Digital Phone Service & 911

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Last evening, my BIL age 58 was at my house. We walked around my property and we ended back up on the front porch. As he was going to sit down, I stopped to pull a few weeds along the side walk. All of a sudden I heard his water glass hit the concrete. I looked up and he says "I'm F'd up and not feeling well. His head went back, eyes rolled back, and then he came too. Oh boy did this freak me out. I got him some more water and a cold wet towell to put on his forehead. I asked him if I needed to call anyone. Nope he says.

Well, anyway I took it upon my self to call the squad. Not thinking, I gave them only the street address. They came back on line an said there is no address for that number. Uh,,,I live here and then gave them the full address with city and state. That is when she said "Oh your in Ohio" Huh? What? Guess it was my fault for not giving that info. Then all I heard was transferring you to this county and that county. After 11 minuets, they finally said the squad is on the way.

Thank god he was not having a stroke or a heart attack or it may have been too late. Once they confirmed a squad was on the way, it only took them 3 minuets to get to my house. The squad is based only 2 miles away.

Think I'll use my cell phone from now on and get rid of the land line. Guys on the squad said I wasn't the only one to complain about the time it takes to get to the state, county, and city of the call. I do know with the old nondigital landline, response was very very quick. I didn't expect what I encountered.

BTW Larry is okay. He had a couple of beers several hours prior to coming to my house, plus he hadn't ate anything. Then with the 90* heat,,,,,,,,well that is enough to make anyone sick. He is okay but it sure had me feeling hopeless in getting help.

If you have one of these digital landlines, you may want to see how the 911 call is handled. I'm not happy with this system at all.

 

[RubberFrog]

Re: Digital Phone Service & 911

That is not the first time I have heard of this. Very disturbing.

 

[Lucrestyle]

Re: Digital Phone Service & 911

are you talking about VOIP or voice over internet protocol.

 

[gonefishie]

Re: Digital Phone Service & 911

That is not as disturbing as being put on hold for up to 15 minutes.

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: Digital Phone Service & 911

SS, call your phone company and let them know your 911 calls are going to another state/city/county.
They should be able to reprogram the system for your area.

 

[valkyr]

Re: Digital Phone Service & 911

I would like to know what kind of digital service? Through the cable co or through someone like Vonage or what?

Thanks!

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Digital Phone Service & 911

My service is thru Time Warner Cable. My wife said maybe if this happens again, just get in the car and head on up to the ER. It is only 5 minuets away. I got to admit, I'm not the person you want around when your having a health problem. I tend to panic and fall apart. I was hoping that the 911 operator would inform me what to do until the squad got there,,,,,,,not this time.

Yeah, this is disturbing, but one thing is for sure. It taught me to use a different method of using 911 by my cell phone. The county sheriffs dept gets those in this area.

Spinner, you bet! I've already contacted the locals on the problem. They however said "Yes we have had complaints about the problem". If they know about it, they should fix it right away and not wait until they are proven liable for a death.

 

[88wellcraft]

Re: Digital Phone Service & 911

"Spinner, you bet! I've already contacted the locals on the problem. They however said "Yes we have had complaints about the problem". If they know about it, they should fix it right away and not wait until they are proven liable for a death."







Just like for anything else....I'm sure they have a "disclaimer" for this.

 

[ZmOz]

Re: Digital Phone Service & 911

Wow, I just went through almost exactly the same thing. I was home alone and started feeling really bad...then I started blacking out. I have no land line and wasn't sure if they could get my location from the cell phone. I was only able to dial 911 and mumble a little bit before I blacked out again. I woke up in the ER with a bunch of tubes hooked up to me...I guess they found me.

I would suggest you find out for sure whether your local 911 service can locate cell phones...some can, some cant.

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Digital Phone Service & 911

Wow, I just went through almost exactly the same thing. I was home alone and started feeling really bad...then I started blacking out. I have no land line and wasn't sure if they could get my location from the cell phone. I was only able to dial 911 and mumble a little bit before I blacked out again. I woke up in the ER with a bunch of tubes hooked up to me...I guess they found me.

I would suggest you find out for sure whether your local 911 service can locate cell phones...some can, some cant.

Did they figure out what was causing your blackouts? Hope you'll be okay.

As for the cell phones, yes they just taxed our county more to cover the additonal cost of 911 tracking system. Of course you got to have a cell phone that is capable of being tracked.

 

[RubberFrog]

Re: Digital Phone Service & 911

Did they figure out what was causing your blackouts?

Massive bong hits!

 

[eeboater]

Re: Digital Phone Service & 911

Anytime you sign up for digital phone service, the vendor always provides (and maked is very obvious) warnings abou tthe 911 system. When you are signing up for the service, they program into the system your exact name and address so when you call 911, the info is transmitted to them. It is different from a traditional phone line because they can physically track the phone call from the line, whereas digital phone service is using the internet to route calls from presumably a central office somewhere in the USA/World.

I would call Time Warner and make sure that they have the proper 911 address info associated with your account.

 

[ZmOz]

Re: Digital Phone Service & 911

Massive bong hits!

It takes a lot more than that to knock me out. It was a combination of about 6 different prescriptions that lowered my heart rate and blood pressure, and knocked me out cold. It's really quite disturbing to be in your kitchen one minute and then wake up in the hospital with no idea what's going on...

As for the cell phones, yes they just taxed our county more to cover the additonal cost of 911 tracking system. Of course you got to have a cell phone that is capable of being tracked.

Be careful - just because they are taxing you doesn't mean it's in operation yet. I've been paying extra for it for 5+ years now, but it's only started working in the last year or so.