Alarmed Cell Phones

[N. A. Corbier]

KVUE has a story, covered by Slashdot, about newer (Up to 2 years old) Verizon cell phones activating an audible alarm when an "Emergency" number is called.

HowardForums (Of which I am a member) has a discussion thread (linked to through /.) where people are trying to determine the whole story. (HowardForums is a cellular enthusiast board.)

From what it looks like, some manufacturers (LG, Samsung, Motorola) are interpreting Section 255 to mean: Lets put an obnoxious alarm on our phones when an ICE number is called.

What does this mean to you?

This means that if you have a modern phone from Verizon, Sprint, US Cellular, Alltel, and who knows who else, that when you dial 1) 911 or 2) A number on your Verizon UI's "In Case of Emergency" list, that a "loud enough to wake the dead" siren will go off.

As we all know, the mantra of observe and report security is to observe the scene then summon the police by calling 911 from a safe vantage point. I'm sure you can see just how safe it'll be when the security guard's phone is going off like a siren because they're calling 911.

On Verizon branded phones, you can follow a complicated procedure to remove 911 from your ICE list. You can also test it by dialing 611, since they (in their infinite wisdom) put 611 in the ICE list.

I have yet to test this on my Sprint ic402 phone, but if it DOES work, Sprint Corporate and I are going to go round. My phone had best not go off like an audible Christmas Tree when I dial the police.

[NRM_Oz]

When I was reviewing telephone and radio equipment for a client, I ended up looking at radios and phones used in Psych hospitals where when the until was tilted it would chirp and send off a duress alert and local alarm. A mobile telephone was also kitted out the same way for duress calls and this was for `55 Calls` duress calls to base by the user. In a hostile situation, I see this as only escalating the aggressor to a higher level.

[N. A. Corbier]

Those are purpose built. This is in every phone, unfortunately, but there's no real way to tell except by... calling 911 (Or 611 on a Verizon branded phone.)

[NRM_Oz]

Understood but if you called OOO (our 911) it would also make the same alerts locally and set off an alarm at the guard post (so I was told). As for whether this is good on mobile phones .................. it could cause more problems than good. But if someone was injured it may direct assistance NOW rather than waiting for a 911 response.

[HotelSecurity]

I want to learn how to disable the shutter sound on my cell phone camera. Sometimes I want to picture of a suspect hanging around the hotel's lobby but i don"t want them to know I am taking their picture.

As for the 9-1-1 alert. When someone dials 9-9-1-1- from a phone in a guest room at the newest of my 3 hotels, an alarm goes off at the front desk. It is very helpful. At the other 2 hotels the police come all the time trying to figure which of the 500 rooms called 9-1-1.

[OccamsRazor]

1) What's the point of this alarm? To ensure the 911 calltaker can't hear you?

2) My new (last month) Verizon phone doesn't do that. I had a rolling domestic in front of me 2 weeks ago and was on the phone with 911 for nearly 20 minutes in rush-hour traffic before the cops got to us; no alarm was audible. All the phone did was flash 'EMERGENCY' on the screen, and paged out Squad 51.

[bpdblue]

Thanks for the info on this one, I was about to get a new cell phone, so now I know to try to get one without that feature!

[Hank1]

Those are purpose built. This is in every phone, unfortunately, but there's no real way to tell except by... calling 911 (Or 611 on a Verizon branded phone.)

Well first let me say..
I have never heard of this before. Man, am I behind the times! I have a Samsung and I have called "911" in the past on a suspected drunk driver. I did not get a audible tone at all.

Be Safe,

Hank

[JB diligence]

Don't feel bad hank I'm a Samsung man too (great minds sure do think and purchase alike don't they), how ever I do need to press 2 keys prior to making any calls after 911, I don't mind that though. I think the audible alarm is a bad idea as it alerts people whom one is calling police for.

Why not have a "panic button" that needs to be held for a set number of seconds un interrupted before screaming?

