.
Correct A-number handling is important. Large companies, with multiple
addresses, are expected to be calling 112 from a fixed (pstn) line on
each site, otherwise a call could be send to the wrong site/branch
office.

Information stands with intercoms in public places (train stations...)
but looking like phones, are requested to have 112 capability.
I would personally like to be sure I could diall 112 on any phone
looking like a phone, no matter if it is a home, ISDN, pots, VoIP or a
company phone.


Read more about the European effords on
http://www.eena.org/pages-en/index_en.htm

And BTW, car troubles are also handled by 112 calls in Denmark.
That is some, not all. If your or others safety are in danger like on
bridges etc, you use 112.

 

ad hominem...i win

 

Sorry, if ad hominem disqualified you, your previous response already
would have caused you to forfeit.

Mark

 

No, George is correct, 911 is not designed for people who break down and
want a tow truck, it is for people like my wife who, years ago, was home
with 4 small children and someone tried to break into the house. The 911
operator stayed on the phone with my wife until the police were at the front
door. I have much respect for the Jackson Ms, Hinds County 911 service.

 

Note: if you have disconnected your normal landline but still have the
phone and wiring hooked up, you can still call 911 on it.

My son just switched to a $20/month VOIP service (can't remember which)
and is quite happy with it. It's busier in the evening and the voice
quality is less, but the free LD enables his wife to chat with her
sister on the other side of the counry as much as they want.

 

Another reason for 9/11: Many people have Caller ID blocked when they make
calls. Dial the 7 digit number and they won't know who is calling ,but one
person here thinks that a 5 year old unable to give that information deserves to
die.

 

I California if you call 9/11 from a cell it gets you the regional CHP center
which will not have your location and may or may not have your phone number. This
is changing so they will know the location of the nearest cell but nothing else.
By the way, 911 added 28 cents to my last phone bill.

 

No wonder. 911 isn't for road service.