No there's not, you phone up to the police clearly stating you are wanting to be kept anonymous the police still find out what number you called from.
Say a call came in to your local police station and someone anonymously phoned the station up saying there was a boy that had been stabbed as soon as you put the phone down the operator meaning the police officer in the station that's talking to the officers in the street gets on his radio and tells someone to attend then he or she will go and check that number from the place you called from..
I'm not sure if they do this with phone boxes but they certainly try it and will keep note from the number you called from if like i say you are phoning from some place other than a phone box..

Oh remembering that you wanted to be anonymous the police officers will then use the phone number to find out the place you live then come round to your place and asked what went on.

What's 999? :confused:

Why not call from a pay phone? You'd be anonymous then.

Originally posted by inogenius
Why not call from a pay phone? You'd be anonymous then.
What about just not prank calling the emergency service at all? :rolleyes:

999 just like 991.

Ahhhh well see ino you brought up another good thing there.
You phone up you want to be anonymous blah blah blah and the police see what number and they go "oh no it's a phone box" but they find out what phone box you called from and they go "lets have a look at the CCTV".

Anonymousy and privacy doesn't exist and it's the same with schools.

Originally posted by rochen

What about just not prank calling the emergency service at all? :rolleyes:

Rochen you seem to be on a downer tonight. Is there anything wrong?.

There is no such thing as calling emergency services anonymously. As soon as you dial the emergency services number, the billpayers name, telephone number and address appear on the operator's screen.

The details are provided with ANI - a completely separate system to caller ID and is provided regardless as to whether caller ID is blocked.

The same applies with calling from a mobile phone. People think they can take their sim card out and call '112' without the emergency services knowing who they are. The emergency services are provided with the IMEI/Serial number of the calling phone, the general location you are calling from and there is also another process they can use to find out where you are within a few metres.

Public phone - anonymous in a sense. The number and location of the payphone is provided. Not all payphones are equipped with CCTV but some are so they can at least retrieve a picture from that.

If you call emergency services and simply hangup - it is treated as a disconnected call and generally (well, theoretically) is marked high priority/urgent and police are normally dispatched immediately.

--Shaun

Here's a little 911 story for you.

One night I needed to call a friend, and I was using a calling card for long distance. So I pick up the calling card and I look at it, well the first three digits of the pin number for the phone card were 911. So by accident I just dialed the 911 instead of the the prefix for the phone number. Then I automatically realized what I did and hung up...... I think it had just started to ring when I hung up the phone. Well about two seconds later I get a phone call back from the 911 dispatcher, she was just making sure there wasn't any problems. I explained to her that the first 3 digits of my phone card were 911, and that I had dialed it by accident. And she verified all my information and everything and said okay have a nice a day. So now I dial the phone card number and get through to my friend, and talking with them. Then all the sudden the operator breaks in on our conversation to verify that everthing is okay and I explained again. And they said okay everythings great and have a nice day again. Then I start talking some more with my friend laughing about what had just happened. Then about 2 or 3 minutes later I here loud pounding on my door, and yelling "SHERRIFS OFFICE"....More loud knocking...... More loud yelling "Sherrifs office".... So I go and answer the door, and the sherrifs are sticking their heads in the door. I explain to them what wen't on... And they ask if they can see the phone card and I say yea and walk in to get it..... and they folow me right in.......Looking in all the closets and stuff in my house on their way in.... Then I show them the phone card and they say yepp sure enough it starts with 911 lol...... So they leave kinda laughing about it. And that's the end of that lol..... :)

Originally posted by deadserious
Here's a little 911 story for you.

One night I needed to call a friend, and I was using a calling card for long distance. So I pick up the calling card and I look at it, well the first three digits of the pin number for the phone card were 911. So by accident I just dialed the 911 instead of the the prefix for the phone number. Then I automatically realized what I did and hung up...... I think it had just started to ring when I hung up the phone. Well about two seconds later I get a phone call back from the 911 dispatcher, she was just making sure there wasn't any problems. I explained to her that the first 3 digits of my phone card were 911, and that I had dialed it by accident. And she verified all my information and everything and said okay have a nice a day. So now I dial the phone card number and get through to my friend, and talking with them. Then all the sudden the operator breaks in on our conversation to verify that everthing is okay and I explained again. And they said okay everythings great and have a nice day again. Then I start talking some more with my friend laughing about what had just happened. Then about 2 or 3 minutes later I here loud pounding on my door, and yelling "SHERRIFS OFFICE"....More loud knocking...... More loud yelling "Sherrifs office".... So I go and answer the door, and the sherrifs are sticking their heads in the door. I explain to them what wen't on... And they ask if they can see the phone card and I say yea and walk in to get it..... and they folow me right in.......Looking in all the closets and stuff in my house on their way in.... Then I show them the phone card and they say yepp sure enough it starts with 911 lol...... So they leave kinda laughing about it. And that's the end of that lol..... :)

