Talk:9-1-1

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[edit] assessment

Needs references most of all.

[edit] misc

See also: Talk:9-1-1 Emergency Telephone Number Day

When the 9-1-1 system was originally introduced, it was advertised as the "nine-eleven" service. This cause some problems when people looked for the "eleven" key on their telephones. Therefore all references to the telephone number 9-1-1' are now always made as nine-one-one, never as nine-eleven.

That sounds a bit implausable. Wouldn't this be an urbal legend? Zocky 10:48 Jan 24, 2003 (UTC)

Could be. Couldn't find it on snopes, so I mailed them about it. I'll say if I get a response. Martin

I have worked for a 911 center for 9 years, and that is what we are always taught. It does have the air of urban legend, but some of the textbook materials does include that rationale.--Nh911guy 12:56, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

When I was the Library of Congress representative to the Federal Telecommunications Standards Committee, 1976-1979, the "eleven" problem was mentioned by the Federal Communications Commission and National Communications System staff. Hcberkowitz 19:14, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

OH NO!, somebody added:

  • In the United Kingdom the emergency number in 999 and in most of the European Union, it's 112.

I have changed this to

For Other Countries Emergency telephone numbers see:

and put the following note at the top of the page to stop anyone else being too helpful and duplicating articles (AGAIN).

Important Note: This page deals only with Emergency telephone number 9-1-1, not other emergency telephone numbers.

I prefered it as it was. Some duplication of info between articles is not a bad thing, and when talking about the problem of US media use of 9-1-1 in other countries then a couple of examples is not the end of the world. It also took up less space than your list plus note.
  • Additional topics still to be covered:
  • mention telephony as essential service, priority accorded to public safety services telephone lines and the non-priority accorded by Telcos in handling 911 calls just like any other telephone call.
Generally speaking, 911 calls are routed to trunk lines, which then route the call to the appropriate 911 PSAP. These are dedicated trunks which carry no other traffic. Depending on the network, the transition takes as little as 1/10th of a second.--Nh911guy 13:06, 1 December 2006 (UTC)
Is it worth mentioning GETS and WPS prioritization for designated emergency service _workers_, which prioritizes above 911?

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Hcberkowitz (talk • contribs) 19:16, 20 March 2007 (UTC).

  • Telephone network treatment of 911 calls, particularly distinguishing disconnected and abandoned emergency calls from silent emergency calls, and how such silent calls are handled by emergency services.
The differentiation is different depending on the system. On the system I work on, a call that is disconnected before reaching the PSAP is called an abandoned call. The position receiving the call gets a "double beep" to indicate the caller hung up. Hang up calls are those that are hung up after connecting with the PSAP. A silent call is one with no verbal response from the caller, though there may be background noise. How these calls are handled differs by jurisdiction and whether the call is landline or wireless. Landline calls are generally called back to determine if there is an emergency. Wireless calls usually are not, unless the call taker has reason to suspect there is a problem. The reason for this is the volume of wireless calls vs. landline, and the higher rate of abandoned/hang up calls from wireless phones. Landline abandoned/hang up/silent calls usually get a police response. Some systems have TTY capability, and will attempt to make contact with a silent call in this manner.--Nh911guy 13:06, 1 December 2006 (UTC)
  • mobile phones have made emergency reporting more pervasive and related issues
  • accidental dialling from mobile phones
  • 911 jusrisdiction and caller location identification problem from mobile phones, private business networks and off site telephones and legislative steps being taken to address these issues.
  • Basic, Modern and "Enhanced 911" services, Public Safety Attendant Positions (PSAP)
  • 311 a non-emergency telephone number, popular in the US, that can be used to contact the Police and other services to report minor incidents and historic crime that does not endanger life - to avoid overloading 911, and oposition to it by those who believe the problem is one of understaffing of 911 centres.
  • Related to 911/311, there are other numbers using the n11 pattern slowly being rolled out in the US, such as 411 (informational) and 611 (?)
  • Promotional and administrative coordination by National Emergency Number Association (NENA), the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials(APCO) (APCO International), the National Association of State Nine One One Administrators (NASNA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The above should be here, not on the article...

Is "universal emergency number" a mistake? This is only the number for north America. Isn't 112 the world wide number? CGS 14:15, 8 Sep 2003 (UTC).

Bump. I can't find any references to this that weren't (1) in the US or Canada (2) Wikipedia clones. Removing text for now.

