Emergency number 112 for mobiles

Submitted: Thursday, Aug 18, 2011 at 10:00
ThreadID: 88526 Views:2674 Replies:5 FollowUps:5
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My kids are told this at school that you can call 112 from a mobile on any network, even if you are outside mobile range.

Now, in the RACQ magazine , an article reads that if you are “…out of mobile range” you can call 112 from anywhere.
This is not the case! Articles like this create the urban myth, and a belief by some that all you need if you venture on our outback roads is a mobile and that you don’t need a sat-phone or other emergency communication. Indeed my 15yo son believed what he was told at school no matter what I (only dad) said. The only way was to show him. We testing it on a recent trip to Cape York. No connection. – message came up “no signal”

As I understand it, if you are out of mobile range then you cannot connect to any signal, whether you are dialling 112 or any other number. Articles like this may well lead to a serious situation where people rely on mobile phones for emergency contact on their outback adventures
CJ

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Reply By: Member - Boobook - Thursday, Aug 18, 2011 at 10:15

Thursday, Aug 18, 2011 at 10:15
CJ

The school and RACQ are "half right".

The real answer should be that if your mobile phone *shows* no coverage and you have an emergency that you should try to dial 112 anyway as you may get through.

The way it works is that even though there may not be any coverage from *your* carrier, and a great example here is Vodaphone, then if you dial 112, your phone will find ANY network that has coverage ( EG Telstra) FOR THE 112 CALL.

In other words 112 can make a call if you have no coverage, provided that there is coverage at that location by at least one other carrier. If you are at a location where there is no coverage by any carrier, then you can not make a call. The phone won't work with Sat's etc.





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Reply By: snoopyone - Thursday, Aug 18, 2011 at 11:38

Thursday, Aug 18, 2011 at 11:38
Yes what Boobook says is correct Signal from another carrier you will get through.

No carriers at all you wont.

One small thing While it is in Road Ahead it has the Govt site ACMA as an address at the bottom.

I have emailed them pointing out the stupidity of the article and the fact that people could die if they took that advice and relied on it.

However the artcle it was probably taken from on the ACMA website is correct and says what Boobook and I have posted here.

Probably a junior staffer who didnt know better passed it on.
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Follow Up By: CSeaJay - Thursday, Aug 18, 2011 at 12:16

Thursday, Aug 18, 2011 at 12:16
The article was incorrectly taken from ACMA website.
The website clearly states that one can dial it from "anywhere where there is covarage" meaning it is across all carrieres
whereas the article states that it can be dialled from anywhere even if "you are out of mobile range" which is very misleading
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Follow Up By: snoopyone - Thursday, Aug 18, 2011 at 14:53

Thursday, Aug 18, 2011 at 14:53
Hmmm Didnt I say that it Didnt perhaps express it quite so well
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Follow Up By: CSeaJay - Thursday, Aug 18, 2011 at 17:03

Thursday, Aug 18, 2011 at 17:03
OK reword
YES the article was incorrectly taken from the website
Hmmm
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Reply By: napalm_999 - Thursday, Aug 18, 2011 at 19:54

Thursday, Aug 18, 2011 at 19:54
I'm glad this was raised and I hope more people come to realise dialling 112 does not magically turn your phone into a sat phone. Concerning some of the information out there regarding this.
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Reply By: get outmore - Thursday, Aug 18, 2011 at 22:08

Thursday, Aug 18, 2011 at 22:08
Im pretty sure just dailing anywhere where there is coveradge is barely right anyway


often that coveradge will be Telstra next G and it would be fairly unlikely your phone couldnt connect to the frequency if you didnt buy it to have telstra coveradge in the first place
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Follow Up By: snoopyone - Friday, Aug 19, 2011 at 08:35

Friday, Aug 19, 2011 at 08:35
If you read the article on the Govt website it correctly says that if you are

outside YOUR OWN PROVIDERS range and you dial 112

ANY AVAILABLE PROVIDERS NETWORK will pick it up and connect you to the emergency services.


If there is NO COVERAGE AT ALL it wont.


It does work but only like that

All the GSM frequencies are the same across all providers.

here is the GSM coverage map from Telstra

http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/networks/coverage/maps.cfm
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Follow Up By: snoopyone - Friday, Aug 19, 2011 at 08:41

Friday, Aug 19, 2011 at 08:41
Correction click on the tab at the top of the map as it defaults to Next G.

However I wouldnt like to be sure as if only Next G available with a Telstra

phone you may well be correct if there is not backup GSM.

The point of the thread is that the article incorrectly said "Out of range"

So not much chance of a signal in the middle of the Simpson IE
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Reply By: snoopyone - Friday, Aug 19, 2011 at 13:15

Friday, Aug 19, 2011 at 13:15
I have been advised in an answer to my Email, by the Road Ahead staff that a follow up article and correction will be published in the October issue.





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