Your kidding. It's well heard of for people to have there mobiles in there bags and for it to dial 999 accidently, i suppose that's something 911 wouldn't have to deal with.
I think the police have to mind there own business like and to stop being so suspicious.
You should complain about this.
There's people in America that complain about smoking in the theme parks and there's you getting a bloody prank call from the police, shocking.

No I'm not kidding that really happened.

It was in the middle night, so maybe they didn't have anything better to do.

Yep the police look for any reason to go and get you.
Lets take this as an example: you have a fight with someone and the police will come around and look for drugs which is not right.
At night time the poloce don't have anything better to do than make jokes to other officers about how there's some jam cakes waiting on them for when they get back to HQ :D, it's true and on night shift in Scotland the police sometimes use very strange names like "artful dodger" .

Originally posted by ned patter


Your kidding. It's well heard of for people to have there mobiles in there bags and for it to dial 999 accidently, i suppose that's something 911 wouldn't have to deal with.
I think the police have to mind there own business like and to stop being so suspicious.
You should complain about this.
There's people in America that complain about smoking in the theme parks and there's you getting a bloody prank call from the police, shocking.

I'm sure you'd feel differently if someone broke into your house and managed to snatch the phone away from you just as the call had gone through to 911, 999 or 000 (in Australia). If the police showed up wondering what was happening, thinking suspiciously, they'd hopefully get to you before the burglar decided what to do. But, if they took your above comments seriously and didn't turn up, someone could find you dead in the backyard.
So maybe it's a good thing. Anyway, I've got nothing to hide. If they want to come around here 'cause they think something's happened, then they can.

Josh

To a degree, we give up our freedoms so that we can be safer, but I don't mind the 911 caller ID. What if thats all you can do (dial 911) before passing out?
There are much worse privacy intrusions to worry about than the 911 calls.

My thoughts exactly. :)

Josh

Originally posted by deadserious
Here's a little 911 story for you.

One night I needed to call a friend, and I was using a calling card for long distance. So I pick up the calling card and I look at it, well the first three digits of the pin number for the phone card were 911. So by accident I just dialed the 911 instead of the the prefix for the phone number. Then I automatically realized what I did and hung up...... I think it had just started to ring when I hung up the phone. Well about two seconds later I get a phone call back from the 911 dispatcher, she was just making sure there wasn't any problems. I explained to her that the first 3 digits of my phone card were 911, and that I had dialed it by accident. And she verified all my information and everything and said okay have a nice a day. So now I dial the phone card number and get through to my friend, and talking with them. Then all the sudden the operator breaks in on our conversation to verify that everthing is okay and I explained again. And they said okay everythings great and have a nice day again. Then I start talking some more with my friend laughing about what had just happened. Then about 2 or 3 minutes later I here loud pounding on my door, and yelling "SHERRIFS OFFICE"....More loud knocking...... More loud yelling "Sherrifs office".... So I go and answer the door, and the sherrifs are sticking their heads in the door. I explain to them what wen't on... And they ask if they can see the phone card and I say yea and walk in to get it..... and they folow me right in.......Looking in all the closets and stuff in my house on their way in.... Then I show them the phone card and they say yepp sure enough it starts with 911 lol...... So they leave kinda laughing about it. And that's the end of that lol..... :)

I think that's really jacked up that you were talking on the phone, and the 911 OPERATOR just pops in out of no where

if they can do that
that's really messed up

talk about breach of privacy

Originally posted by clocker1996
if they can do that
that's really messed up

talk about breach of privacy

By calling 911, whether on accident or purpose, you open yourself up to that. It's not breach of privacy once you the call connects and starts ringing. Just like with search and seizure, there's probable cause that there's an emergency, so if you were tokin' it up and the police walked in, it's your own fault. :)

Originally posted by deadserious
Here's a little 911 story for you.