Why are all these numbers hyphenated, in the article? Dysprosia 04:58, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Number articles without hyphens are years, not phone numbers. 66.245.9.63 19:04, 16 Jun 2004 (UTC)
9-1-1 is hyphenated to prevent people from pronouncing it 9-11, but I *still* don't have a reference; whoever said we need one is correct. Still checking, sir...
--Baylink 02:54, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] 911 required on land lines?

In the U.S., FCC rules require every telephone that can physically access the network to be able to dial 911, regardless of any reason that normal service may have been disconnected (including non-payment). On wired (land line) phones, this usually is accomplished by a "soft" dial tone, which sounds normal, but will only allow emergency calls. Often, an unused and unpublished phone number will be issued to the line so that it will work properly.

I've never heard of this. I'm in Illinois, and dead lines (at least cancelled ones) are really dead here-- no dial tone or power at all. I'm familiar with phones in both Ameritech/SBC and GTE/Verizon ILEC territories. Someone needs to check this paragraph; I suspect that, at best, it might be a law in a few states. Cell phones, on the other hand, always seem to work here, and are required to connect to 911 regardless of the subscription status of the phone. --Closeapple 07:02, 2004 Dec 5 (UTC)

I stand corrected. I personally encountered a GTE/Verizon line that was telling incoming callers that the number was disconnected, but had a dial tone and would respond to every non-emergency outgoing call with a recorded message to call a Verizon collections number. Strangely enough, it wouldn't allow that Verizon number to be dialed either. I didn't dare to call 911 to see if it would work, but I assume it would. I had no way of telling whether the number was changed or just artificially blocked with a permanent-disconnect message. --Closeapple 17:51:37, 2005-08-29 (UTC)

[edit] September 11 attacks

Was the terrorist plan to sabotage the WTC inspired by the 911 emergency code? or coincidence? --SuperDude 23:31, 14 May 2005 (UTC)

Everything that I have heard is that it was simply a coincidence. But I don't think anyone (outside al-Qaeda anyway) knows for sure. Rt66lt 03:14, September 8, 2005 (UTC)

Anyone know anyone inside al-Qaeda? C'mon, don't be shy.

-G —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 134.117.157.7 (talk) 20:54, 2 April 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Don't merge this

This shouldn't be merged with the article emergency telephone number, because this article deals with the history etc. of 911, and has nothing to do with emergency telephone numbers in general. I have removed the merge template tag.

[edit] Don't Merge for another reason

911 is only the emergency number in some countries. This page should remain independant in order to distinguish 911 from other emergancy numers from elsewhere, like 999 in the UK.

[edit] 911 in the UK and Ireland

I've heard that this works in the UK and Ireland, due to the large number of kids who thought 911 was the emergancy number, not 999. Does anyone know this? I don't want to try it.


--No 911 will NOT work in the UK. 999 will work as will EuroZone emergency 112.

Yes, 911 does work in the UK. I just tried it, and got put through to the emergency services.

--Many worldwide systems are supporting 112, 911, 111, etc. and translating to the local emergency code, if the former numbers do not directly conflict with the numbering plan in use. Hcberkowitz 19:18, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Eleven" key

Why has no phone an "eleven" key? --84.61.13.35 11:30, 14 January 2006 (UTC)

Good question! They ought to have it, like "00" key found in few calculators, but alas, then you shoud have a key for every "NN" combination from "00" to "99". By the way it doesn't take much effort to hit the "one" key twice.

Many do have twelve keys, with the additional "#" and "*" symbols. In international telecommunications standards, # is called "octothorpe". The dual-tone multifrequency encoding of the keypad allows for 16 codes. You will see these on US and NATO military codes, with teh extra four marked FO, F, I, and U for Flash Override, Flash, Immediate, and Urgent priority. Those priority levels are enabled on a line-by-line basis; Private Smith in the mess hall cannot do a Flash Override call. For that matter, there are higher priorities not on phones, one called CRITIC/ECP for critical intelligence or for nuclear combat orders, and two higher ones for internetwork and network control. The whole issue of precedence may well be worth its own entry if there isn't one; I must check (once I figure out how to create an article) Hcberkowitz 19:23, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "00" key

Why has no phone an "00" key? --84.61.31.108 10:31, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

Gee, I don't know. Why is the sky blue? —QuicksilverT @ 21:29, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The functions of the central

One thing the article doesn't explain is if the 9-1-1 central only receives calls and send out an alarm - or they also commnicate with the dispatched units (fire, police, EMS) after an alarm have been sent out.

