911 Text Messaging

[iGuest 3]

Replying to ganeshn11There are times when the phone network is overloaded, but SMS can eventually get through -- it takes less bandwidth, and your mobile can keep trying to resend. So an emergency SMS that say "Crashed car in ravine. Telegraph Rd nr River" might get through when a voice call might not. Or "Help - hiding in closet - 123 Main Street"-reply by SFRW

[iGuest 3]

Descriptive Title for Opinion/Feedback911 Text Messaging

so many people are missing the point of being in a situation where maybe you could silently text out help, but speaking even in the quietest whisper could give your position away. I think it is a great idea, and came here after thinking about a text message 911 service exactly for those situations. Now I do agree that it would almost always be better to speak to someone, because its faster and clearer (especially if your a young person and you text in some crazy text language that no adult working at a response center would understand), but it remains a great idea for above said situation.

Keywords: texting 911

[zaryk 0]

Mobile phones should have emergency buttons of some sort and there should be more places that use 911, in my opinion. The only problem with mobile phones is that you can't always rely on the signal.....I'd hate to send a text message at 9:50am, (have the signal wondering around like a lost puppy) and at 10:20 arrive at my house just to be looking at my dead body.

[yordan 10]

However it'd be good to have some Alarm buttons on your mobile that sends immediate pre-set messages to 911.

No, no, no, bad idea. I just had a bad experience while playing with my dog in the garden, the dog pushed a button on the mobile phone which was in my pocket, and this rang to somebody who heard me laughing with the dog. If my dog was able to accidentally press a "call mom" button, the "call 911" alarm button could have been pressed the same way.

[iGuest 3]

911 Text messages are needed in rural areas911 Text Messaging

This is 2010, and I think that text messages to 911 have their place.

We live in the mountains of North Carolina, and the last snow storm we had, we lost both power and phones. We have a cell phone, but because of the mountain ridges, voice reception is rarely good enough to make a call. We can, however, send text messages all day long.

 My husband and I are situated on the side of a mountain, at 4,200 ft. In our area, many roads and driveways are gravel, and are also private: which means that the county does not plow them when it snows, or salt them when it's icy. That also means getting out of here once the snow has fallen, is very dangerous.

If one of us had a medical emergency, with the power out, and the phones out, our cell phone would do us no good due to the reception problems.

I am very interested in (determined to) get some action started on texting for help to a 911 center. It appears that it is a county by county decision, and is one that is driven by cost of equipment. 

However, I have written an email to our local county 911 officials, asking for attention to my concern. I have received a e-receipt for my email, so am hoping someone will take the time to respond.

If anyone out there has the same concerns that I do, please comment to this posting.

I intend to start a grass-roots campaign to push for the option in rural areas.

Thank you!

-reply by Woodlandflower

[Spyda 0]

I honestly thought I was the first person to think of this for the 911 emergency service, but after I googled the term "911 text messaging", I learned that I was wrong.
Apparently there are some places that already have this, and that completely stole my thunder. But it is a good concept for those situations when you can't talk on the phone in emergency situations.

I also agree with a lot of other people in this thread that 911 texting is a really good idea. Think about it for a second... if somebody is in a situation where they are struggling for their lives or they are being robbed, kidnapped, ect then texting 911 might be a lot easier then calling 911. Not only that, if you aren't trying to make noise or cause suspicion to yourself then this is also very helpful.

FURTHERMORE, some people use prepaid or other phones so if they run out of minutes what are they supposed to do? I'm not sure if they are still allowed to call 911, but if the person still has some text remaining then this could quite possibly save their life and others around them.

For me, this is a no-brainer and I hope that more and more towns/cities/states implement this

[fermin25 3]

Well the 911 text messaging sounds good because in an emergency a text message can save our lives and the silent mode of a text message is very convenient when there are thiefs in your house and situations like that. The service in Usa to support to all the people in troubles is the best in the world and the 911 number is one of the most famous phone numbers in all the planet and now with the new technology is great to know that there is available a service with text message in case of emergencies.But maybe the "contra" think that this maybe is not convenient to the police department and all the units because there are a lot of people that enjoy wasting their time making jokes to the authorities and the text mesage will be the idoneus method to continue disturbing the law.Because of that I think that all the jokers and funny guys have to pass a week in prison at least; and learn that anybody can laugh law.

[Spyda 0]

Well the 911 text messaging sounds good because in an emergency a text message can save our lives and the silent mode of a text message is very convenient when there are thiefs in your house and situations like that. The service in Usa to support to all the people in troubles is the best in the world and the 911 number is one of the most famous phone numbers in all the planet and now with the new technology is great to know that there is available a service with text message in case of emergencies.
But maybe the "contra" think that this maybe is not convenient to the police department and all the units because there are a lot of people that enjoy wasting their time making jokes to the authorities and the text mesage will be the idoneus method to continue disturbing the law.

Because of that I think that all the jokers and funny guys have to pass a week in prison at least; and learn that anybody can laugh law.

I disagree with you when you say that it won't be convenient to the police department and all the units because there are a lot of people that enjoy wasting their time making jokes to the authorities and the text mesage will be the idoneus method to continue disturbing the law.

If you think about it, when a person sends a text message to someone else, the person they send it to will know where the text message is coming from (the #.) And in the instance of the police department, they can take the phone # and know exactly where you are calling from and thus prosecute you if you are going to prank phone them or send them jokes ect.

Also, what do you mean when you say "Because of that I think that all the jokers and funny guys have to pass a week in prison at least; and learn that anybody can laugh law."