emergencySMS

[gotchiguy]

It has been banded on here many times, and it is regularly repeated in the RYA handbooks that when at sea with limited mobile phone signal it is more likely that a text message will get through as opposed to a phone call. The other day therefore I decided to investigate this further: was it simply a case that when in trouble, texting 999 could replace a phone call? It is not I discovered, for first of all you must register you number with the services, and better to do that now at home than have to try and remember the instructions on how to do it when capsized mid-channel

So, for anyone interested, the instructions to sign yourself up to the (free) service are as follows:

To register using SMS text messages you must:
Send the word 'register' in an SMS message to 999
You will then receive SMS messages about the service
When you have read these SMS messages reply by sending 'yes' in an SMS message to 999
You will receive a SMS message telling you that your mobile phone is registered or if there is a problem with your registration

More info here: http://emergencysms.org.uk/index.php

Describing its relevance to us a bit more: http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=59071

[Polwart]

Gothi, an interesting post although I don't ever recall it being discussed here in the past and certainly not many times. Do you know if a phone is out of range of its own service provider if sms to 999 can be routed via competitor masts as per voice calls?

[Rokraider]

That is a very useful piece of information, thanks for posting it.

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by Polwart

Gothi, an interesting post although I don't ever recall it being discussed here in the past and certainly not many times. Do you know if a phone is out of range of its own service provider if sms to 999 can be routed via competitor masts as per voice calls?

Yes I believe so - a 999 will go via any available network. If you bring a phone down here with a UK sim card in, it will say "Emergency only" or similar, depends on the phone, and you can call 999 but nowt else.

[Polwart]

Originally Posted by BogMonster

Yes I believe so - a 999 will go via any available network. If you bring a phone down here with a UK sim card in, it will say "Emergency only" or similar, depends on the phone, and you can call 999 but nowt else.

Steven,

Yes I know thats what happens with voice calls here - I'm just not sure if that happens with texts? I should maybe have waited to register my phone until I was in an Emergency calls only area and tried sending the registration sms! I'll do that with Mrs P's phone.

[Channel Ribs]

Originally Posted by Polwart

I don't ever recall it being discussed here

Me neither.

Interesting post though I shall have a play after lighting the BBQ, it should not be too hard to convince my phone that I am in France.

[chewy]

Cheers for that and well done for not mentioning the "O" word!

[jwalker]

Originally Posted by BogMonster

Yes I believe so - a 999 will go via any available network. If you bring a phone down here with a UK sim card in, it will say "Emergency only" or similar, depends on the phone, and you can call 999 but nowt else.

That is so on my phone too but it will only allow dialling of a number when it's in that mode rather than allowing full access to the texting service, perhaps it's different on different phones.
A good post though Gotchiguy.

[SPR]

I tweeted this a few months ago... I registered my phone took 8 hrs for aknowledgement...

I been told it does not matter if you use 112 or 999 as both are routed the same way, and the modern day tech they can track you very quickly...

They tell you they will acknowledge your 999 request, unless you get this message assume it not gone through.

Was designed for the Deaf , but can be used by anybody...

Most important is to pre register your phone in advance.

Regards

S.

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by Polwart

Yes I know thats what happens with voice calls here - I'm just not sure if that happens with texts?

Now you mention it I don't think you can send texts at all on any of mine the only option is an emergency call. No idea if you can text 999 or not - it wouldn't work here anyway.