phone connection?

**dgrycan** · May 29th, 2007, 03:24 PM

Originally Posted by Creeping Death

I may be wrong, but I believe as long as your house is plugged into the PSTN (public switched telephone network), 911 should work regardless if you have service or not. Its one of those free services.

I believe this only applies if the phone company cuts off your service for some reason. I think they call it a "soft" dial tone. A consumer who cancels their service it at risk having the line completely disconnected. At the very least, this will affect Enhanced 911 service, which means that addresses will not automatically be computed during the call.

Note that this is similar to cell phones, where 911 can be dialed, although no information about the caller (number) will be transmitted during the call, meaning that the user must notify the dispatcher that they are calling from a disconnected phone and need to call 911 back in the event of a disconnect.

**Unfiltered** · May 29th, 2007, 03:24 PM

Originally Posted by Creeping Death

I may be wrong, but I believe as long as your house is plugged into the PSTN (public switched telephone network), 911 should work regardless if you have service or not. Its one of those free services.

That's what I was saying. Can anyone confirm this?

**dgrycan** · May 29th, 2007, 03:39 PM

Originally Posted by Unfiltered

That's what I was saying. Can anyone confirm this?

I do know that 911 requires a phone to have a dialtone, so a connection to a phone company (who are the agents who maintain and oversea the network) is required. It's certainly not a "free service", as the infrastructure of the network is paid for through surcharges that you can read right off your bill.

EDIT: I've got a call out to an expert in the field, so I will update when I hear back from him.

**dgrycan** · May 30th, 2007, 03:49 PM

Okay, so I just had a conversation with someone in the IMD section of the Fire Department who is considered the "phone system expert".

His quote to me was this: "If you voluntarily discontinue your local telephone service, consider yourself cut off from the outside world." A disconnected line is just that - disconnected. If you're not paying the 911 surcharge, you have no 911 service.

The phone companies CAN, under certain circumstances, restore limited access to phone lines, but this all requires a dial tone. He stated again, without a dial tone, 911 will not work. This limited service is only done by request of the customer.

He did say that often times when a person disconnects their phone, the company places the line in a limited mode for a certain period before complete disconnect occyrs. In many cases, he said, a disconnected line will actually have a technicial come by on a routine basis and manually works the area phone system.

It's different in many areas of the country however, so he can only vouch for how things are done in LA County.

**Creeping Death** · May 30th, 2007, 09:30 PM

Good to know.

**Birdman** · May 31st, 2007, 07:58 AM

Ok, so I've been doing this for years. A couple of comments:

1) Unless you originally ordered your DSL as a dry line (Meaning that it was installed on a line without dialtone to begin with) then if you cancel your phone service, this will kill your DSL line. They did not allow this kind of DSL order until recently.

2) Do not trust the VOIP 911 service. Regardless of what they tell you, regardless of the UPS units you install, the potential for it not to work is greater than relying on the phone companies. If the power goes out, a standard phone line is likely going to work. If you have to rely on Vonage or VOIP Service, that has to UPS.

**BleedingPurple** · June 1st, 2007, 03:08 PM

From the FCC website. Cell phone companies have been required to upgrade to e-911 which provides your precise location from a wireless phone.

http://www.fcc.gov/911/

The FCC has also established a program requiring wireless telephone carriers to provide E911 capability. When fully implemented, wireless E911 will provide the precise location of 911 calls from wireless phones.

The wireless E911 program is an important part of the FCC's programs to apply modern communications technology to public safety.

**dgrycan** · June 1st, 2007, 05:17 PM

Originally Posted by BleedingPurple

From the FCC website. Cell phone companies have been required to upgrade to e-911 which provides your precise location from a wireless phone.

http://www.fcc.gov/911/

Yes . . . they have been working on this for some time, with a lot of backlogs and delays in getting anything accomplished.

**BAD91** · June 2nd, 2007, 11:36 AM

Originally Posted by dgrycan

I know it's never cool to talk about safety, but you're getting more than you think by paying for and keeping a connected landline in your house.

First off, unlike cell phones, they are usually up and running early on after a disaster. It's always nice to know you'll be able to communicate with people as quickly as possible after such an event.

Which brings us to the major problem with people who dump landlines - 911. People don't understand the massive benefit of a landline 911 call - when it's dialed, no matter how short the conversation, the call is routed to the closest LOCAL dispatch center, and the address is automatically dispatched in case of disconnect.

Here in Socal, cell phones, on the other hand, have ALL calls routed to the CHP dispatch centers. I'm sure most of you have dialed 911 on a cell phone at some point, and 9 times out of 10 you are put on hold. After connecting, you must provide a detailed enough description so the dispatcher can route your call to the correct agency. For someone who's in dire need of help at home after something like a seizure or other traumatic incident, this info isn't easy to convey. This is why first responders stress than, if given a choice, ALWAYS dial for help from a landline.

VOIP service, depending on the provider, is fine except for ONE major problem - if your internet connection goes out or just the power to your house, you're now out of luck if you need help. And if our phones went out as often as our internet connections, we'd all be pretty pissed over the service.

I say depending on the provider because there are some services that provide very convuluted 911 systems. Vonage, for instance, offers Enhanced 911 service in SOME areas, but not all. This means that you don't know if your info will be automatically provided to responders or not. What's worse is that there have been problems with some calls being handled by their national dispatch center being directed to the wrong agency, and having lengthy delays before help can even begin to go en route.

Just some stuff to consider when it comes to this kind of stuff. It's great to save money, but if you ask your local safety agencies, I think a majority of them would say at least keep a basic, no frills landline at home. (And don't forget to have a phone in the house that doesn't require AC power to operate.)

Just to add a little sidenote. It would be wise to put the local police/fire department phone numbers in your cell phone. Its a lot easier that calling 911 on your cell phone. Also, when traveling and staying in a city, put that cities PD and FD number in your cell phone book in case of emergencies.....just my 2 cents.

Thread: phone connection?

LinkBack

Thread Tools

Display

Posting Permissions