One night I needed to call a friend, and I was using a calling card for long distance. So I pick up the calling card and I look at it, well the first three digits of the pin number for the phone card were 911. So by accident I just dialed the 911 instead of the the prefix for the phone number. Then I automatically realized what I did and hung up...... <snip>

A similar thing happened to me, only with '000' (emergency number in Australia).

All phones are on a PBX telephone system. Most of the phones you need to dial '0' to get an outside line but some have been programmed to access a specific telephone line.

One day I went to make an international call (0011....) so I pick up a phone. Forgetting it's one of the ones that automatically access a line I dial "00011..".

As the first 3 digits are 000, when I'd finished dialing - instead of hearing international ring tone I hear a voice saying "Triple-0 emergency?". I realised what had happened and explained it to the operator and she hungup.

A few minutes later she rang back again to make sure everything was alright. I said that it was and it was left at that.

I'm quite thankful that the information is automatically provided to them. People complain that it's an invasion of privacy - but what if you called and were unable to speak - they would still be able to dispatch emergency services and possibly save a life.

People pranking '999, 112, 000, 911, etc' do nothing but to waste the time of the operators and the emergency personnel involved. If you prank and they have to send emergency services to your house - that is one less genuine call they would be able to respond to.

--Shaun.

Originally posted by clocker1996


I think that's really jacked up that you were talking on the phone, and the 911 OPERATOR just pops in out of no where

if they can do that
that's really messed up

talk about breach of privacy

Errr... even regular folks can do that. All you gotta do is call the operator and tell them it's an emergency and you must be connected to the other party. They will interrupt their conversation and cut in.

I should know... I had that happen once.

You know, my experience with 911 ain't so great. My friend got into a car accident once. I called 911 on the cell phone and had to hold for 20 minutes! Really made me lose faith in the emergency system.

Just hope that if/when an emergency occurs it'll be in the middle of the night and not during the weekday.

i dont know about around there, but 999-your-number used to result in your own phone rininging (i know they've disabled this in my area now, but its lotsa fun!).

999-555-5855, hang up, hear dialtone, hang up again.

wait 5 seconds,

bam, local phone rings, and you've got potential for fun prank calls in your own house :D :laugh: used to use it on my sister years ago, tons of fun.

Originally posted by porcupine
i dont know about around there, but 999-your-number used to result in your own phone rininging (i know they've disabled this in my area now, but its lotsa fun!).

999-555-5855, hang up, hear dialtone, hang up again.

wait 5 seconds,

bam, local phone rings, and you've got potential for fun prank calls in your own house :D :laugh: used to use it on my sister years ago, tons of fun.


582-xxxx

xxxx would be your last 4 digits of your number would do the same thing in my area....


They have of course password protected it now, but normally its just 1234 :D

583 are differnt utilities, like Caller ID check, differnt tone ring backs, number pushes, etc, and the passwords are generally more complex..

I know people who still use'em :D

Man, the government is holding back on us. They have so many things that have been unstated and numerous devices that will never be viewed by the public eye.

Originally posted by porcupine
i dont know about around there, but 999-your-number used to result in your own phone rininging (i know they've disabled this in my area now, but its lotsa fun!).


Here in Australia we can just dial 12722199 on Telstra and 12723199 on Optus, wait for ring, hangup and your phone will ring a few seconds later :)

There are also other nifty numbers such as 018018222 which will read out your phone number (eg: "Customer number is zero-two-four-six-two-five....")

--Shaun

Originally posted by The Prohacker



582-xxxx

xxxx would be your last 4 digits of your number would do the same thing in my area....


They have of course password protected it now, but normally its just 1234 :D

583 are differnt utilities, like Caller ID check, differnt tone ring backs, number pushes, etc, and the passwords are generally more complex..

I know people who still use'em :D

Man, those were the days.

I remember when i took a phone cord (we used to share the same line when i was younger obviously) and just meshed all of the wires into one (cut the phone cord, and just twisted all 4 wires up and soldered/taped them into one wire), whenever my sister wouldn't get off the phone, i'd just plug that in, and bam, every phone in the house dead, great laughs, and extremely effective...

Ahh those were the days, when we had so little to do we could think up all kinds of fun stuff to do :D.... Man this is sad, i shouldn't be reminising for another 30-40 years! :eek:

Originally posted by porcupine

I remember when i took a phone cord (we used to share the same line when i was younger obviously) and just meshed all of the wires into one (cut the phone cord, and just twisted all 4 wires up and soldered/taped them into one wire), whenever my sister wouldn't get off the phone, i'd just plug that in, and bam, every phone in the house dead, great laughs, and extremely effective...