In Denmark the 1-1-2 central receives the emergency call and sends out an alarm to an operation control centre operated by the emergency service(s) needed. All communication afterwards is between the vehicles and their control centre. If any questions about the alarm the control centre may call up the 1-1-2 central which sent out the alarm.

But how does it work in the US ? --|EPO| 13:27, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

It varies by area and local legislation. Some places have all 911 calls come to the local county/parish, others the city/municipality, and some outsource to other counties if they do not have enough of a population to support a 911 center; some even transfer the call depending on the type of emergency or outsource it entirely. I will note that some agencies are small enough that the 911 operator also holds the role of the police or EMS dispatcher - i.e. you would take the call, then dispatch the officer or ambulance yourself. -- Kuroji 13:09, 3 June 2006 (UTC)
One of the problems in implementing 911 service is that almost every metropolitan area in the USA is a conglomeration of cities, suburbs, unincorporated residential areas, unicorporated rural areas, and frequently more than one county. All this means that there are several police departments, several fire departments, several hospitals, and several ambulance services, some of which may be privately operated, and some of which may be publicly operated.
In the region where I live (Portland, Oregon) there was a great deal of interdepartmental and intergovernmental rivalry and jealousy. However, problems were slowly worked out; after years of legal wrangling most of the unincorporated residential areas were absorbed by either Portland or Gresham, which is the nearest suburb to the east. In this process, at least one fire department was absorbed by Portland, and Portland Police began patrolling soon-to-be annexed areas.
It was eventually agreed that all law enforcement and fire departments would be dispatched at the county level, and that there would be a single seven-digit number for all emergencies (760-6911), replacing at least a half-dozen existing numbers. The private ambulance companies were NOT happy about this, insisting that customers should have the right to choose whichever ambulance company they wanted. This of course completely ignores the fact that the average citizen in a medical emergency in unlikely to remember which ambulance company is nearest. However, the ambulance companies were eventually brought into line. It is interesting to note that dialing 503-760-6911 (the old Portland Police number) or 503-232-2111 (the old Portland Fire Department number) will still connect you to the 911 dispatch center.
At the same time all this was happening, most of the old electromechanical telephone switching equipment was being replaced with electronic equipment which could be easily programmed to accept 911. Finally everything was ready, and 911 service was cut over. I wish I could say that everything went well from then on, but the system had quite a few procedural and technical hurdles to overcome. Still, the confusion and problems were less than the previous situation where it was easy to call the wrong emergency number.
RDV 20March2007 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.102.33.34 (talk) 07:26, 20 March 2007 (UTC).

[edit] what's the #'s for 911

in rural areas the # for 9-1-1 was once 2000

[edit] difficulty of establishing location of caller calling 9-1-1 from VoIP

I understand that, due to the global nature of the Internet, it is difficult to establish the physical location of someone calling 9-1-1 with VoIP. However, many ads and websites know pretty exactly where I am, apparently from my IP address. Try yourself: Find your location according to your IP Wouldn't that be a (partial) solution to the problem?--Soylentyellow 15:52, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

Well.. It is not impossible. The internet service providers keep databases over, which IP's are used by their costumers. The problem is more to let the 9-1-1 central access these databases. It requires some pretty technical installations. For instance the page you link to is letting me know I am in Copenhagen and displaying a coordinate. But it does not specify, which floor I live on - or which side on the floor I sit in. With this info the paramedics could arrive at the coordinate and have no idea where to look. So the solution will require the ISP's databases to be completely updated with exact adress to each IP currently in use. But what if two (or three or more) apartments share an connection and only have one external IP?
So it's a bit more complicated than that you see :) --|EPO| 18:29, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Calls to India

The article says that "sometimes calls to India will end up at the emergency dispatch office". I don't get it. Is there any real event that can be use to prove this?
Without outside line prefix: 011 + 91 + ...
With prefix "9": 9 + 011 + 91 + ...
In both cases, the dialing sequence includes "011" and the "011" has clearly indicates that the call is to India, not to emergency services. Joshua Chiew 13:17, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] FBI Phone List

I added informationa about the FBI's phone directory. I work for my local 911 center. That's how we get phone numbers for other agencies quickly. I didn't include references. Don't know that there are any. I know it's there, though, cause I use it all the time.

