All new phones from Verizon have a 911 alarm.

[Domain]

I made a post about this on my 8300 several months ago. It's a damn dangerous "feature" that needs to be removed IMMEDIATELY. At least my E815 when it 911-dialed would keep the beeping to a very dull roar. The LG's are just atrocious, the 911 alarm can wake the dead and sounds too happy to even be an alert tone.

May God save us all if we ever have to make a covert 911 call.

[XFF]

I don't understand what the VZW spokeswoman was trying to say at all:

The tone our customer experienced is our interpretation of Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act calling for a provider of telecommunications service to offer service that is accessible and usable by individuals with disabilities. The tone, indicating that 911 has been dialed, is one of several features designed to make wireless service is accessible and easy to use, especially for those with disabilities. Other features include a voice command key where customers can use their voice to dial by name or number; a voice echo feature so that a person who can't see can hear the number or letter if sending a text; read back text messages and speech output of signal strength, battery strength, missed calls, voicemail, roaming, time and date.

Can someone translate that for me please?

How does a loud noise make a phone easier to use, especially when you're calling 911 and they're trying to understand what you're saying and you're trying to understand what they're saying?

[jseah]

That happens to be really dumb on verizons part...

Except that Verizon isn't the only one doing this.....the other US carriers are doing this as well.

[Matt_]

I have a Gzone Type-V and with it's latest firmware "V9200M12" implements a warning siren for

911
611
*611

Not sure how 611 is classified as an emergency # but oh well...
I do not know if this is something Verizon wanted or if the manufactures are starting to do, as this did not occur in the previous version ...M11 I think it was.

Since Verizon's UI is so standard all be it people like to complain about it, does make it easier to nav.

this should be easily changed fixed by going into
Settings & Tools
Pone Settings
Security
(####) last 4 of your phone number
Emergency #'s

I had to discover that on my own CS had no clue....

I apologize, but from the way you worded things, I'm not clear what you're trying to state. Are you saying that you've provided instructions for how to turn off this 911 alarm ? Am I supposed to go into "Settings & Tools" --> "Phone Settings" --> "Security" --> "Emergency #'s" and remove the 911 listing from the list of numbers ?

[GPz1100]

Is there a way to test this without actually calling 911?

[Budman17r]

Juke, did not have an alarm on ICE contacts

[MikeG~]

calling 911 and they're trying to understand what you're saying and you're trying to understand what they're saying?

I gather it makes the sound when it dials or connects, not during the call. Presumably accessability would be for the sight-impaired? I'm all for that, but it should be an option, like the other accessability features. Let them default it to "on" even, just let us turn it "off" if we want.

But even still, the whole idea is pretty stupid, wouldn't you have the phone up to your ear? Why does sound come out of the speakers at all unless you have it on speakerphone??? Why can't they just get James Earl Jones back to say "Fear not! Your 911 call has been connected, help is at hand" or something stupid like that...)

[b3bunner]

It may be a safety feature if young kids get a hold of a cell phone and mistakenly call 911. Just guessing why Verizon put this feature on the phones. But the parents need to be watching the kids better if this is the case.
I know of many times that kids were given old unactivated phones to play with by the parents and were calling 911 multiple times tying up the emergency lines. The parents said that they were unaware that you could call 911 from a unactivated phone.
Again this is Verizon trying to dumb down its phones for stupid people. Verizon needs to educate people not just assume this is what everyone needs on their phone. I am sure now days that Verizon could possibly get into a lawsuit if someone was in major trouble, called 911 and was killed because of their safety alarm. Something needs changed.

[LetThatSinkIn]

Why would she dial 911 for vandalls or trespassing...I dont' see that as a real emergency...she should have called her local police department instead of tying up the 911 system. I believe my Samsung A900 does that when I dial 911.

Ok, forget her, her actual situation isnt really the point. Picture that she was car jacked and trying to dial 911 with the phone in her purse and then it lets out a huge siren. Now the purp knows she is dialing 911 and it defeats the purpose.

Many times when dialing 911 it will be because your safety is in question, the fact that your phone may actually GIVE AWAY your location is absurd.

And they say that "No one has complained about this" that is a crock of ish because I have complained about it - myself. I've had the alarm go off a few times and draw more attention to me than the actual emergency.

[jseah]

I think it is a situation of damned if you do, damned if you don't kinda of thing. For every complaint they get from people about the loud siren tone when you call 911, if they didn't have the tone, there probably would be just as many complaints from people whose kids playing with the phone, or having the phone in their purse and having 911 called accidentally. Imagine if the emergency services billed false 911 calls to the caller like they do with burglar or fire alarms.

[b3bunner]

Easy fix for Verizon. Like the GPS location on or 911 only option. Just put a option for the user to select if the siren goes off if you call 911.

[C DM]

I think it is a situation of damned if you do, damned if you don't kinda of thing. For every complaint they get from people about the loud siren tone when you call 911, if they didn't have the tone, there probably would be just as many complaints from people whose kids playing with the phone, or having the phone in their purse and having 911 called accidentally. Imagine if the emergency services billed false 911 calls to the caller like they do with burglar or fire alarms.

That's really what's at the hear of all this. The FCC has wording to this effect, even though they don't actually specify what the exact implementation should be (nice going there), so, if a carrier didn't do this and some person (let's say with a disability) wanted to sue them for it based on the FCC rule they definitely would have a case (I'm not saying it's right, but basically since FCC implemented the rule, even though it's one that they themselves aren't clear about and say don't really care about, legally a carrier can get sued if someone wanted to do so if there was no indicator present. Perhaps the FCC should actually not make any rules that they don't even understand themselves, or perhaps they should actually think things through before they make something a rule, instead of later saying "well, we didn't say it had to be an alarm", well, that's the point, you made it a rule, but completely screwed up by not clarifying it so that you can cover yourself later basically.

[Tip10]

Is there a way to test this without actually calling 911?

And if there isn't a way to test (without dialing 911) is there a way to find out which phones have this implementation?

Anybody care to start compiling a list based on real-life experience?

[Domain]

Put your own phone number into the "emergency test number" setting or the "emergency" area in the NAM programming.

I thought about youtubing my 8600's (the vx8300 reacts in the same manner, btw) emergency mode dialing to show what it does -- safely. I have an E815 coming this week that I can show off too.

Any requests?

[nicholasneko]

i have a cingular phone and i've had to dial 911 more then once, every time with that wonderful alarm, and i've had this phone for over 2 years now, so it seems it might just be a "feature" of most phones that are out there now.