If I dial 911 and cannot speak to the operator, what happens?

May 29, 2009 11:26 AM

I live in an apartment complex. If I dial 911 on my cell phone and cannot speak to the telephone operator (if, for example, I'm choking/having a heart attack/etc), what rescue-related events are likely to ensue?

For extra credit :), how might I decrease the time it takes for rescue personnel to track me down in this situation?

posted by rinogo to grab bag (25 comments total)

I read about an unpleasant case in the UK where the operator very quickly worked out that the caller (who was being attacked) could not vocalize, so gave instructions to tap on the phone rather than attempt to talk. It would not surprise me if this were standard training for emergency operators. Cell phones can be triangulated very, very precisely but I'm not sure how long it would take.
posted by BrokenEnglish at 11:35 AM on May 29

I'm not sure about what events will happen.

To speed up tracking you down, buy a greetings card that has a recorder chip (usually used for greeting etc). Rip out the electronics, and fashion them into a pendant. Record your address into the chip. Wear this at all times when in your apartment. Trigger it as needed.
posted by Tapioca at 11:37 AM on May 29

If I dial 911 on my cell phone and cannot speak to the telephone operator (if, for example, I'm choking/having a heart attack/etc), what rescue-related events are likely to ensue?

It depends on how your carrier and local emergency services are setup, and what features your phone has, but in general they will track your location using the E911 system. If your phone is relatively new (made since around 2005) then it should have a GPS feature built-in specifically for sending location information when you call 911.
posted by burnmp3s at 11:48 AM on May 29

Generally as far as I know, if your phone doesn't have E911, they still have access to the home address associated with your phone number, and if you can't respond, will send emergency services there. Being an apartment complex there's usually a door code they can use to gain access. It would help if you were able to unlock your door. If not, they have methods to force entry. I asked a question about that somewhere, the most informative result was this pdf (~6.5MB). In reality though, I think you're at the mercy of available ambulances and fire dpt. paramedics. If they're all busy, you're screwed, even with some triage priority involved. Consider things like a will and organizing your files and finances if you're concerned.
posted by hungrysquirrels at 11:52 AM on May 29

It depends where you live, in Canada police will have your subscriber information (does your cell phone bill go to your apartment address?) and *maybe* able to get information about which tower you signal hit (within an hour or so).

In the US E911 (as discussed above) will give responderds much more accurate GPS location information.
posted by tiamat at 11:53 AM on May 29

Thanks for the comments so far, guys. I have heard about phone GPS location before, but there are two things that I'm most curious about:

1. In this scenario, how long will it likely take for rescue personnel to arrive? Since I cannot speak, will they send fire, police, or medical support?

2. Since I live in an apartment building, it's not as easy as simply knowing my address. What would emergency personnel do in this situation?
posted by rinogo at 11:55 AM on May 29

edit: *it's not as easy as simply knowing the address of the apartment complex. I suppose if there is a reliable way to get my apartment number, this would work. Are 911 operators empowered enough to: 1) discover my approximate location via GPS, 2) map that versus my cell phone's registered address and realize I'm at my apartment, and 3) pass the address and apartment number along to emergency personnel?
posted by rinogo at 11:58 AM on May 29

It really depends on your locale. My mother was trained as a 911 dispatcher and here's what she's told me: If someone calls and is obviously in distress (respiratory distress, groaning, etc.), then ambulance/fire department will be dispatched. If someone calls, remains quiet, and then hangs up, the dispatcher will call the number back and if there is no answer dispatch a police officer at a low priority to "check it out".

The dispatcher should know your approximate location and depending on their equipment should be able to pull up an address right away. If there is anyone at the front desk or front office to assist they should be able to find your apartment number from your phone number or from the GPS or triangulated location. Barring that they will start to knock on doors. The length of time to reach you is dependent on way too many factors to give even a likely range.
posted by muddgirl at 12:10 PM on May 29

The bigger issue is when you're not in your apartment. Say, driving along a country road. They can triangulate to a certain extent, but if you can't talk to tell them what vehicle you're driving, and more specifically where you are, that will make it more difficult.

They should have access to your apt number as well. There's a reason Vonage and other VOIP providers ask for this information specifically for 911 purposes, and nag you about keeping it up to date. The normal cellphone carriers already know for billing purposes, but nag less. There's a technical reason for this, but it escapes me at the moment.

Anyway, if you're _really_ concerned, there is services, mainly targeted at the elderly or infirm to monitor if you've fallen or such. Dead mans switch sort of thing.
posted by hungrysquirrels at 12:15 PM on May 29

Reading between the lines this sounds like the "can I stop using my land line and switch to mobile phone only" question. With a land line, emergency services know without a doubt where the call is coming from and can dispatch services if you can't talk. I still have a land line partly for this reason. GPS location is not guaranteed indoors.

However, being able to call but not talk is pretty unlikely. Reasons I could come up with are call then pass out, be passed out but with a child that knows to dial 911 but doesn't talk on the phone, or hiding from someone who broke in to the apartment. I suppose in the last case a mobile phone could be better as you could text for help.
posted by cosmac at 12:56 PM on May 29

I'm pretty sure the GPS on your phone would be pretty much useless indoors, unless you happen to begin your collapse in front of a large window that has an unobstructed view of the sky. You'd better hope your cellphone bill lists the apartment number.
posted by nomisxid at 12:59 PM on May 29

Do you have access to a landline? Those are specifically hard-coded with physical addresses, which automatically display when you call a 911 operator.

