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Rogue cell phone dials 911 over and over again
Just read this article:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/1...ef=mpstoryview Quote:
Discuss! (DO NOT COPY AND PASTE OR DO SURVEY!) -What do you think of it wasting police time while a real emergency call could be out there? -Dialing (911) -Dialing (911) by accident -Is your emergency numbers different? What are they? -Dialing the wrong number -Phone call pranks -Repeat anonymous phone calls -Old cell phones -Anything else from the article above. You're old enough to feed yourselves! My grandfather used to have a phone number that had 9 and 1 in it, and my mom accidentally dialed 911 twice within the same month... which really ticked off the police and scared the heck out of her when the police knocked our door! (sadly, I was at school both times) my mom was vague, but I think she hung up on the police (she doesn't speak English fluently) I recently got a cell phone (finally!) and I love playing the piano on the keypad - my dad disapproves, saying I probably will accidentally press the "call" button and the phone bill will be over the roof! >.< I call the wrong number all the time at our house because our house phone is so old and the buttons are so sticky XP My dad picks up really old phones often and gives it to my lil sister and I to play the games on it - we thought they can't make calls anymore, but from this article, I guess there is a federal law that all cell phones, charged, has to be able to dial the emergency numbers? Heh. My friends prank called the 911 twice and got in trouble for it. I was watching them get serious while on their cell, and I asked who it was. "The police" O.o "We prank called them yesterday. So they're giving us a warning." They are so lucky that they are still juveniles... I'm pretty sure it is a hefty fine otherwise. |
you know, that's kinda sad... Fancy not being able to track a phone call! I despair. I really do! It doesn't matter whther or not you have a provider, it uses the transmitters doesn't it? You simply locate the transmitters, three nearest ones to the number and see how strong the connection is with both and tada you have your location. Easy as pie! Our police can do this easily, but I despair about them because it's hit and miss as to whther they even go out or not. All charged phones can dial the emergency numbers. It's not a law. It's part of the phone and how it works. Basically your regular calls go through the service provider but emergency calls don't so if you have no credit, no sim card or anything, so long as your phone works and can turn on you can still connect to the emergency lines. |
I don't think it's a prank...
It could very well be something really horrid, like people have taken ahold of her house or something, but she never had a sim card for it..So she's hiding down in the basement trying to get a response. But everytime she calls, it hangs up because it runs out of battery. Because phones always turn on, usually atleast..but they turn back on over a little time. D; |
Well,thats weird.
.-. I wonder if someone is really on the other line. And needs help. Why,that would be awful. :? Anyways,I remember back when I was younger. My little brother and I were downstairs,when I slipped on the rug and fell. I was alright,but I was just lying there because it stung. 3x I told him I was alright. But, Apparently my little brother,at 4[?],decided to call 911. So the telephone rings and I decide to pick it up. There was this woman on the other line. And she was asking if everything was "okay". I was like, "...yes". She told me to get an adult on the other line or she would call the police to my house. Now,I was freaking out. I had no idea at the time who it was,or why she was calling. So,I place the phone down and speed upstairs to my elder sister. By the time I drag her back downstairs,MY LITTLE BROTHER HAS HUNG UP THE PHONE. D; And because of the stupid caller i.d.,when I picked it up on the first ring,it didn't read on it. We didn't know who had called. But I told my "sissy" what the "witch" said. And she was around fifteen I believe. She was half awake too >___> I guess it really wasn't ringing bells in her mind at the time. Anyways,we called my father at work. He called the non-emergency line when I told him what she was saying on the other end of the telephone. He was right,and we sorted things out. When my parents got home that evening,they weren't mad or anything of the sort. But just a bit "rung up" so to speak. When I explained what happened,they were just glad I was alright. My little brother just sat there. nya. >_____< |
The more cryptic part of me agrees with Aero. It could very well be real. The cynical part of me does still feel it could be a prank, but then again why would someone call constantly like that?
I can see one, two... five times? But all the time constantly? It doesn't seem normal, that's for sure. Some people will do anything for attention, but this is a bit much. If the person is in need of help, I hope they get the signal tracked somehow. ;_; |
That would be scary if the calls were from someone in dire need of help. It's bad enough for the police, but for that poor person, wow, that would be awful.
My first thought in reading about the calls though was that maybe the phone was malfunctioning or something. Maybe it had 911 on the speed dial and is stick at the bottom of some trash pile that is pressing it's buttons. A bit of a stretch, I know, but that was my first thought. |
That reminds me of this one time in a Junie B Jones book, Junie calls 911 because she's stranded at school and the bathrooms are locked. It's an EMERGENCY. rofl. But the article you posted isn't funny. That's kind of sad.. I hope no one's in so much danger that they have to dial 911 400 times. They should get that figured out soon- it wastes time. |
Whoa...o.0
That's like crazy. |
I know, right? |
@Jayms_fallen_angel - If it is so easy, I hope the police get on it quickly. Judging by the posts here, I see a lot of people see that side of the case too: the fact that someone might really need help and to be found!! Oh, I just got a cell phone recently. I didn't know that. But it makes sense that, as an safety and emergency factor that the phone should be able to call 911 whether or not you paid your phone bill. @Aero - Wow... that would be horrid. There's a real chance that it isn't a prank, I agree. -I'm still new to cell phones, so I didn't know they would do that with the battery. @Lolly - the operator on the other end reminds me of another news story - A boy called 911 for help and the lady operator told him he had to get his mom on the phone but he said he couldn't (his mom was seriously ill) and the lady threatened to send police to his house if he didn't get his mom on the phone! He hung up and when the police got there, his mom was beyond saving. T-T @Chiairen Hoshino - I can't see 400 times as a prank either. And I hope they get the signal tracked too. >.< @Chexala - I thought it was some phone glitch too - 400 times is exhausting and stupid for a prank! @Muggles Running Amok - My lil sis has that book. I hate having to define "Emergency". The article isn't funny. Whether it was a prank or, hopefully not, the real thing, it isn't right. It is wasting their time! Having to answer 400 times - and they can't just slam the receiver down because it might be a real call, is frustrating. I really hope no one is in such danger. No one should be so desperate as to phone 400 times, and have them all lead to nothing. |
that happens a lot to me and people i know.