I was lucky... I moved out of home just as my sister was getting into that phone hogging stage...

I've switched off the PABX a few times when my sister wouldn't get off the phone - but I didn't do it often because it will kill the other phone lines as well (ie: the computer line)... other times I've ran to the MDF (where the phone lines go to the PABX) and pull out the line she was talking on.

I also had some great laughs when I'd have friends over and my sister also had friends over. My friend and I would ring her phone and sometimes pipe music and all sorts of audio clips over her bedroom phone speaker. Because I had the PBX attendant console in my room, I could also stop her from making any internal or external calls (or both) so she couldn't ring us back :)

--Shaun

Ohh back in da day.....

Blue boxes, red boxes, clear boxes, black boxes, beige boxes...


Faking Costcos... Tone dialers.. Dailup BBS.... Those were the days :D

Originally posted by The Prohacker
Ohh back in da day.....

Faking Costcos... Tone dialers.. Dailup BBS.... Those were the days :D

Yes, those were the days :)

There are still a few BBSs around Sydney I dial into sometimes - but not very often.

I shut my own BBS down about 3 years ago and stopped my Fidonet feed about 2 years ago.

--Shaun (who remembers his first email account as something like shaun.ewing@p5.f848.n712.z3.fidonet.org - quite confusing :D)

Originally posted by Skeptical


Errr... even regular folks can do that. All you gotta do is call the operator and tell them it's an emergency and you must be connected to the other party. They will interrupt their conversation and cut in.

I should know... I had that happen once.

Is your first name by any chance, Bob? (this is a serious question)

Originally posted by porcupine
i dont know about around there, but 999-your-number used to result in your own phone rininging (i know they've disabled this in my area now, but its lotsa fun!).

999-555-5855, hang up, hear dialtone, hang up again.

wait 5 seconds,

bam, local phone rings, and you've got potential for fun prank calls in your own house :D :laugh: used to use it on my sister years ago, tons of fun.

i used to do this too!

Originally posted by shaunewing

People complain that it's an invasion of privacy - but what if you called and were unable to speak - they would still be able to dispatch emergency services and possibly save a life.



NO. I wasn't talking about not being able to speak, or them not knowing where you are

i was SAYING.. that the guy was talking to his friend, normally... thinking everything was cool.. then the operator popped in his phone conversation, asking AGAIN, "Is everything ok"

ok, so my point is she did it AGAIN

the first time would of been fine
I was saying, that it was just jacked up that she could POP IN again like that
out of no where

It is a good thing that they know where you live and all that

Originally posted by Skeptical


Errr... even regular folks can do that. All you gotta do is call the operator and tell them it's an emergency and you must be connected to the other party. They will interrupt their conversation and cut in.

I should know... I had that happen once.

Sorry man, nothing personal.. but I just don't think that's likely to happen, atleast over here. I really, cannot see that happening. I can't see me calling the operator pretending its an emergency i really need to get through to 555-1562 please put me through

I HIGHLY doubt she would just put me through, and interrupt whatever convo was going on...

Maybe over there, but things may be diff over there

Here in ontario man i can't even get them to give me a free damn phone call

What I mean is a year ago in High School, I used to have a spare period for period 3, so all my freinds were in class. I had nothing to do, or nobody to talk to. So what I'd do is I'd go out, go to pay phones, and dial 0 .. I would tell them that this is an emergency I need to call home. I told them i had no money

They wouldn't put me through, they suggested calling collect

So if they won't even do that... Why the hell would they break in a phone convo and put me through?

and btw, I repeated that severeal times, the same hour. LOL

Because I knew it would be a diff operator

You know what else i used to do :D (this was when i was younger)

I used to dial 0, tell them that i put in a quarter in the pay phone, dialed my #, but for some reason, it didn't ring, and it didnt spit out my quarter, when i pressed the hang up buton... It just sits there... So I put in another quarter, and it did the same thing agin.. Listen, that was my last quarter, could you just please put me through to this number....

They wouldn't... What they WOULD do, is "Credit" my home phone LOL

So they were like Sir what is your phone number?

I would give it to them, and they would credit me $0.50

lame, i know. But i did it like 5 times in one day. $0.50 x 5 :D

I actually got it too

Go bell canada!

