JohnX Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 Unknown fact: ALL cellphones will dial 911 even if they have no service. It makes sense to carry one when hiking or leave one in your car. The following link will explain things better. Emergency cellphone Quote Link to comment
GOF and Bacall Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 This presumes that you are within range of cellular service. Quote Link to comment
knowschad Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 Unknown fact: ALL cellphones will dial 911 even if they have no service. It makes sense to carry one when hiking or leave one in your car. The following link will explain things better.Emergency cellphone I knew that unknown fact. Pretty amazing, huh? Quote Link to comment
+bittsen Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 Actually the fact isn't all that unknown. There was an organization around here that collected old cell phones and gave them out to battered women and the elderly for use in emergencies. Quote Link to comment
+linuxxpert Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 Unknown fact: ALL cellphones will dial 911 even if they have no service. It makes sense to carry one when hiking or leave one in your car. The following link will explain things better. Emergency cellphone Unknown fact: ALL cellphones will dial 911 even if they have no service. It makes sense to carry one when hiking or leave one in your car. The following link will explain things better. At least I thought it was pretty common knowledge... ? Quote Link to comment
+Touchstone Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 Fairly well known fact I'm afraid. My problem is usually being out of cell phone range though. There was a recent rescue (in CO I believe) where the lost hiker typed in a text message for help from a fairly remote location, and it miraculously connected, and at least gave the SAR's folks some idea of their condition. Quote Link to comment
AZcachemeister Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 Just rent an Iridium Satellite Phone for $20 PER WEEK, and you will be covered. Seriously, there are much more cost-effective ways to get help no matter where you are. McMurdo Quote Link to comment
JohnX Posted March 2, 2010 Author Share Posted March 2, 2010 Yeah, all of you, Kick sand in my face. At least I thought I knew something others didn't. I guess I'm not as smart as I think I am. I even got fooled by that fake article on the cache thief. At least I can juggle. Quote Link to comment
+brslk Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 Yeah, all of you, Kick sand in my face. At least I thought I knew something others didn't. I guess I'm not as smart as I think I am. I even got fooled by that fake article on the cache thief. At least I can juggle. I've never been able to juggle. Even though I am somewhat ambidextrous I just cant do it. I can play guitar... piano... and have excellent hand / eye co-ordination... juggling eludes me. Quote Link to comment
GOF and Bacall Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 Yeah, all of you, Kick sand in my face. At least I thought I knew something others didn't. I guess I'm not as smart as I think I am. I even got fooled by that fake article on the cache thief. At least I can juggle. Don't take it so hard. It isn't a bad idea, as long as you are aware of the limitations. Quote Link to comment
+smstext Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 so if there is no cell tower for rival networks as well as your home network how does it communicate to make the emergency call?? ive heard to many times of people stuck in the hills with no reception and they have tried and tried to make emergency call but no service to any of the networks including rival and home networks. Quote Link to comment
+power69 Posted March 2, 2010 Share Posted March 2, 2010 Just rent an Iridium Satellite Phone for $20 PER WEEK, and you will be covered. Seriously, there are much more cost-effective ways to get help no matter where you are. McMurdo what about a deactivated satellite phone? Quote Link to comment
+ekhoc Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Just remember to dial 112 instead of 911, if you happen to be in Europe Quote Link to comment
daveindeal Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Just remember to dial 112 instead of 911, if you happen to be in Europe or 999 Quote Link to comment
knowschad Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 At least I can juggle.Oooohhhh!! Can I see? Quote Link to comment
knowschad Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Yeah, all of you, Kick sand in my face. At least I thought I knew something others didn't. I guess I'm not as smart as I think I am. I even got fooled by that fake article on the cache thief. At least I can juggle. I appreciate you taking all this with such a great sense of humor! By the way, on the page that you linked to, check the date on Ann's comment (the first comment in the list) Quote Link to comment
+ekhoc Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Just remember to dial 112 instead of 911, if you happen to be in Europe or 999 999 only works in UK, Ireland and Poland. 112 is the pan-European emergency number. Quote Link to comment
+cw1710 Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Unknown fact: ALL cellphones will dial 911 even if they have no service. It makes sense to carry one when hiking or leave one in your car. The following link will explain things better.Emergency cellphone I knew that unknown fact. Pretty amazing, huh? I read the even if they have no service part as meaning even if they have no paid service from a cell company rather than physically having a usable signal.. Quote Link to comment
knowschad Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Unknown fact: ALL cellphones will dial 911 even if they have no service. It makes sense to carry one when hiking or leave one in your car. The following link will explain things better.Emergency cellphone I knew that unknown fact. Pretty amazing, huh? I read the even if they have no service part as meaning even if they have no paid service from a cell company rather than physically having a usable signal.. Yes, that's what they mean. You can simply purchase any old cell phone and, without paying any fee, still have emergency access. Quote Link to comment
+ekhoc Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 I read the even if they have no service part as meaning even if they have no paid service from a cell company rather than physically having a usable signal.. That is exactly what it means. Even if your operator would have no coverage, the emergency call should work if there is any technically compatible cell network available. With no coverage whatsoever, also no call will be possible. Quote Link to comment
