Phantom Calls, "Butt" Calls and 911 Accidental Calls
Cell phone phantom calls, which are also called butt calls (cell phones carried on the hip) and accidental calls are a major problem. Many wasted cell phone minutes result from these unintentional calls. 911 calls from programmed cell phone keypad buttons are a major problem for 911 dispatching.
SACC (Stop Accidental Cell Calls) has sent a series of letters and e-mails to officials at most wireless companies to help eliminate the problem with this the button guards. AT&T, Edge Wireless, ALLTEL, Cingular, Mobile-T, Nextel, Verizon, Sprint, talked with them by phone and e-mail, and in several cases, met with them directly. They ALL acknowledge with a sigh that open line cell calls are a very big problem. There answers to helping to correct with the button guards have been from "I have no opinion" to "We'll run it by our legal department and get back with you", to complete silence. Of course, eliminating these unintentional calls would reduce their air time minutes sold.
FCC made the manufacturers and the cell phone carriers aware of this 911 overload problem in 1999 and it was basically "ignored"....FCC even suggested that the redial and 9 key be redesigned in order to protect against accidental activation. This direction can be found in FCC CC Docket No.94-102, RM-8143 Adopted May 13, 1999 Pgs.27-28 Para. 77.
NENA and APCO (national 911 organizations) placed enough pressure on FCC/WTB (Wireless Telecommunications Bureau) and the cell phone manufactures and wireless carriers to require CTIA to not certify any new phones with the 1 touch 911 feature to be manufactured after Jan. 1, 2003.
However, the older model overproduced problem phones continue to be sold by thousands per day through internet sales and under contract with most major cell phone carriers for subscription signups. This obviously is one of the reasons that the 911 center overloads continue at previous high levels, also causing taxpayer overtime $$$ and required additional staffing to attempt to handle all the calls. Some PSAP'S (911 Centers) have the equivalent of 1-2 additional dispatchers just to answer accidental calls per Roger Hixon, Technical Director of NENA (National Emergency Number Association). See article titled "911 dispatchers rack up long hours of overtime" in the St. Petersburg Times, Apr 27, 2003.
(Click "start a new search", type "911 overtime", Click "search", Scroll down.)
The accidental 911 calls are also known as "phantom" calls," unintentional" calls, and "butt" calls (location of the phones on rear belt and hip mounts). |