there's a lot of people with numbers similar to 911, and our ould city's phone number service was so flawed, that 2/10 times you called a number with a 9 and 1 somewhere in it, the police would be on the other line xD Then there was when my sister would go out every night beofre she was eighteen, so my mom would have 911 already dialed on the phone, so she would just have to press "call" to be on the line, but one time the phone was already on, and with the cops in my town assholes who we already dispised, it wasn't the most pleasant. Lastly, in middle school, me and a friend were playing around and dialed 911 in the school's pay phone without putting in money, so we thought it wouldn't dial. but it did, and we ran like hell! but the school camera's found us and tried to make up a whole story about how we were sneaking around the whole school and had planned it, dumbasses! xD and the cop said if we had said even one word, we'd be arrested, lawl, i hate our town! |
As it says last week, and not wednesday of last week or some other such, the artical hints that it was more than one day and from the same number. Hence, not a real emergency. Plus, Angel knows for a fact, if it were a real emergency and you're only phone available isn't working properly you will not have time to dial 400 times before you are dead or the event has happened. Angel works with the police a lot :P |
I read about a similar case a few months ago, when it was a little kid playing with a deactivated cell phone her mother gave her as a toy. A lot of people don't know that deactivated cell phones can call 911...so they do things like that. This COULD be similar to that case.
But while we're on the topic of silly 911 stories...here's one I read on one of my favorite websites: http://www.rinkworks.com/stupid/cs_online.shtml Quote:
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If it's a real emergency and not just a joke, that's incredible scary. I hope they figure it out soon either way.
I've never accidently called 911... yet, at least. I'm surprised because I'm always knocking buttons on my phone when it's in my purse and turning on random modes. |
My aunt accidentally called 911 once.
She thought she was hearing gunshots, so she just punched 911 into her phone and was going to hit send if something really happened. Well, apparently 911 will go through even if you don't hit send.... So a bunch of police were piled up outside her house. Haha. I've never actually called 911 myself... it doesn't sound like a funny enough prank (calling places like McDonald's and Mexican restaurants sounds more fun) and I've never really needed to. We hope it stays that way. Upon first reading the article, I thought it was a prank or perhaps a malfunctioning phone... the fact that someone might need help seems like a stretch, no? |
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That's pretty scary D:
My old phone used to have this button on the side that, when pressed, would call the last number on the calls list. So every once in a while if I had my phone in my pocket sometimes I would hear voices... coming from my pants. And then I would realise it was one of my friends. One time it recorded an entire conversation about vaginas on my friend's answering machine. Ahaha. Good thing it didn't call my mother that time. :oops: |
I heard somewhere that old cell phones, when they're batteries get really low or something, they call 911, and some call 911 if dropped. But these are really old ones.
One time my sister (autistic) was at a friends house, the phone had a sticker on it that said "Call 911" and my sister did just that. XP |
A week or two ago, I gave my fiancee my old phone to carry around for the clock until he can get service on it. He got into a hit-and-run accident and was able to call 911 on my old cell even though it didn't have service. I didn't even know you could do that. o.o;; I'm glad he did.
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I haven't accidentally called 911 yet, though I've had the temptation to call just because I wanted to know how the entire thing worked. But I stopped myself just in time. Curiosity killed the cat. >.>;
I don't approve of people prank-calling the police. That could lead to real emergencies to be ignored. And while people don't seem to realize it, that could more or less mean you're responsible for someone else's death. |
I think it would be terrible to ever prank call 911. If you do that, it could take away time of an actually emergency the could be occuring! Fires are common in my town (highly flamable). If some punk called 911, and the fire department came as well as medics; a house that caught on fire just after that (across town) would lose supstantial parts of the structure, and depending on the time, or occupants, some one could be seriously injuried. (Night being more dangerous, seeing how most would be asleep. And if elderly people were in the house, they may have trouble getting themselves out).
I do not find it funny at all to prank call 911. Though the case that was mentioned at the beginning... It could actually have been some one in trouble. If a phone does call 911 automatically without having to press send, it would be possible that the person had pressed 911, but the battery kept fading in and out. It could still have the 911 on, but cuts out before it could go all the way through. Not to mention the person could have fainted, or such (least worse case scenario). Not being able to stop the cell, or have any help. Sorry for the long post... It's me over thinking such things. Can't help but think of multiply possiblities. |
When I was little I went to a payphone and called 911 because my friend's cat was stolen and we knew who had it. XD;; I was like 6 or 7, though. I feel a bit stupid for it now, but I was little. ;o;
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