Re: TOT: Interesting Sunday Times item about phone networks

<nemo@address.invalid> wrote in message news:g6vvr6lr2k6tanelb4sbhehu8b85s2r2rr@4ax.com...
> On Tue, 3 May 2011 00:05:10 +0100, "Graham." <me@privacy.com> wrote:
>
>>
>><nemo@address.invalid> wrote in message news:9hbur61gn4lkfhcaq91tq9r7jvhgl84opk@4ax.com...
>>> On Mon, 2 May 2011 19:51:22 +0100, "Graham." <me@privacy.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>If by "emergency calls" you mean 999/112, then we've all been able to do that for
>>>>a couple of years or so.
>>>
>>> For much longer than that!
>>
>>I think not, but you might have been fooled by your handset displaying Emergency Calls Only
>>when the phone could only see networks that weren't your home one. Had you needed
>>to make the call, the network would have rejected it.
>>That only changed comparatively recently.
>
> No. It's been available since the beginning of GSM, and I made a 112
> call several years ago that I know for certain was on another network.
> It was to report a bank robbery that was in the press at the time, so
> I could look up the date, but I can't really be arsed..

x-posted to uk.telecom.mobile for a definitive answer on when this "feature" was implemented across the UK networks.

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

On Tue, 03 May 2011 18:54:16 +0100, Graham. wrote:

> x-posted to uk.telecom.mobile for a definitive answer on when this
> "feature" was implemented across the UK networks.

112 is part of the ETSI GSM standard. It's been available on GSM mobiles
for as long as roaming has, because it's the pan european emergency
number.

They also support 999 in the UK.

112 has also been supported on UK fixed networks for the last 15 years at
least to my knowledge (it was part of the acceptance testing for the
first exchanges that I was involved with in 1995 when I started at
Ericsson Telecommunications Ltd).

Rgds

Denis McMahon

"Denis McMahon" <denis.m.f.mcmahon@gmail.com> wrote in message news:4dc1e5ff$0$22438$bed64819@gradwell.net...
> On Tue, 03 May 2011 18:54:16 +0100, Graham. wrote:
>
>> x-posted to uk.telecom.mobile for a definitive answer on when this
>> "feature" was implemented across the UK networks.
>
> 112 is part of the ETSI GSM standard. It's been available on GSM mobiles
> for as long as roaming has, because it's the pan european emergency
> number.
>
> They also support 999 in the UK.
>
> 112 has also been supported on UK fixed networks for the last 15 years at
> least to my knowledge (it was part of the acceptance testing for the
> first exchanges that I was involved with in 1995 when I started at
> Ericsson Telecommunications Ltd).
>
> Rgds
>
> Denis McMahon

Sorry Denis, the quoted part was excessively snipped for you to follow.
The argument wasn't about when 112 was introduced, it was
about when cross network emergency calls began to be carried.

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

On Thu, 05 May 2011 01:25:40 +0100, Graham. wrote:

> Sorry Denis, the quoted part was excessively snipped for you to follow.
> The argument wasn't about when 112 was introduced, it was about when
> cross network emergency calls began to be carried.

Ah.

That's a trickier one to answer.

I believe that originally, when I got my first GSM handset (probably
sometime late '95 or early '96) I could only make 112 calls in the UK if
I was on my home network (cellnet), and if I was out of coverage, was
unable to make such calls at all.

Although it was touted that the GSM standards allowed both sim free and
any network 112 access, there was an issue relating to identifying the
subscribers / being able to trace / reconnect the call from the emergency
call handling centre, and it may have been a situiation that was forced
onto the networks by the emergency services.

I'm not sure if you can make a 112 call without a sim at all, although
the technology supports it the networks may not.

eg I have a 10+ year old handset (Ericsson R520M) that allows me to enter
112 with the banner "SOS Call" without a sim in the phone, but I don't
know what would happen if I then pressed the call button (and as the imei
may be linked to me if anyone digs hard enough, I'm not going to
experiment).

I also just put a charger on an even older Ericsson SH888, but that's
taking time to wake up ..... in fact (60 mins later) it's not waking up
at all, so I can't test with it.

Rgds

Denis McMahon

Denis McMahon wrote:

> On Thu, 05 May 2011 01:25:40 +0100, Graham. wrote:
>
>> The argument wasn't about when 112 was introduced, it was about when
>> cross network emergency calls began to be carried.
>
>
> That's a trickier one to answer.

Not that long ago, by the end of 2009 this article suggests

<http://media.ofcom.org.uk/2009/03/18/ofcom-tackles-barriers-to-communications-services-proposals-to-introduce-mobile-roaming-for-999-calls/>

"Andy Burns" <usenet.aug2009@adslpipe.co.uk> wrote in message news:J4-dnXAmGtHpdF_QnZ2dnUVZ8iadnZ2d@brightview.co.uk...
> Denis McMahon wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 05 May 2011 01:25:40 +0100, Graham. wrote:
>>
>>> The argument wasn't about when 112 was introduced, it was about when
>>> cross network emergency calls began to be carried.
>>
>>
>> That's a trickier one to answer.
>
> Not that long ago, by the end of 2009 this article suggests
>
> <http://media.ofcom.org.uk/2009/03/18/ofcom-tackles-barriers-to-communications-services-proposals-to-introduce-mobile-roaming-for-999-calls/>
>

OK, thanks. That's not too far removed from the "couple of years or so" which was my contention.

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%