# Cable phone service and 911



## greenmansions (Feb 16, 2005)

I'm thinking of switching to cable phone service. I understand that they have ironed out issues with 911 registry but I notice on their "fine print" that there is a note stating that "Digital Voice service (including 911/emergency services) may not function after an extended power outage."

I am concerned about this. We live in an earthquake zone, and experience occasional power outages due to heavy stormes. How does this differ from regular land line phone service from the phone company? Would we get 911 service longer through the phone company in case of an extended power outage? (We keep an old non-cordless phone around for power outages, and have needed it once in the past two years, tho not for 911)

Anyone who has knowledge or experience with this, please let me know what the deal is.


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## Norabella (Mar 14, 2008)

I believe that in most places, you can dial 911 even if you do not pay for telephone service. So, if this is the case in your area, as long as there is a working phone jack in your house (meaning one that you COULD pay the local phone company to have service for), then if your cable phone service was down, you could still plug a phone into the regular phone jack and call 911.

Doesn't exactly answer the technical part of your question, I know, but might solve the problem.


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## greenmansions (Feb 16, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Norabella* 
I believe that in most places, you can dial 911 even if you do not pay for telephone service. So, if this is the case in your area, as long as there is a working phone jack in your house (meaning one that you COULD pay the local phone company to have service for), then if your cable phone service was down, you could still plug a phone into the regular phone jack and call 911.

Doesn't exactly answer the technical part of your question, I know, but might solve the problem.

Hmmm I'll check on this because when we first moved into this house it took several days to get phone service started and we didn't even get a dial tone. I don't think a call can go through without a dial tone. Thanks for the idea/input tho, and I'll report back if I learn anything in case anyone else wants to know.

Note I did call the cable company about this and the c/s rep I got could not answer my question.









I am just so fed up with our landline phone company that I want to switch. But the 911 thing has me nervous.


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## kochanyk (Jun 30, 2005)

If you don't have a cell phone or traditional phone jack as well as cable it's a BAD choice. We have Vonage and had to call 911 before (DS2's Endo prescribed 10x the dosage of his med & he quit breathing at 6 mo old). It took over 5 min just to get to the police in our area







. We've since learned that cells connect immediately. We're also in an earthquake area & as I'm sure you know even regular phone lines get jammed after & have bad reliability- but just as a general rule always have a back-up to cable phone service for 911.


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## Ironica (Sep 11, 2005)

The reason for that fine print is that the cable phone connection requires the cable modem to operate. When you get cable phone service, they give you a modem with a battery back-up, and that battery is charged when the plug-in power source is operating normally... but if you lose power for long enough, the battery will run down and your phone service won't work anymore.

I'm not sure exactly how many hours the battery works for. If you have a cell phone and a car charger, though, you can have emergency phone service by starting your engine.


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## greenmansions (Feb 16, 2005)

Thanks for the info. I do have a cell, but from what I understand those are not optimal for 911 because you have to tell them where you are. Regular 911 service transmits that info automatically.

That totally makes sense about the battery issue. I guess if things were bad enough that we lost power for long, we'd probably have been in an earthquake. Cell towers will not be functional either, and everyone around us will be in the same boat.

We will be purchasing a backup generator at some point, so hopefully that would help as long as the service itself was not interrupted.


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## Ironica (Sep 11, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *greenmansions* 
Thanks for the info. I do have a cell, but from what I understand those are not optimal for 911 because you have to tell them where you are. Regular 911 service transmits that info automatically.

Regular 911 asks you where you are anyway, in case their service gets it wrong... and many cell companies now give triangulation information to the 911 system (giving a good guess of your location).

Quote:


Originally Posted by *greenmansions* 
That totally makes sense about the battery issue. I guess if things were bad enough that we lost power for long, we'd probably have been in an earthquake. Cell towers will not be functional either, and everyone around us will be in the same boat.

Obviously cell service has changed a lot in the past 14 years, but in the 1994 Northridge quake, cells were working when conventional phones were down.


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## greenmansions (Feb 16, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Ironica* 
Regular 911 asks you where you are anyway, in case their service gets it wrong... and many cell companies now give triangulation information to the 911 system (giving a good guess of your location).

Obviously cell service has changed a lot in the past 14 years, but in the 1994 Northridge quake, cells were working when conventional phones were down.


From what I've hear, the triangulation thing takes longer tho. We've actually had a lot of discussion about this at DS's preschool where they did not have a landline phone and relied on the teacher's cell. One child there has a serious nut allergy and after a lot of discussion, the school has now put in a landline phone - they felt they couldn't risk any time in having 911 determine location. I don't know... I guess all this info is going to be part of our family "risk assessment" (analogous to which car seat to use, etc etc) as we make the decision what phone service to use.

As for the cell service working during the earthquake, that is really good to know. We have not experienced a very big one around here, so I didn't know that.


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## Ironica (Sep 11, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *greenmansions* 
From what I've hear, the triangulation thing takes longer tho. We've actually had a lot of discussion about this at DS's preschool where they did not have a landline phone and relied on the teacher's cell. One child there has a serious nut allergy and after a lot of discussion, the school has now put in a landline phone - they felt they couldn't risk any time in having 911 determine location.

One thing to keep in mind: the 911 service gets an address, which then has to be mapped, and can be mapped incorrectly (I wonder what the 911 network would make of our address, which is often auto-mapped on the wrong side of the street, and has the wrong street name anyway). Triangulation gets a *location* that pinpoints on a map. It may take longer, but it also may be more accurate, especially in conjunction with delivering a verbal address.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *greenmansions* 
As for the cell service working during the earthquake, that is really good to know. We have not experienced a very big one around here, so I didn't know that.

