Sunday, Mar 25, 2012 at 21:04
Hello everyone,
I will disclose from the outset that I am the manager for government, aerospace and defence at MGL Telecoms and would like to try and provide an unbiased response.
As a previous
Victoria Police Officer and 000 operator I would like to comment on the Inmarsat Isatphone Pro situation once and for all. There have been many
blogs making claims that because the phones can't call 000 that this is a real problem. Here are a few reasons why it's not an issue.
000 was designed for landline only and in fact as a service for phone boxes, so that should mr smith see a car accident on a street the system can recognise the exact phone booth and location for emergency
services to attend. Later it was introduced to home phones, and unfortunately for all those would be movie police shows that show the operator saying, "keep him on the line for another 2 minutes so we can trace the call" it is in fact instantaneous.
1. Calling 000 doesn't guarantee that you will get an operator in the state you are calling from. In peak times you will be directed to an available operator which may in fact be in
Brisbane,
Adelaide,
Melbourne or even as one person recently told me
Hobart.
2. Secondly, the operator (once you have cleared the fire, police, ambulance clarification question) will direct you to the respective service for the long list of location questions. They will include "type of emergency situation, number of people involved, and the big one with sat phones what's your current location and nearest cross street" As one farmer recently told me, on his paddock there's not even a road, let alone a cross street!
3. Any calls made from an Inmarsat Isatphone Pro are treated as global, and as Inmarsat provides their own +870 776 global prefix, there is no requirement by ACMA (Australian Communications & Media Authority) for Inmarsat to provide what is actually a landline "000" service. Yes it would be a convenient feature, but its not a show stopper, and in fact as our staff have experienced, it can be more of a hindrance as you explain for the 4th time, you can't see a street sign and all you have is a mountain range as a reference.
In instances where satellite phones are used in remote parts of
Australia I train people to call the RFDS (Royal Flying Doctors Service) as they are specially trained and equipped to deal with remote and rural emergencies. Every state in
Australia has a landline number for the RFDS and by simply putting this in the sat phones address book you are assured a safe and faster emergency service in remote locations. In effect this will result in a faster response and they are also very capable staff at activating a more comprehensive emergency response through co-ordination of the other
services if they feel it's a more advanced SAR (search and rescue) is required.
My advice is always the same, feeling ill, call the RFDS, feeling like your situation is far to serious or unmanageable, buy a PLB (personal locator
beacon) as this will Certainly result in a SAR effort without the need to call 000 or speak to anyone.
Feel free to check
AnswerID:
481385
Follow Up By: vk1dx - Sunday, Mar 25, 2012 at 21:27
Sunday, Mar 25, 2012 at 21:27
Darren
Well put. This has all been said by many already but not in the one post.
Phil
FollowupID:
756753
Follow Up By: Fiona & Paul - Monday, Mar 26, 2012 at 12:53
Monday, Mar 26, 2012 at 12:53
Darren
Thank you for the validation and although I have not yet got the
sat phone in my hands, calling 000 was not on my list but the RFDS was on my list to visit on our way north.
Regards
Paul H
FollowupID:
756790
Follow Up By: Motherhen - Monday, Mar 26, 2012 at 17:57
Monday, Mar 26, 2012 at 17:57
Hi Darren, and thanks you for visiting EO and giving your viewpoint. The enquiry which directed you here was indirectly initiated by me; hence i am very pleased to see your direct response on this thread.
My concern is only to see that people are well prepared to make calls under the pressure of emergency on their particular phone and network, and that every member of the family knows how to do this. Even
young children have been taught to use 000. I fully understand the reasons why 000 will not be available for international networks and am in communication with ACMA.
While i would, if able to at the time of an accident or medical incident, call RFDS (and i carry a card with the numbers), if needing fire or police i would call 000 or the nationwide (almost) 13- police number, as these are available on my network. So long as remote travellers are fully aware and prepared, may they never need to make one of these emergency calls.
Motherhen
FollowupID:
756819