The Gloria Fire -- Wildfire near my house (Pic Heavy)

[arc_second]

Someone more knowledgeable than I can correct me, but I was under the impression (gained from my CPR/First Aid class this weekend) that if you dial 911 on a cell phone in the LA county area it just gets redirected to CHP (who doesn't always pick up) so you're even more delayed in getting help as you have to get routed through multiple agencies. Consequently if you're dialing 911 at all around here you're better off using a landline no matter what.

-James

[whisk.e.rebellion]

Re: Cell reception lost in a major emergency scenario.

I just talked with the resident FCC/radio/microwave/electronic comms guru at work and he basically said:

It's not that the EMS jam cell phones or that the radios interfere, it's that EMS commandeers the bandwidth of the cell towers and repeaters.

[Y.T.]

Re: Cell reception lost in a major emergency scenario.

I just talked with the resident FCC/radio/microwave/electronic comms guru at work and he basically said:

It's not that the EMS jam cell phones or that the radios interfere, it's that EMS commandeers the bandwidth of the cell towers and repeaters.

all this info on emergency communication procedures has been very interesting.
though, I'm still back to the question: if EMS commandeers the cell bandwidth, causing a total loss of cell reception for customers, how are they supposed to contact said EMS? does 911 work regardless? if so, how does the call get through if there is no service (no bars)?

I'm thinking of a situation where there's a fire or an earthquake, someone requires medical assistance, but can't reach an ambulance dispatcher because ironically medical services has blocked phone service. That seems rather counterproductive. Am I not understanding how this works?

[whisk.e.rebellion]

Re: Cell reception lost in a major emergency scenario.

I just talked with the resident FCC/radio/microwave/electronic comms guru at work and he basically said:

It's not that the EMS jam cell phones or that the radios interfere, it's that EMS commandeers the bandwidth of the cell towers and repeaters.

all this info on emergency communication procedures has been very interesting.
though, I'm still back to the question: if EMS commandeers the cell bandwidth, causing a total loss of cell reception for customers, how are they supposed to contact said EMS? does 911 work regardless? if so, how does the call get through if there is no service (no bars)?

I'm thinking of a situation where there's a fire or an earthquake, someone requires medical assistance, but can't reach an ambulance dispatcher because ironically medical services has blocked phone service. That seems rather counterproductive. Am I not understanding how this works?

911 calls should take the same priority as an EMS radio squawk , in theory.

ETA: I'm not sure how things work in the mobile phone and radio world, but in VoIP communications each packet header has a DSCP (differentiated services code point)/QoS (quality of service) flag that details what kind of packet it is. It's not necessarily a priority flag, because the routers can be configured to prioritize the different code points based on need. I'm pretty sure that mobile calls are established using some kind of packet framing akin to Ethernet/Internet communications. A 911 call should have a "let this motherfucking call through right now!" flag set. </geek>