Phoning emergency number

[#1]

@MisterW 

"They will use the IMSI of the sim to identify the calling phone, that's all they need."

Forgot about that! However, in my case, AFAICS, that wouldn't get them anywhere. It's just a mobile phone.

Unless, again, they can get the address of the user of the phone with that IMEI from the ISP. In fact, more to the point - the number of my mobile phone is itself already registered in my Plusnet account as my contact number. So, the phone company would just need to identify the call number as coming via a Plusnet home network account. Shouldn't be impossible?

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Our WiFi works perfectly for all calls and there is no issue except if calling 999 and then it defaults to the the network even though the phone is set to receive and make calls using WiFi!  If anyone doubts that, they can contact the manufacturer of the phone!

[#3]

@Surfer 

"If anyone doubts that, they can contact the manufacturer of the phone!"

If it's an Apple phone:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/108066

"When cellular service is available, your iPhone uses it for emergency calls. If you turn on Wi-Fi Calling and cellular service isn't available, emergency calls might use Wi-Fi Calling. Your device's location may be used to aid response efforts when you place an emergency call, regardless of whether you enable Location Services."

Interesting. Seems to suggest location info is passed along with an Emergency call - whether Wi-Fi or phone network call?

I also seem to remember something like this mentioned in the Settings of my Android phone, about certain things automatically using phone location info even if Location is set to 'Off' by the user (as it normally is in my case).

Not really the sort of thing you can play around with to test, is it? 😎

[#4]

Just to add you do not need to supply your address to a seller of a phone or to a supplier if you are using PAYG. No way of them knowing who you are unless you supply details.  For us registering our phones with 999 is the way forward.

[#5]

So this was all to do with the bizarre behaviour of your iPhone !

To ensure Wi-Fi Calling is the only option when at home :-

1) Enable  Aircraft mode

2) Just turn on Wi-Fi

[#6]

Don't have an iPhone.  Samsung Android phone.  No way to test if your theory works when switching to airplane mode.  🤔

[#7]

@Surfer 

Have you looked at your account with the mobile provider to see if there's an Emergency Address listed?

Brian

[#8]

On my Android phone, turning on Aeroplane mode disables phone network and Bluetooth but leaves Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi calling enabled. Can't very well test if a 999 call overrides Aeroplane mode.

Reporting of this online seems inconsistent. Even the description of what Aeroplane mode does in Wikipedia does not align with my phone: "When activated, the mode suspends the device's radio-frequency (RF) signal transmission technologies (i.e., Bluetooth, telephony and Wi-Fi), effectively disabling all analog voice, and digital data services, when implemented correctly by the electronic device software author."; "Typically, it is not possible to make phone calls or send messages in airplane mode, but some smartphones allow calls to emergency services."; "Wi-Fi and Bluetooth may be enabled separately while the device is in airplane mode, as allowed by the operator of the aircraft."

Search Assistant:

How It Works
• Automatic Override: "On Android devices, dialing an emergency number like 999 automatically turns off airplane mode, allowing the call to go through."

So to me it looks rather like this is less a Wi-Fi calling issue and more a general mobile phone issue. If you can't reliably get through on a mobile network signal, how likely is it there will be very accurate location information available to the phone operator anyway?

[#9]

@Surfer

Surprise !

The exact same steps work on an Samsung Android phone.

[#10]

@bmc 

"Have you looked at your account with the mobile provider to see if there's an Emergency Address listed?"

In my case, no such account exists, AFAIK.

There is the Tesco Mobile App...  I don't know the details there, as I don't use it. 🙂

[#11]

Did you try phoning 999 to see whether it does bypass the Network and use Wifi?

[#12]

Wi-Fi calls to 999 work when the mobile network is disabled.