Police set to crack down on bogus 911 calls (pocket dialing)
- Thread starter Fred Zed
- Start date
I can't understand why people feel the need to put 911 on speed dial, it's only three numbers. And that's about the only way it can happen, pressing the sequence by accident is not easy.
A lot of phones come pre-programmed with 911 on the speed dial. Also I know that blackberry has a it set up as 1 touch dial even if the phone is locked and I have found no way to change that in any of my option settings.
Same here. Pre programmed and cant remove it. I was carrying a box, and the blackberry was in my short pocket. I dialled 911, somehow while the keypad was locked. So if it happens again I'm under arrest?
I was told by RIM support themselves (corporate account, and I wanted to know how to prevent or minimize accidental emergency calls) that I was "using the phone improperly" by not having it in it's belt holder / holster. They said it was "improper" to put it in my pocket or in a purse.
IMPO RIM and other mobile phone and smartphone manufacturers are entirely responsible for choosing incompetently designed "emergency calling" keypress combinations. At the company I work for, an informal survey showed that almost ALL accidental emergency calls originated from Blackberries. And there is a very simple reason for that.
On most cell phones, when locked, pressing 9-1-1-dial will initiate an emergency call, and even the European emergency number 1-1-2-dial will attempt to make a call. Give it a try with 1-1-2, that's safe to try as it won't actually work. Now it's actually very unlikely when bumping around in your pocket or purse that FOUR different buttons will be pressed in the exact right order with no other accidental keypress in-between, and cause an emergency call to go through.
ex: On my Nokia, if I press 112 the screen comes on and 112 appears, hitting dial next will cause it to attempt to call 112. But if I hit ANY wrong button in between any of 1-1-2-dial - the sequence cancels. So if it's bumping around in your pocket or purse, odds are if buttons are being randomly pressed, it'll include wrong buttons and no emergency call will go through, or it'll only hit a few buttons close together and again no call will go through.
NOT SO with blackberries. Blackberries actually will NOT make an emergency call using the numeric keypads (at least the ones I've tried). Instead, on a blackberry with a pearl, this is what you do.
press pearl/scrollwheel
scroll down one step
press pearl/scrollwheel
scroll up one step
press pearl/scrollwheel
And therein lies the rub. If something hard in your pocket or purse is touching something, it's probably touching the same button or nearby a lot. If the scrollwheel is being accidentally pressed, it's probably being pressed and jostled repeatedly.
AND NO OTHER BUTTON PRESS EXCEPT THE ESCAPE BUTTON (or scroll wrong way to cancel) WILL ABANDON THE SEQUENCE.
BOOM. Lots of accidental calls.
Let me repeat this* one more time -- in my professional** opinion, RIM is entirely responsible for this.
I haven't had a Droid or iPhone yet, can anyone chime in with how one makes emergency calls on them?
Emergency calling while locked is a US federal regulatory requirement, as people in emergencies really do forget to unlock their phones, their brains are screaming 911, so it is useful (probably).
(*) Yeah, I should have written a letter to a few police chiefs and/or technical standards agencies and/or the provincial attorney general a few years ago when I first figured this out. But I'm lazy. And all it would take is 911 operators ASKING people "what model of phone do you have, and where were you carrying it N minutes ago?"
(**) Yes.
IMPO RIM and other mobile phone and smartphone manufacturers are entirely responsible for choosing incompetently designed "emergency calling" keypress combinations. At the company I work for, an informal survey showed that almost ALL accidental emergency calls originated from Blackberries. And there is a very simple reason for that.
On most cell phones, when locked, pressing 9-1-1-dial will initiate an emergency call, and even the European emergency number 1-1-2-dial will attempt to make a call. Give it a try with 1-1-2, that's safe to try as it won't actually work. Now it's actually very unlikely when bumping around in your pocket or purse that FOUR different buttons will be pressed in the exact right order with no other accidental keypress in-between, and cause an emergency call to go through.
ex: On my Nokia, if I press 112 the screen comes on and 112 appears, hitting dial next will cause it to attempt to call 112. But if I hit ANY wrong button in between any of 1-1-2-dial - the sequence cancels. So if it's bumping around in your pocket or purse, odds are if buttons are being randomly pressed, it'll include wrong buttons and no emergency call will go through, or it'll only hit a few buttons close together and again no call will go through.
NOT SO with blackberries. Blackberries actually will NOT make an emergency call using the numeric keypads (at least the ones I've tried). Instead, on a blackberry with a pearl, this is what you do.
press pearl/scrollwheel
scroll down one step
press pearl/scrollwheel
scroll up one step
press pearl/scrollwheel
And therein lies the rub. If something hard in your pocket or purse is touching something, it's probably touching the same button or nearby a lot. If the scrollwheel is being accidentally pressed, it's probably being pressed and jostled repeatedly.
AND NO OTHER BUTTON PRESS EXCEPT THE ESCAPE BUTTON (or scroll wrong way to cancel) WILL ABANDON THE SEQUENCE.
BOOM. Lots of accidental calls.
Let me repeat this* one more time -- in my professional** opinion, RIM is entirely responsible for this.
I haven't had a Droid or iPhone yet, can anyone chime in with how one makes emergency calls on them?
Emergency calling while locked is a US federal regulatory requirement, as people in emergencies really do forget to unlock their phones, their brains are screaming 911, so it is useful (probably).
(*) Yeah, I should have written a letter to a few police chiefs and/or technical standards agencies and/or the provincial attorney general a few years ago when I first figured this out. But I'm lazy. And all it would take is 911 operators ASKING people "what model of phone do you have, and where were you carrying it N minutes ago?"
(**) Yes.
My iPhone is locked with a lock code. When I slide to unlock, I am presented with a numeric keypad and at the bottom left hand corner, there is a button labelled as emergency call. If that is selected, I am presented with a phone dialer to call emergency services.
Hmmm, touch screens aren't like buttons or scroll wheels or pearls, so I have no idea how likely being in the pocket is to successfully do a "slide". If you "slide to unlock" then press a wrong digit or any other part of the screen that's not the emergency call button, does it cancel the unlock sequence and/or dismiss the UI that's making the emergency call button available?
I'm a techie, and I just completely can't stand how many idiots are allowed to do things that they clearly have no business doing. It's a major source of p.i.t.a. in my life to have to clean up their shit. I could be doing something useful instead. Oh well, at least they pay me well to clean up other people's technological screwups.
