at&t Wireless rejecting 911 calls from non at&t cellphones

[ecollins11]

at&t Wireless rejecting 911 calls from non at&t cellphones

The other night I had a life threating emergency I had a service interruption on T-Mobile I tried to call 911 an all I got was a message saying call rejected . I called at&t an the guy told me that if the phone is locked to another carrier an told me that the phone will not work on their tower! that is a bunch of BS it is also illegal for at&t to lock out an prevent 911 calls to their system from non at&t phones. I will contact the FCC an file a complaint against at&t.

 

[Cameron314]

That could be because your T-Mobile phone is not capable of operation on the band AT&T was using in your area. If you have problems with T-Mobile in your area you should maybe pick a new carrier. Not really AT&Ts fault that T-Mobile was having service problems.

 

[Darth_vader]

Yes, I believe that is highly illegal. That and it could possibly open AT&T up to litigation.

My Mum's on Verizon, which tends to have more service holes around here than a piece of Swiss cheese and flickers on and off like a lightning bug. I've not had AT&T drop 9-1-1 calls from her non-AT&T cell phone, although it has been known to route 2-1-1 (community service hotline) calls to 9-1-1 on occasion when in AT&T mode. At least in Portland (where this area's tandem/E-9-1-1 office is) if you tell the 9-1-1 operator you're on a cell phone and are trying to reach 2-1-1, she'll usually connect you.

 

[KevinC]

at&t Wireless rejecting 911 calls from non at&t cellphones

The other night I had a life threating emergency I had a service interruption on T-Mobile I tried to call 911 an all I got was a message saying call rejected . I called at&t an the guy told me that if the phone is locked to another carrier an told me that the phone will not work on their tower! that is a bunch of BS it is also illegal for at&t to lock out an prevent 911 calls to their system from non at&t phones. I will contact the FCC an file a complaint against at&t.

How do you know you were on an AT&T site? Did the message say it was AT&T?

 

[N9NRA]

How do you know you were on an AT&T site? Did the message say it was AT&T?

Another intresting thought here, i`ve had instances back in the CellullarOne days when i would be roamming and try to make a call only to have it get rejected by the system that my handset was connected to, doing a bit of research i found out that in some cases the "host system (network that your unit is currently connected to)" will not recognize your handset and thus will reject any call attempts (possibly even calls to 9-1-1 too). I asked about this very thingy once of some folks i know, and what they tell me is that basically any call that is to a 9 prefix number (i.e. 9-1-1) can`t be rejected or blocked, it has to be allowed even from a handset that`s not activated, i remember some discussion about this at a meeting of the radio club i`m a member of and that`s where i was told this. Intresting. N9NRA

 

[Astrak]

T-mobile has a roaming agreement with AT&T, but if you are in an area that also has T-mobile coverage the AT&T towers know this and will kick your handset off of the tower.

 

[poltergeisty]

T-mobile has a roaming agreement with AT&T, but if you are in an area that also has T-mobile coverage the AT&T towers know this and will kick your handset off of the tower.

That ain't right. All phones should be able to call 911. I was always under the assumption that any cell phone whether activated or not could call 911. I keep an old deactivated track phone just for this purpose since I have Comcast voice and Comcast likes to go out of service around once a month. So I keep the cell near by when I don't have a phone.

Congress needs to make a bill that insures that all cell phones and carriers can can dial 911.

 

[byndhlptom]

AT&T 911

Gentlemen

You are missing Cameron314's point.

If my memory serves correctly, there at at least three frequency blocks being used by various cell providers and two different modulation "schemes".

If, for example, your Verixon phone uses block "A" and the local AT&T system is on block "B", your phone has to be multiband cabable and using the correct modulation scheme to talk to both systems.

You cannot expect a carrier to support the competitions equipment. Most of the older cell phones do not support all the bands/modes now in use..

 

[Ronaldski]

Before You Call 911 on a Cell Phone - What You Need to Know

Any Phone Will Do

Wireless carriers are required to complete 911 calls, even when the phone is not activated. Any phone that turns on and can receive a signal is capable of making a 911 call.
The problem is: if the phone you're using isn't activated, there isn't a phone number assigned to it. That means if you're disconnected from the dispatch center, you must call 911 back. They will not have a way to call you.

Some info here too - 911 service on cell phones (Verizon/AT&T) - Cellphones, Providers, and Plans | DSLReports Forums-