Also, the GPS thing on cell phones can be tricky and sometimes misleading. First of all, it's a rough triangulation, not an exact address; second, your cell phone can get stuck to a certain tower's signal. To get the best approximate location, you have to turn off and on your cell phone when you get home.
posted by trotter at 1:17 PM on May 29

And from a slightly different angle: if you have a good reason to think you might need emergency help, check out the med-alert type services. I know they sell them to little old ladies who live alone, but, after buying one for my MIL, I did think it would have been a good idea for me when I used to live alone and do things like tear down walls, esp before I'd officially moved in and there was no phone service.
posted by x46 at 1:41 PM on May 29

Thanks for the help, guys!

And to add one to the list of situations in which this might be necessary, how about the one that inspired me to ask in the first place? I drink a lot of water, and for some reason, today I accumulated a lot of mucous in my throat (maybe I'm getting sick) and choked on it a little. Of course, it was nothing close to a life-threatening situation.

However, it did make me think, "If I only had 30 seconds to try to save my own life (considering I already tried the heimlich and such), what would I do?) I guess running outside while dialing 911 would be best...
posted by rinogo at 2:19 PM on May 29

I'm pretty sure the GPS on your phone would be pretty much useless indoors

This is false.

First of all, it's a rough triangulation, not an exact address

This is also false. All phones sold in the US have GPS. There is no "triangulation" involved.
posted by dmd at 2:24 PM on May 29

One tip for you - in many (all?) places in the US, cell phone 911 calls get routed to a regional dispatch center, such as the State Police. This is because, when you initially dial 911, there is no way for the cell system to know exactly where you are or where best to route your call. The State Police or whoever will transfer your call to the appropriate local agency after answering, which can waste time. It's good practice to program the local direct number for your police or fire department into your cell phone, so that if you have an emergency while in your home city, you can be directly connected to the responders. I was told this by an EMT in San Francisco during CPR training.
posted by autojack at 2:28 PM on May 29

By law in the United States, cellphone providers have to have technology that enables them to locate a 911 caller within certain number of meters. The number escapes me but I think it's 50 meters 60% of the time and double that 90% of the time for GPS based technology.
posted by 7life at 3:46 PM on May 29

dmd: "All phones sold in the US have GPS."

This is not true.
posted by WCityMike at 4:08 PM on May 29

All phones sold in the US have GPS. There is no "triangulation" involved.

Technically GPSes use trilateration because they're using multiple distances instead of distances and angles, but it's not unusual to call the way GPSes work "triangulation".
posted by mendel at 8:18 PM on May 29

\Tapioca: "I'm not sure about what events will happen.

To speed up tracking you down, buy a greetings card that has a recorder chip (usually used for greeting etc). Rip out the electronics, and fashion them into a pendant. Record your address into the chip. Wear this at all times when in your apartment. Trigger it as needed."

Wait, what? Are you serious?
posted by radioamy at 10:29 PM on May 29

In the US, you don't actually have to have landline service to call 911 with a landline. You can take any working phone and plug it into a phone jack (assuming the jack is wired correctly) and dial 911.
posted by radioamy at 10:31 PM on May 29

I have a friend who is an EMT, I sent him a tweet to see if he has any insight.
posted by radioamy at 10:34 PM on May 29

radioamy: "In the US, you don't actually have to have landline service to call 911 with a landline. You can take any working phone and plug it into a phone jack (assuming the jack is wired correctly) and dial 911.".

I'm skeptical of that. You need dial tone to make a call. If you don't have service then surely the line is "dead" with no dial tone. The only exception I can think of is if a technical has screwed up somewhere and forgotten to disconnect something when previous service was canceled.
posted by tetranz at 4:35 AM on May 30

Huh. Well apparently only some states require the "soft" dial tone (allowing 911 calls).
posted by radioamy at 9:18 AM on May 30

Okay about soft dial tone. I hadn't heard of that. It makes sense if the phone company has the capacity to keep the line alive. I guess the key thing is whether or not you have dial tone. Note that it seems like the operator can't call you back if they need to.

As for the original question or at least modified to "what are the chances of them finding me?", the answer can vary widely depending on circumstances. I'm a little skeptical of all the systems being in place and working when they need to, even if legally required.

If your phone has GPS and has received a good enough GPS signal to successfully figured out its location and if the GPS information is fed back to the operator's screen (is that always a certainty?) then you're in good shape. I think they know where you are within a few meters.

If you don't have GPS and are hitting multiple cell towers then you might be lucky depending on how sophisticated the system is to use timing signals to figure out your distance from each tower and maybe triangulation by using the towers' knowledge of your direction by comparing signal strength between antennas. It's hard to find authoritative information about how accurate that really is in practice and how complete the required systems are to feed that information back to the emergency center. If you're in a densely populated area then I suspect that it could easily give a city block or two of uncertainty. A path bouncing off a building or hill could add more uncertainty.

If you're in a marginal area and only hitting one tower then it gets much worse. If they get timing and direction then they know you're on a arc with some uncertainty. If they only have timing then it's a circle. If they only have direction then it's a wedge shape.

As others have said, the billing address for the phone might be useful but that's no use if you're out and about. It's also no use if you're using a phone without normal service but can still dial 911.
posted by tetranz at 10:26 AM on May 30