Is what AT&T told me true or not

[FarmboyBill]

I was going to disconnect my land line as I had gotten Hughesnet. Figured I wouldnt be so far in debt once I got rid of Phone and dialup. Guy there said I oughta hang onto my land line cause, If I got hurt and couldnt tell 911 where I was, theyed know just by my useing my land line. Is that true. That dont work for a cell phone??

[luvrulz]

Depends how close you are to a tower when you call with a cell phone. In my area, they can tell and I live in Podunk Ky... Probably not.... Do you know someone @ the 911 dispatch office?

[InvalidID]

Not to mention you need a land line with Hughsnet anyway

[stamphappy]

No it's not true at least with Vonage. I have Vonage which is voice over internet telephone. When we signed up with them about 4 years ago, we had to log into their website and set up our profile which included a physical address for 911 calls. So if I call 911 through my vonage phone, but I can't speak, then yes, they can track the address.

That being said, if the electricity goes out, then my vonage phone doesn't work and I can't make calls or recieve calls.

[DavidUnderwood]

Downloads from HughesNet are fast because
it comes from satellite. But most of those systems
"send" by phone line. Better be sure.

[Batt]

Hughesnet is 2-way satelite, however the uplink is considerably slower then the downlink. I was never able to get VOIP to work because of the latency problem(i.e. signal has to travel quite a ways into space and back...thus the time lag.) Landline is not necessarily required.

[Ravenlost]

When I call 911 on my AT&T cellphone I have to tell them where I'm at. Still, we got rid of our landline.

[big rockpile]

Yea we was needing help called on our Cell Phone they could tell the county but not where we were.

big rockpile

[roachhill]

I've heard kids are leaving the land lines behind in droves so I imagine AT&T has a response all worked out to try to talk people out of it. I'd take it for what it is a last ditch sales pitch from a company losing all thier customers.

[martenfisher]

Normaly your land line can give them address. I have Magic for $25 a year and it registers your home address for 911. I can change it if I move.
There is technology for finding people with cell phones but it is not available in most of the country.

[sassafras manor]

About 2 years ago I witnessed a bad accident on Interstate 70 and called 911 from my cell phone. The dispatcher was able to tell me what my nearest milemarker was without saying a thing about my location.

[FarmerRob]

In most places the system it sounds like AT&T is referring to is called 911+. The 911+ is more advanced than regular 911 and with it they can identify your location when you call in. You would need to contact your local 911 center and see if the AT&T claim in true for you.

With cell phones they generally can only track you to a certain radius around the nearest cell tower but if there are enough towers in close proximity it is possible to triangulate and get a closer location. I wouldn't count on most 911 centers being able to do this but you can ask about it when you contact them.

[sticky_burr]

doesnt even a non-service land line still call 911 ?

[Bearfootfarm]

doesnt even a non-service land line still call 911 ?

No, but most cell phones will

[Fae]

No, I don't think so but, a non-service cell phone does, as I understand it.

[City Bound]

When I dumped my land line and at&t they told me the same thing and said it in a panicked alarmed way as to frighten me. they went on and on about my safety and how I should think about it, blah, blah blah. They were just trying to scare me so i would continue paying for their over priced service. I got magic jack and it has my adress on file if I call 911. Anyway, if you tell them your adress at 911 they can look it up in seconds with map quest.
When i had a problem with my Dell Computer the idiots at the dell help line tried to scare me also. They wanted me to pay $100 to be walked through the system restore feature on my computer. When I told them that the isntructions were in the manual and that i would just do it myself, they acted so alarmed and said that I needed them to do it because, blah, blah, blah. The jack ass even called me back from the philopians to see if I had reconsidered the offer.

Crooks...that is all they are, and they will burn painfully in hell when they die.

[kritter8888]

on my cell phone their is an option gps locator if its turned off your location cannot be traced but if its on then they can trace you. that might be the difference on why or why not cell phones work with 911

[switchman62]

I am a switchman with a phone company but I'm not trying to talk anybody into anything. The one thing I will say is that for emergency and non emergency situations a land line phone will work most times others wont. (Power outages, etc) The phone company supplies power to the phone.

I was going to go through all the E911 info but here is a link that describes it all very well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E911

Dave

I did just need to add the following. Whether you have regular phone service, cable, voip, wireless, etc. It all goes through a land line office.

[Jena]

I haven't had a land line in years. Yeah, I could get hurt where I couldn't talk and need 911 to find me, but then I could also never have that happen and find all kinds of good things to spend all that phone bill money on.

Forget them. Dump the land line. Live life on the edge!

[Kazahleenah]

depends on the cell phone and the area you are in.