+WRITE SHOP ROBERT Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Unknown fact: ALL cellphones will dial 911 even if they have no service. It makes sense to carry one when hiking or leave one in your car. The following link will explain things better. Emergency cellphone Make the distinction between "No service" and no account. You need reception, but you go not have to have an active phome account. Quote Link to comment
+WRITE SHOP ROBERT Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 Yeah, all of you, Kick sand in my face. At least I thought I knew something others didn't. I guess I'm not as smart as I think I am. I even got fooled by that fake article on the cache thief. At least I can juggle. Everyone can juggle. JK. Quote Link to comment
+GeoGeeBee Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 You also need to be aware that really old cell phones won't work anymore. The analog cell system in the United States was shut down starting in 2008. My old Motorola "brick" phone is now just a brick. Quote Link to comment
+WRITE SHOP ROBERT Posted March 3, 2010 Share Posted March 3, 2010 You also need to be aware that really old cell phones won't work anymore. The analog cell system in the United States was shut down starting in 2008. My old Motorola "brick" phone is now just a brick. not a Travel Bug?? Quote Link to comment
+cw1710 Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 (edited) I read the even if they have no service part as meaning even if they have no paid service from a cell company rather than physically having a usable signal.. Yes, that's what they mean. You can simply purchase any old cell phone and, without paying any fee, still have emergency access. I knew that. It just seemed that everyone else was taking what the OP said the wrong way. I just thought I would help clarify some. I guess I wasn't clear in my clarification that I was just clarifying. Edited March 4, 2010 by cw1710 Quote Link to comment
+coggins Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 Unknown fact: ALL cellphones will dial 911 even if they have no service. It makes sense to carry one when hiking or leave one in your car. The following link will explain things better. Emergency cellphone Thanks for the link, sounds like a good idea to me. Quote Link to comment
nitro71 Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 Most places the cell phone service will triangulate your call and give emgergency services your location. Quote Link to comment
+Castle Mischief Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 Most places the cell phone service will triangulate your call and give emgergency services your location. Somewhat. It will narrow down the area, but will not exactly pinpoint your location as accurately as a GPS. In other news: Will dialing 112 connect you with an emergency call center when your cell phone has no signal? Enabling your cell phone's 'location' feature can assist searchers in finding you? Quote Link to comment
GOF and Bacall Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 In a recent local house fire several people lost their lives because it took so long for the emergency services people to figure out what their location was. A terrified and panicking woman had called it in on her cell phone. Quote Link to comment
+cw1710 Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 In a recent local house fire several people lost their lives because it took so long for the emergency services people to figure out what their location was. A terrified and panicking woman had called it in on her cell phone. As a first responder, we do receive a lot of calls from disconnected cell phones and they are very hard to pinpoint. The triangulation can give a general area but that only helps a little bit when you are in a heavily populated area. Quote Link to comment
+paleolith Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 There was a recent rescue (in CO I believe) where the lost hiker typed in a text message for help from a fairly remote location, and it miraculously connected, and at least gave the SAR's folks some idea of their condition. Not particularly miraculous either, though perhaps less known. Text messages are carried in the 255-byte control messages which are constantly exchanged between cell towers and phones. Only a single control message has to get through to deliver the text message, and it doesn't have to happen at a specific instant and can be retried. By contrast, a voice connection is far more complex and requires at least 255 bytes PER SECOND (roughly), in each direction, has to go NOW or not at all, and since it can't be delayed there's no retry. This is why text messaging is often fully functional in emergencies even when the voice system is unusable due to overload or damaged equipment -- as in Haiti right now. And it readily explains why a text message may get through from a remote location even when there's no usable voice service. I've sent text messages from such remote locations, though never in an emergency. Edward Quote Link to comment
+LightHouseSeekers Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 This looks like another possibility. http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php Quote Link to comment
+TheAlabamaRambler Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 This looks like another possibility. http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php Putting an end date on a recall of a defective product, especially one billed as a life-saving tool, is enough to make me avoid this company. Updated Important Notice: If you have a SPOT 2 unit with an ESN number equal to or less than0-8053925, please complete the simple Product Return Form below to return your SPOT 2 unit for replacement. All units need to be returned for replacement and to be eligible you need to fill out the form below before March 31st, 2010. If they sold a bad product they should accept returns on every one they sold. By putting an end date they are hoping folks won't discover that their unit is junk before the cutoff date. Quote Link to comment
+DENelson83 Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 (edited) Most places the cell phone service will triangulate your call and give emgergency services your location. Somewhat. It will narrow down the area, but will not exactly pinpoint your location as accurately as a GPS. Well, geocachers almost always take GPSr's with them, so if they have a cell phone as well, they're completely prepared. You can also try putting out your emergency call on a shortwave ham radio transceiver. Shortwave signals can travel all the way around the globe, and you don't need a licence to use any portable radio to send distress calls. Edited March 7, 2010 by DENelson83 Quote Link to comment
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