As for properties with 911 alarms, if someone dialling 911 our phones they are directed to our HQ, in case of Medical emergency can respond faster then EMS. Fire and PD will need to be in contact with us to show them where the situation is upon arrival. The pain with 911 coming to us is all the hang-ups by folks attempting to make long distance calls, on a funny note, I had a gentleman actually stay on after I announced '911 What is your emergency' as per our SOP. He replies "Oh my, I am terribly sorry, I was trying to make long distance call and got you" I actually thanked him and told him that we get so many hang ups, it's nice to have someone with some courtesy actually stay on. LOL

As for Hotel I think that shutter sound will be among the other 5 million settings/tools, try the "cameras settings" folder though it may be the "sounds" option too not sure.

[BadBoynMD]

Well first let me say..
I have never heard of this before. Man, am I behind the times! I have a Samsung and I have called "911" in the past on a suspected drunk driver. I did not get a audible tone at all.

Be Safe,

Hank

Don't feel bad, brother! I had to read it twice to make sure, I wasn't losing my mind. I've yet to call 911 on my Verizon phone.. but as Nathan pointed out, if theres a siren, we're going to have some serious issues. Just imagine trying to call 911 with a robbery in progress and then the siren goes off. Not good at all...

[N. A. Corbier]

Its an "audible indicator" to allow the blind to know that they're actually getting 911.

A way to test the phone:
Dial 911 without pressing the send button. Once the final 1 is entered, affected phones should enter EMERGENCY mode, and the "audible indicator" go off.

This has nothing to do with a "panic button," or any other thing like that. Its solely to comply with Section 255 of some telecommunications act which requires a loud audible warning so that "those with disabilities" will know the phone is actually dialing 911.

i.e. blind people.

[integrator97]

Well, it would seem like something that
a) should be enabled only when requested, such as by blind people.
b) should only be momentary. Obviously the blind still need to talk to 911, so you wouldn;t want an added siren blasting in the backround.
c) shouldn't be all that loud. You wouldn't want the blind person to drop it at the "shock" of a 90 decibel siren or something.

[BoyInBlue]

I think this is fake.

Sounds like just another BS internet rumor like "glow in the dark Mountain Dew."

Can anyone accually confirm this "feature?"

[N. A. Corbier]

I think this is fake.

Sounds like just another BS internet rumor like "glow in the dark Mountain Dew."

Can anyone accually confirm this "feature?"

Raise your hand if you actually read the television story linked to in the first post?

Turns out, Verizon said the 911 alarm is on all its new phones. Verizon said the audible tone is required by the Federal Communications Commission.

The FCC, however, said that’s not so.

Here’s what Verizon Spokeswoman Sheryl Sellaway said:

“The tone our customer experienced is our interpretation of Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act calling for a provider of telecommunications service to offer service that is accessible and usable by individuals with disabilities. The tone, indicating that 911 has been dialed, is one of several features designed to make wireless service is accessible and easy to use, especially for those with disabilities. Other features include a voice command key where customers can use their voice to dial by name or number; a voice echo feature so that a person who can't see can hear the number or letter if sending a text; read back text messages and speech output of signal strength, battery strength, missed calls, voicemail, roaming, time and date.”

Kinda funny when people call things fake without actually reading the story. This isn't Slashdot, RTFA.

[N. A. Corbier]

I want to learn how to disable the shutter sound on my cell phone camera. Sometimes I want to picture of a suspect hanging around the hotel's lobby but i don"t want them to know I am taking their picture.

As for the 9-1-1 alert. When someone dials 9-9-1-1- from a phone in a guest room at the newest of my 3 hotels, an alarm goes off at the front desk. It is very helpful. At the other 2 hotels the police come all the time trying to figure which of the 500 rooms called 9-1-1.

Depending on how new your phone is, you would require flashed firmware to disable the sound. Remember all the perverts using their camera phones to take shower, upskirt, and other inappropriate shots? That's why the shutter sound is so damn loud now.