In New York a few years ago, my mum was trying to reach our cousins in Queens, and the phone number (incl. reaching the hotel's external line) had a 911 in it. Instead of reaching my cousins, my mum got connected with the emergency operator, which completely confused her :D

A few minutes later, hotel security started knocking on the day, because apparently the switchboard indicates an outgoing 911 call.

If anyone in the UK wants to try this, dial 0800 89 X6 XX, where X is random numbers, and you'll get connected to the US (I haven't a clue where or how tho:D )

Originally posted by ubergeek22

A few minutes later, hotel security started knocking on the day, because apparently the switchboard indicates an outgoing 911 call.

Yep, most PABXs can be set to notify the attendant console when an external call to certain numbers is made (including 911). It will display on the attendant console the extension (room number in a hotel situation) and the number dialed.

We actually changed our outside line code to prevent accidentally calling emergency. Instead of '0' (which is the standard in Australia) - we set ours to '9' so that we don't call '000' accidentally.

--Shaun.

Originally posted by ATST
To a degree, we give up our freedoms so that we can be safer, but I don't mind the 911 caller ID. What if thats all you can do (dial 911) before passing out?
There are much worse privacy intrusions to worry about than the 911 calls.
Listen guys it's not that they have there number it's that they go out of there way to find out who you are.

Originally posted by clocker1996
the first time would of been fine
I was saying, that it was just jacked up that she could POP IN again like that
out of no where Most likely it wasn't the 911 operator, who had made the first return call, who broke into the conversation -- but a regular phone company operator. They're the ones who have that ability.

Sounds like deadserious wasn't convincing enough to the first operator! :)

But imagine what repercussions there would be if it wasn't really so innocent, but someone had broken into the house and an assault was in progress. The perpetrator gives that excuse about accidentally dialing 911, and the emergency operator accepts it. After the fact, the whole thing comes out... people would lose their jobs, the city would be sued, and of course someone might be dead or injured.

Interrupting the call and sending a patrol car were just attempts to cover all the bases. And yeah, when the police come into a house on an emergency call they're entitled to look around -- in this case they couldn't be entirely sure what was going on when they first walked in the door.

Obviously accidental 991 or 999 calls have to be stopped and you should have to explain yourself but this is about phoning to report something and saying i want to be anonymous.
That other guy explained it was an accident over the phone and said he dialed the number and that but they still came to get him.

Originally posted by ATST
To a degree, we give up our freedoms so that we can be safer, but I don't mind the 911 caller ID. What if thats all you can do (dial 911) before passing out?
There are much worse privacy intrusions to worry about than the 911 calls.

Quote a wiser man than myself on this... (btw, note the date)


They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
— Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), Letter to Josiah Quincy, Sept. 11, 1773.

Originally posted by clocker1996


Sorry man, nothing personal.. but I just don't think that's likely to happen, atleast over here. I really, cannot see that happening. I can't see me calling the operator pretending its an emergency i really need to get through to 555-1562 please put me through

I HIGHLY doubt she would just put me through, and interrupt whatever convo was going on...

Maybe over there, but things may be diff over there

Here in ontario man i can't even get them to give me a free damn phone call



Actually the operater will cut in, what happens is she will ask your name, and the name of the person you need to talk to at the number that she needs to cut into. she will then send 3 tones to the phone and break in with "this is a brll canada operator, I have an emergancy call for xxx on this line from yyy, will YOU LET ME MAKE THE CONECTION? it is up to the recieving person to accept or not, you do not hear anything, untill they conect or the operator comes back on to say it was refused.

I know because when my mother died I had to contact the family and I had the operator break in 6 times. I was living in Ontario at the time.

If some guy broke into my house and my wife was alone, she dials 911 and he hangs it up on her, then when they call back....I would FULLY EXPECT them to cover all bases and be at my house in short time.

If she does it acidently, I fully expect them to do the same thing. That ensure me that if the real thing ever happens, I know what they will do and it helps lessen worries.

Of course another thing is the laws here in Texas. Quite different from elsewhere. We are allowed guns, we are allowed ammo, we are allowed to use deadly force to protect family and property. In the area I live, I can shoot off my guns anytime I want. Common sense of course, is expected, on my part and not to put anyone in danger by doing so. A guy can rob my house and be running down the street, and I have every right to shoot him in the back and leave him for dead on the road till the cops get there.

