If you’ve just purchased a cell phone from Verizon, you may want to make sure if doesn’t let off a loud ALARM when you dial 911. That’s what happened to one woman when she discovered a missing security chain missing on a property. Fearing that robbers or vandals may be about, she dialed 911 and her phone proceeded to let out an audible sound that can be heard from a few yards away. Lucky for her, she wasn’t crouched under a bed as thieves were walking around in the same room like the movies.
Verizon explains:
“The tone our customer experienced is our interpretation of Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act calling for a provider of telecommunications service to offer service that is accessible and usable by individuals with disabilities.”
The FCC says otherwise; no tone is needed to adhere to section 255 of the act.
This begs the question of why Verizon would suddenly believe that if they don’t add a loud tone to cell phones when 911 is called, they’d be violating some code. It’s not like it was ever common for phones to do this in the first place. Besides, how is the tone supposed to help the disabled anyway? Is it supposed to be a confirmation that you have in fact managed to call 911? The explanation is so absurd that you have to think Verizon has some kind of ulterior motive, but what kind of ulterior motive would cause them to put a flipping alarm system in place just in case someone calls for help in an emergency?
Perhaps they’re in league with various criminal syndicates.