After the recent quake in Chino Hills or wherever, though, cells weren't working when landlines were... but that's just because the network was overloaded.


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## dogmom327 (Apr 19, 2007)

We just had cell phones for years but when DS was born last year, we looked into more traditional phone service. Like PP said, 911 from a landline automatically pulls up your address, maps your location, etc. With a baby, it just seemed like a better option. We ended up getting "metered service" from the phone company. It's inexpensive because you have unlimited incoming calls but outgoing calls are charged a few cents a minute (we never make outgoing calls anyway). I asked if 911 would work if we shut off the landline and they said no. 911 only works on a disconnected line if the phone company shuts it off (non-payment, etc.). Also in a widespread emergency, I'd like more options than just my cell phone.


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## Ironica (Sep 11, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *dogmom327* 
We ended up getting "metered service" from the phone company. It's inexpensive because you have unlimited incoming calls but outgoing calls are charged a few cents a minute (we never make outgoing calls anyway).

Watch your bill, though... when I had metered service (I wasn't using the landline at all, but they wouldn't give me DSL without phone service














, the taxes and surcharges and whatnot were equal to my "phone" bill (each was about $6/month).


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## greenmansions (Feb 16, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Ironica* 
Watch your bill, though... when I had metered service (I wasn't using the landline at all, but they wouldn't give me DSL without phone service














, the taxes and surcharges and whatnot were equal to my "phone" bill (each was about $6/month).

Yeah it's this kind of stuff - surcharges, messed up bills that months to correct, delays in stopping service while still billing for it, etc - that is making me want to switch to cable. For only about $15 more than my local bill costs, I can get unlimited long distance. We don't have long distance service right now. We use a calling card and it is such a pain. I think cable will be worth it money-wise, especially since it includes Canada and we have relatives there.

I really dislike the two local phone company choices we have here - Qwest and Verizon. I have had bad experiences with both. The cable company has been pretty good for both cable TV and Internet, so I figure I'd like to give them a try for phone. That said, they have had more temporary outages than the phone compnay (which has had none so far) but always respond quickly.

The 911 questions are mainly what are holding me back from switching.


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## simple life (Apr 14, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kochanyk* 
If you don't have a cell phone or traditional phone jack as well as cable it's a BAD choice. We have Vonage and had to call 911 before (DS2's Endo prescribed 10x the dosage of his med & he quit breathing at 6 mo old). It took over 5 min just to get to the police in our area







. We've since learned that cells connect immediately. We're also in an earthquake area & as I'm sure you know even regular phone lines get jammed after & have bad reliability- but just as a general rule always have a back-up to cable phone service for 911.

We have vonage as well. We just have the actual phone number for 911 (the sheriffs department) and have just called that. Gets you there faster than 911 and you talk to the same people who'd answer if you called 911. One thing to think about with cells though is that they go by towers, so if you live near the dividing line of two different dispatching areas, you may get the one that doesn't service your area, so that could add time as well. (my hubby works as a 911 dispatcher, so hear all about all of this all the time).

Julie


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## simple life (Apr 14, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *dogmom327* 
We just had cell phones for years but when DS was born last year, we looked into more traditional phone service. Like PP said, 911 from a landline automatically pulls up your address, maps your location, etc.

This totally depends on the agency/area/department who dispatches for 911. As far as I know all of them get a phone number and name (like caller ID), but the address is not always a given. Cell phones can be a bit tricky, again, depending on the agency dispatching. Some have the ability to know with in a few feet where you are on a cell phone, but some don't have any ability. If you want to know what your agency has, I'd just call them up and ask, there should be a non emergency number to call.

Julie (not trying to sound like a know it all, just don't want people to expect something that isn't real or true)


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## Ironica (Sep 11, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *simple life* 
We have vonage as well. We just have the actual phone number for 911 (the sheriffs department) and have just called that. Gets you there faster than 911 and you talk to the same people who'd answer if you called 911.

That's not true here. 911 is its own special call center with specially trained operators; once they determine what you need, they either (a) transfer you to the appropriate agency (fire, police, sheriff), or (b) dispatch emergency services while staying on the phone to talk you through first aid or general crisis management.


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## PGTlatte (Mar 7, 2004)

We have no land line. We have Packet 8 broadband phone service, and our cell phones. When Packet 8 first got 911 connection a couple years ago, we had been discussing it with them, and they had us do a test with them, calling the 911 center, and it went through fine (don't do this unless you have permission and have set it up in advance). If there is a bad storm or something and we lose our internet service (we a wireless canopy connection), we lose our broadband phone until our internet service is restored, and our cell phones are our backup for emergencies.

I am so glad we got rid of the land line.


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## simple life (Apr 14, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Ironica* 
That's not true here. 911 is its own special call center with specially trained operators; once they determine what you need, they either (a) transfer you to the appropriate agency (fire, police, sheriff), or (b) dispatch emergency services while staying on the phone to talk you through first aid or general crisis management.

Here this is true. So maybe it depends on where you are? They have a dispatch center, with the 911 dispatchers, but they also answer the regular line. So a call to the regular line gets you the SAME people who answer 911 and are trained (EMD - emergency medical dispatch) for 911. My hubby works there! So again, must really depend where you are. Here they dispatch for the whole county, all the fire, police and ambulance for each town, as well as the sherrifs and highway patrol. It's a BUSY place!

Julie


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