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Alternative Emergency Numbers

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  • 28-12-2018 2:15pm
    #1
    teddy b123
    Registered Users Posts: 399 ✭✭


    With the current issues the United States are having with their 911 service I was hoping to save some alternative emergency numbers to my phone just in case something similar happened here and I needed them.

    Which numbers would be best to have saved, for use in an emergency, in the event the ECAS system is down.


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    #2
    easygoing1982
    Registered Users Posts: 341 ✭✭easygoing1982


    What's going on in the US


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    #3
    irishrgr
    Registered Users Posts: 118 ✭✭irishrgr


    911 cell services went down in a few locations due to some sort of technicial network issue. Landline calls to 911 worked fine, but cellular ones didn't. I know our agency has a robust plan for this, can't speak to Ireland. Story below.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/troubling-outage-knocks-out-911-service-in-multiple-states/ar-BBRxa9U


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    #4
    source
    Registered Users Posts: 5,267 ✭✭✭source


    teddy b123 wrote: »
    With the current issues the United States are having with their 911 service I was hoping to save some alternative emergency numbers to my phone just in case something similar happened here and I needed them.

    Which numbers would be best to have saved, for use in an emergency, in the event the ECAS system is down.

    999, 112 or call directory enquiries and look to be put through to the nearest garda station.


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    #5
    teddy b123
    Registered Users Posts: 399 ✭✭teddy b123


    source wrote: »
    999, 112 or call directory enquiries and look to be put through to the nearest garda station.

    Just to be clear, I’m specifically asking for a backup direct number to ring that still reaches the Public Service Answering Point in the event that the routing of calls for the 112 service fails here and there is an emergency.

    I’m guessing the number for the local Garda station is a useful backup but I would assume that phone isn’t monitored as closely?


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    #6
    source
    Registered Users Posts: 5,267 ✭✭✭source


    teddy b123 wrote: »
    Just to be clear, I’m specifically asking for a backup direct number to ring that still reaches the Public Service Answering Point in the event that the routing of calls for the 112 service fails here and there is an emergency.

    I’m guessing the number for the local Garda station is a useful backup but I would assume that phone isn’t monitored as closely?

    You would assume wrong.


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    #7
    limericklad87
    Registered Users Posts: 717 ✭✭✭limericklad87


    Just stick with 999 and 112


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    #8
    teddy b123
    Registered Users Posts: 399 ✭✭teddy b123


    limericklad87 wrote: »
    Just stick with 999 and 112

    As I mentioned in the original post, there was a failure of the routing of calls to the emergency services numbers when dialing them in the US for a period of time and I was looking for alternative numbers in the unlikely event this ever happened here.


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    #9
    rizzodun
    Registered Users Posts: 2,598 ✭✭✭rizzodun


    teddy b123 wrote: »
    As I mentioned in the original post, there was a failure of the routing of calls to the emergency services numbers when dialing them in the US for a period of time and I was looking for alternative numbers in the unlikely event this ever happened here.

    There's 999 and 112.

    How many direct line numbers to the emergency services do you expect?


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    #10
    Atlantic Dawn
    Registered Users Posts: 81,115 ✭✭✭✭Atlantic Dawn
    M


    teddy b123 wrote: »
    As I mentioned in the original post, there was a failure of the routing of calls to the emergency services numbers when dialing them in the US for a period of time and I was looking for alternative numbers in the unlikely event this ever happened here.


    Take down the numbers of every single Garda Station and Fire Station in Ireland and carry it with you.


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    #11
    mikeecho
    Registered Users Posts: 5,039 ✭✭✭mikeecho


    https://vimeo.com/214887342?ref=em-share


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    #12
    EdgeCase
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,471 ✭✭✭EdgeCase


    Just Google the local Garda station or fire station.

    The 112 and 999 services route directly to sets of call centres. There may be no other numbers for these. It's not that they're not released but they may literally not exist.

    Also if the 112 / 999 service went down (very unlikely) you'd be better calling the Gardai.


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    #13
    Dr Turk Turkelton
    Registered Users Posts: 2,894 ✭✭✭Dr Turk Turkelton


    If you dial 911 it also gets you through to the 999/112 service.


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    #14
    civdef
    Registered Users Posts: 3,057 ✭✭✭civdef


    90% of fire stations in Ireland are retained, which means that if you ring their direct line, there will be no-one in the building to hear it. Most fire services keep retained station numbers ex-directory for this reason.


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    #15
    EdgeCase
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,471 ✭✭✭EdgeCase


    Dr Turk Turkelton wrote: »
    If you dial 911 it also gets you through to the 999/112 service.

    Not advisable to rely on. It's nothing to do with the phone network and some Irish local phone numbers start with 911.

    Certian mobile phones will accept any emergency number eg 911, 999, 000 and so on and actually dial 112.

    The phone networks in Ireland will only recognise 112 or 999 as emergency numbers.

    112 will work on mobile phones anywhere, including in the US (at least on GSM and related techs)

    112 will also work without a SIM card and also will connect to any available GSM signal. So if you're out of coverage on your home network and there's another one available, 112 should work.

    It will also work from a locked phone.


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    #16
    alentejo
    Registered Users Posts: 887 ✭✭✭alentejo


    112 or 999 - 112 or 999 - 112 or 999 - 112 or 999!!!! These are the only numbers you need to contact the Emergency Services.


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    #17
    EdgeCase
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,471 ✭✭✭EdgeCase


    alentejo wrote: »
    112 or 999 - 112 or 999 - 112 or 999 - 112 or 999!!!! These are the only numbers you need to contact the Emergency Services.

    +1

    There's no point in adding confusion with rumours of other numbers and 911 absolutely does not work on any Irish network. I've seen that one being put there before. Certain mobile handsets will treat it as an emergency call, lots of others won't.

    When you dial 112 on a mobile, it actually doesn't send a normal call. It requests an emergency connection. It's quite a sophisticated protocol that's pretty much hardwired into every GSM type network - so your call will go through any available network and the system will route the call as a priority.

    The landline network also is designed to prioritise emergency calls. So for example, in the event of some kind of massive emergency where local exchanges were having capacity issues, dialling 112 or 999 would grab priority over all other traffic. So while you might get a rapid busy tone for a local call, the emergency routing would still likely work.

    There's also E-112 already rolled out in quite a few countries where it will provide more information to the operator. E.g. location service and so on. AFAIK that rollout isn't complete in Ireland. Also btw, it's a good reason why you should ensure your directory information's correct if you're using VoIP at home - the operator won't get accurate info otherwise if you can't speak.

    You can also text 112. It's primarily intended for people who can't communicate with voice e.g. the deaf community, but anyone can register for it by text: https://www.112.ie/Registering_your_mobile_phone/143

    If anything, we should be more strongly promoting 112 as it has extra functionality, on mobiles as outlined in previous posts: overrides key locks, working on any available signal, and so on - as well as being Europe wide.

    I know 999 is very long established and won't be shut down, but we could just promote 112 much more prominently and let 999 just fade into background more so.

    What happened in the USA was pretty unusual. Cenurylink, a major landline provider who own local exchanges / switches and core infrastructure in many US states had huge issues with something on their network. It's now subject to a major FCC enquiry into what happened as it's completely unacceptable under US law. It was a rather spectacularly bad screw up. It should not have been possible to have a single point of failure type problem.

    While technology can and does occasionally go wrong, it doesn't follow that this is likely to be a persistent issue in the US or that it's something that would be a problem in Ireland either.


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