Texas is not a good place to be a bad guy.. Texas is even a bad place for certain jobs. A repo man is considered a thief here by law during the repo action, and not a thief if he gets away with it. Someone comes to repo your car, he may get shot. Texas recently passed a new law stating that repo men cannot shoot back. The law officials around here clearly state to you that if you shoot someone who is trying to harm you, your family, or property.....dont shoot to wound them, shoot to stop them.

So it probably wouldnt be surprising around here that if you call 911, they ask where the dead intruder is :D

Oh and for intruding calls, they will do that here also. If my wife is in an accident and tries to call my busy line.....no phone call that I could possibly be on is more important than hers. Yes I would accept it.

Ok here's something. Is it true that you have to stay on the phone in a phone box for over 1 minute before someone can trace you?. I don't know if it's just a hollywood thing or what.

Not with 911. They know all data almost before it rings..

Originally posted by ned patter
Ok here's something. Is it true that you have to stay on the phone in a phone box for over 1 minute before someone can trace you?. I don't know if it's just a hollywood thing or what.

hollywood thing? is it Ransom :D

Originally posted by phatronic


hollywood thing? is it Ransom :D

Is this a film?.

Originally posted by Webdude
Not with 911. They know all data almost before it rings..
Why is it then that on the film with that harrison ford which is called beyond the line of fire or something the shooter calls up and they pray he stays on the phone for over 1 minute until the coin goes down?.

Originally posted by labgeek


Quote a wiser man than myself on this... (btw, note the date)


They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
— Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), Letter to Josiah Quincy, Sept. 11, 1773.

The quote says 'liberty'. From the way I see it, it like when you prevent people from owning guns at all.

You don't need to give up any liberty, you will need to give up privacy. If you are a straight man, you will have nothing to fear.

I think it's a really great thing that the police will come to your house just because you called, even by mistake. You must be sorry yourself for makeing that mistake in the first place, not because you lost any privacy or something, but because you wasted the police's time.

Originally posted by ned patter

Why is it then that on the film with that harrison ford which is called beyond the line of fire or something the shooter calls up and they pray he stays on the phone for over 1 minute until the coin goes down?.

I would assume that high-profile criminals have their own ways to delay the police from getting this kind of information. For example, if there is no standard for exchanging this kind of information between countries, anybody can use a satellite or Internet link to send his voice oversees to another country, where the other end sends the voice back to the US through phone lines.

This way, even if the police get your number, it's in a different country. They will have to go there and will see your equipment, and try to figure it out. That will probably take them days.

Originally posted by Ahmad


The quote says 'liberty'. From the way I see it, it like when you prevent people from owning guns at all.

You don't need to give up any liberty, you will need to give up privacy. If you are a straight man, you will have nothing to fear.

I think it's a really great thing that the police will come to your house just because you called, even by mistake. You must be sorry yourself for makeing that mistake in the first place, not because you lost any privacy or something, but because you wasted the police's time.

But the guy before made a mistake by calling 911 and they came around looking for stuff that was not related to phoning 911 by accident. If you say it's an accident then it is an accident they don't have to come round to your house.

It's been in the newspaper here in Kuwait. A Kuwaiti was in his living room with his children watching T.V, when all of a suddent, a small truck bang into his wall and it's in the middle of his living room. The little boy that was driving the car ran away. The man was calling 777 (emergency number in Kuwait) all day telling them his story, but they never showed up.

In a different story. A 777 operator was asked about some of the funny calls he got, he said that an old lady once called and asked them if they can bring her some bread for lunch.

Originally posted by ned patter


But the guy before made a mistake by calling 911 and they came around looking for stuff that was not related to phoning 911 by accident. If you say it's an accident then it is an accident they don't have to come round to your house.

Well, OK. He must be doing something wrong in the first place to get caught for doing anything wrong. It's his bad luck. The police can't say: Oh, this is not legal, but we came for something else, enjoy it!

Originally posted by ned patter

Why is it then that on the film with that harrison ford which is called beyond the line of fire or something the shooter calls up and they pray he stays on the phone for over 1 minute until the coin goes down?. Uh, because it created more tension in the scene? "Keep him on the phone for a full minute, or at least until the soundtrack music reaches its crescendo!!"

Would it of killed you to split that up in paragraphs :eek: :D

Originally posted by deadserious
Here's a little 911 story for you.

