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A thing I don’t get

I had to make an emergency phone call the other day. Driving down a four lane highway, there was a tub shower in the middle of the road causing havoc for drivers. I called 911 to let the authorities know they should probably do something about it. Very Libertarian, I know. Anyhoo, after I made the call, I set the phone down. Then I had to make another call, so I picked up the phone and there was an odd icon in the notification tab. I pulled it down and it said “emergency call mode”. I clicked it and it told me that data was disabled for some number of minutes and it was counting down those minutes.

This strikes me as silly. What if the emergency I called in is something that could be handled easily by web searching it? Like, say, what to do if someone ingests something they shouldn’t have or what to do with a pregnant woman? Seems silly to me.

17 Responses to “A thing I don’t get”

  1. Cargosquid Says:

    That’s the first I’ve heard of that. Weird.

  2. CarlS Says:

    Disabled for x number of minutes? 911 Tracking Mode?

    Get the picture?

    The mandated-by-government agreed-to-by-telecom not-under-your-control “option” is to enable those who know what’s best to triangulate, track, create permanent records and dispatch cops to your location.

    Even if there is no need. Nor if it violates your Rights. Like that Right To Privacy the Boston Bombers have.

  3. matt Says:

    This is a technical issue due to the way they track your phone. Turning it off is an unfortunate side effect, not a design goal.

  4. UTLaw Says:

    I didn’t know about it shutting off data or the connection to tracking. One other thing that I knew it does on most is disables the keyguard or password protection–I’ve been told that this is in case the injured person loses consciousness so that a bystander can redial if needed.

    I think you can still make other calls during this period though, but it’s been a while since I had to use it.

  5. Steve (CT) Says:

    Sounds like you have an Android based phone. I started to dial 911 the other night for a drunk guy who had managed to do something uncoordinated & put a nasty gash in his head.

    Anyways, I cancelled the 911 call before any connection because I decided to just call the local cop shop whose # I have memorized. I noticed the same restriction & it wouldn’t let me make another call until I pulled down the notification bar & cancelled the countdown. I was then able to make another call.

    I keep my GPS disabled & I didn’t notice it being enabled for the 911 call, but I know they can also triangulate from towers though not as accurately.

  6. Bryan S. Says:

    Home brew roms…

  7. Rob Crawford Says:

    Disabled for x number of minutes? 911 Tracking Mode?

    Get the picture?

    OH MY GOD, THEY KNOW WHERE YOU ARE!!!!!

    Good lord, you’re really upset that when you call for emergency assistance, your phone will help them find you?

  8. wizardpc Says:

    You’re on Verizon, right?

    They use the same radio for voice and data. If you’re using data, you can’t make or receive calls. 911 has to be able to call you back if you’re disconnected for some reason, so I imagine that’s why data is disabled.

    I had this problem on an old smartphone I had with unlimited data 4 or 5 years ago. I’d listen to Pandora for an hour or two, then stop it for whatever reason and I’d get a voicemail notification. Phone never rang.

  9. adam Says:

    @wizardpc – That’s not exactly correct. It really depends on the phone model. My Galaxy Nexus (Verizon) has dual antennas, so I can make a call and surf the net at the same time. That’s why I refuse to upgrade to that new iPhone 5, or any other single antenna phone.

    As another side note, I hate the emergency weather alerts that get downloaded to our phones. Yes, I know it’s storming. I don’t need a siren blaring next to my face at 3 AM.

  10. htom Says:

    Would this interrupt streaming video from the phone of whatever (say, LEO activity), keeping it from ever being seen?

  11. Phelps Says:

    It’s not a technical limitation sometimes. Emergency Call Mode is also to keep your line open in case the emergency operator needs to call you back. It’s essentially keeping the connection open to the emergency banks so there isn’t any delay.

  12. Jim Says:

    CarlS is correct.

  13. mikee Says:

    Two weeks ago I had to call 911 for about the third time in my entire life, and my cell phone did the same thing, and it is a Samsung using Sprint/ATT.

    The police car drove past my location about 5 minutes later, looking for me, despite the fact I had driven about 3 blocks to another location since the phone call.

    So that worked as planned, I think.

  14. NUGUN Blog Says:

    The phone maintains the connection for a bit afterwards. Many Verizon 3G and 4G (iPhone5)phones are incapable of dual transmission of voice and data. This often is not noticed, because well many are not using data while talking.

    Many 4G Android phones actually have a dual antenna/signal unit and can do both. But it may not be active when in Emer911 mode.

  15. Bubblehead Les Says:

    You Federal Nanny State Tax Dollars at Work.

  16. Vic_Tokyo Says:

    I have a better story: I had to call 911 on the freeway when I saw a three car accident (and barely missed it myself). Turns out calling 911 disables the speakerphone on my android.

  17. Mark Says:

    I’ve had that issue on T-mobile and my backup Tracfone. I called 911 and to get out of the emergency calls only lock out on my samsung gravity II, I had to remove the battery for 5 minutes. On the Tracfone I had to turn it off and then back on.

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