Mobile phones on the London Underground

July 28, 2005 3:40 AM

Re: urban legends/mobile phones. Yesterday there was a rumour circulating in London (I heard it from several different sources). The story was that if you were to call the generic European Union emergency number (not 999) from your mobile phone from a Tube, it would work even in underground tunnels. Is there any truth in this or is this just an urban legend post-7/7?
posted by plep to Travel & Transportation around London, England (7 answers total)

I don't see why 112 would work rather than 999, that makes no sense. I believe they go to the same place, but are there for standardization purposes. Since most citizens don't know about 112, it would seem absurd to assume it would work in a certain situation compared to 999.
posted by wackybrit at 3:51 AM on July 28, 2005

Response by poster: That's what I thought wackybrit. But some way of confirming or denying this would be great.

This rumour seemed to have been widely circulated via word-of-mouth and email - not sure if it was a misunderstanding that snowballed, or some sort of hoax.
posted by plep at 3:53 AM on July 28, 2005

Best answer: TfL issued a press release yesterday:

"A misleading spam e-mail has been widely circulated which claims that by dialling 112 you can get through to 999 even without having an available signal on your mobile phone - this is completely untrue."
posted by ohskylab at 4:02 AM on July 28, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks ohskylab.
posted by plep at 4:05 AM on July 28, 2005

It's about time you broke your MeFi radio silence, ohskylab!!!!!1111

Is that a record for duration between sign-up date and first comment? I think it might be...

Also is that a record for a 100% success rate on "best answers"?
posted by nthdegx at 4:37 AM on July 28, 2005

More here..
posted by ascullion at 8:47 AM on July 28, 2005

What is true, though, is that dialing the emergency number turns up the radio on the phone to max power, and over-rides less urgent calls on the cell. So if a lazy phone has lost signal in a weak coverage area, a call to 999 is still worth trying.

But not underground.
posted by bonaldi at 2:25 PM on July 28, 2005