One night I needed to call a friend, and I was using a calling card for long distance. So I pick up the calling card and I look at it, well the first three digits of the pin number for the phone card were 911. So by accident I just dialed the 911 instead of the the prefix for the phone number. Then I automatically realized what I did and hung up...... I think it had just started to ring when I hung up the phone. Well about two seconds later I get a phone call back from the 911 dispatcher, she was just making sure there wasn't any problems. I explained to her that the first 3 digits of my phone card were 911, and that I had dialed it by accident. And she verified all my information and everything and said okay have a nice a day. So now I dial the phone card number and get through to my friend, and talking with them. Then all the sudden the operator breaks in on our conversation to verify that everthing is okay and I explained again. And they said okay everythings great and have a nice day again. Then I start talking some more with my friend laughing about what had just happened. Then about 2 or 3 minutes later I here loud pounding on my door, and yelling "SHERRIFS OFFICE"....More loud knocking...... More loud yelling "Sherrifs office".... So I go and answer the door, and the sherrifs are sticking their heads in the door. I explain to them what wen't on... And they ask if they can see the phone card and I say yea and walk in to get it..... and they folow me right in.......Looking in all the closets and stuff in my house on their way in.... Then I show them the phone card and they say yepp sure enough it starts with 911 lol...... So they leave kinda laughing about it. And that's the end of that lol..... :)

I think keeping someone on the line is something left over from older days. They show Hawaii-Five-0 here now, and it's from the late sixties. When they trace the call, that's exactly what they do. A guy is running from line to line in the telephone-exchange (or what it's called), trying to find the specific number the caller is calling from. And he has to know where the call is going to, like McGarret's office. If they want to do it in a hurry, the guy has to be standing ready with the firts line in his hand, and he has to climb ladders and such as well.

Now it's all done by computers, so trasing can be done in seconds, even if it's jumping around the globe.

One cool thing (and rather unrelated) is that telephone boxes themselves dial out if they're vandalised to call for help. I saw on TV how there's a special control room for them to monitor phoneboxes being vandalised, and they summon police if someone attempts to access the cash box.

Originally posted by reptilian-fe
Now it's all done by computers, so trasing can be done in secondsExactly. And the old idea lives on in the movies and TV only because that "racing the clock" element is so exciting. But just because it was shown in some film (yes, even one with Harrison Ford) doesn't mean it's true. How about the time-honored movie "reality" that all bombs have a red wire and black wire, and if you cut the wrong one they blow up? Or that they all have a digital timer that beeps every second? And that the time keeps getting down to 40 seconds or so, and then takes two minutes to get down to the last second -- at which point the bomb is JUST IN TIME defused?

Originally posted by JayC
How about the time-honored movie "reality" that all bombs have a red wire and black wire, and if you cut the wrong one they blow up? Or that they all have a digital timer that beeps every second? And that the time keeps getting down to 40 seconds or so, and then takes two minutes to get down to the last second -- at which point the bomb is JUST IN TIME defused?

What, is that not true? :confused: :D

And about dialing 999-xxx-xxxx where x's are you phone #, we can just pick up the phone, dial xxx-xxxx and hang up. Right away the phoen will start to ring and you can use it to get others in the hosue to pick it up for use as an intercom :D

if you dial your own phone number, you shuold get a busy signal before anything else.

Originally posted by porcupine
if you dial your own phone number, you shuold get a busy signal before anything else.

Not necessarily... if I pickup my phone and dial my own phone number - my phone rings :D (it loops to the next available phone line :stickout).

I doubt 999 would be Mester's area code. I'm assuming in his area it is a ringback number. You dial it, it rings, you hangup and your phones ring a few moments later.

For example; I can dial "12722199", hangup and the phones will ring about 5-10 seconds later - when you answer; you dial 1 which cuts out the dialtone and you can use it as an intercom if somebody else picks up.

I don't use it though because our phone system has it's own intercom circuits - I can dial '70' to have my voice broadcast through the entire house or dial an individual phone :D

--Shaun

Originally posted by shaunewing

I doubt 999 would be Mester's area code. I'm assuming in his area it is a ringback number. You dial it, it rings, you hangup and your phones ring a few moments later.

For example; I can dial "12722199", hangup and the phones will ring about 5-10 seconds later - when you answer; you dial 1 which cuts out the dialtone and you can use it as an intercom if somebody else picks up.

Someone else had said about the 999 thing, i was just saying how i could do it - by typing 3687630 then hanging up right away.

You have to hang up quickly or else it will come back with a busy signal :)