It would appear this may be considered "original research." Any thoughts? 38.100.34.2 18:44, 24 November 2006 (UTC)
My agency has access to NCIC/NLETS, but we've never heard of this phone directory until you posted it. I guess my question is "how/where do we get it?" Thanks. Equinox137 10:27, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure how you get it. I work for an agency in Utah. In our BCI system, you type TQ or TQM in the transaction code box and it'll pull it up. You can find the agency's ORI and phone number through it. It's been very helpful for us. I would suggest contact your state's BCI service and ask them about it. Again, it's called the Orion file.


Good call. I was able to find a source for it. Thanks.

[edit] Dialing patterns

The Dialing patterns sections contains a number of unlikely situations.

So even dialing an international prefix like 0-1-1- would get you 9-0-1-1 but as soon as the hotel guest hits "0" it rings the front desk or PBX operator.

As soon as the hotel guest hits "9", he indicates that he wants to call an outside line, so there's no reason that it will ring the front desk or PBX operator.

Another possible problem is that the international phone code for India is "91", and sometimes calls meant for India end up at the local emergency dispatch office.

As I noted above, it is really not a problem if the "0-1-1" international dialing prefix is dialed. --Joshua Chiew 23:44, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

I put some of those in there, and they're not as unlikely as you think; motel PBX programmers, among other people, really do have to think about that stuff...
--Baylink 05:36, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

I work in a 911 center. We get several of those a day in our county. All of those situations are not only likely, but occur all the time. It doesn't make any sense to me, either. I'm not sure why or how people do it, but they do.

People can make some pretty thoughtless mistakes. Please understand when I use the word "people" I don't mean to give the impression that I myself am above making thoughtless mistakes, everybody makes them. One relatively harmless blunder is locking one's keys in the car. Other thoughtless mistakes are not exactly harmless; Such as resting a thin-walled styrofoam cup full of scalding hot coffee between one's thighs while driving, or forgetting to feed your fish. To the above 9-1-1 operator, in high school I witnessed a 9-1-1 misdial intended for India. I was at a friends house when a relative of his happened to be attempting to make a call home to India. Whoever wrote the number down assumed the reader knew to dial 011 before dialing the country code 91 and the rest of the number which in this case started with a 1. He was still dialing numbers when my friend and I heard the operator's voice, my friend then grabbed the phone and explained the mistake. I can imagine a technician setting a PBX to a 91 dial out, or still another person trying to reach India and forgetting the 011. People will always make mistakes like that, if the emergency number was 6-1-1 the operators there would get just as many people trying to reach Australia whose country code is 61. Anynobody 06:37, 5 February 2007 (UTC)
There can be unforseen problems in almost any situation. Several years ago, my place of employment was experiencing skyrocketing long distance charges along with difficulty in charging calls to the correct department or project because many people were making long distance calls from extensions other than their own.
The solution was to assign a five-digit code to every employee and to every project. You press in the code, then 9-1-area code and 7-digit number. However, we made an unsettling discovery that the system would not accept 9-9-1-1. The equipment had no problem with the first 9; it just mean "outside call." However, the second nine and the first one caused the system to assume someone was making an unauthorized long distance call, and promptly switched to the ATB tone. This came out when we had a minor emergency, but my boss quickly realized what was happening and dialed her long distance code, then 9-9-1-1. I also got through, but only because I remembered the old seven-digit emergency number.
I don't know how they did it, but eventually our system was programmed to accept 9-9-1-1.

RDV 25-March-07

[edit] 911/311 and other "new" service codes

Meaning no disrespect, but most of you are showing your (young) ages. ALL n11 codes were reserved for "special services" in the 1920's. In addition to 611, 411, and 211 which have already been mentioned, there was a variety of uses for some of the other codes. I know it's hard to believe, but there was once a time in history when you had to place all long distance calls through an operator, and you sometimes had to hang up and wait to be called back when the connection finally went through.

n11 service codes have NOT been chosen so that they don't conflict with area codes; in fact, the exact opposite is true. Area codes didn't even exist when n11 were designated for "special services," and area codes had to be designed so that they didn't conflict with the already-existing special service codes.

It also should be remembered that initially most dial telephone numbers consisted of an exchange name and four or five digits. You dialed the first two or three letters of the name, then the numbers. (PENnsylvania-3481 or PEnnsylvania6-3481). There are no letters assigned to the "1" hole on a telephone dial, so a n11 code could not be used as an exchange code or name.

RDV, 2March2007

See A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System: The Early Years 1875 - 1925. M.D. Fagin, Editor. Bell Telephone Laboratories, 1975

I should mention that I also added a section to the main article describing how emergency calls were handled in the pre-dial telephone era, and how that changed when people got dial phones.

RDV, 20March2007

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