6 ms·
I'd expect 911 to redirect to one of the emergency services in most/all European countries, no?
by fellerts 1y ago
I'd expect 911 to redirect to one of the emergency services in most/all European countries, no?
- Rodeoclash 1y agoIt did in New Zealand in the late 90s
- KingOfCoders 1y agoWhy?
- dagw 1y agoBecause if someone is obviously trying to contact the emergency services it's probably a good idea to connect them to the emergency services.
- eqvinox 1y agoYou're answering the wrong question. Why would 911 be "obviously trying to contact emergency services"?
- ctxc 1y agoPrevailing culture. A kid these days in most urban parts would tend to say "911 I have an emergency" while roleplaying because we hear it so much in popular culture.
- Hamuko 1y agoBecause it's a number used for emergency services in many parts of the world, and not for ordering pizza, plane strikes or whatever.
- eqvinox 1y agoRelatively speaking, it actually isn't that popular - check the map on https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emergency_telephone_numbers https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emergency_telephone_... That's what, 10% of world population? 112 has India going for it…
- justinrubek 1y ago10% sounds incredibly significant. That's nearly a billion people.
- eqvinox 1y agoSure. And in a spherical cow world, assuming you want to make n emergency numbers work, you'd sort by population-using and take the first n. …but even then 911 would only be an emergency phone number if n ≥ 3; first two places being taken by 112 and 110 (because China). However, this completely ignores facts like people from China being far less likely to travel to e.g. the US… it's more of a "of the people who'd make emergency calls in XYZ, what numbers would they use" consideration… …it's really not an easy question. GSM went with 112 and 911 and I guess that's as good as an answer this'll get.
- gsinclair 1y agoBecause US culture is exported around the world.
- soneil 1y agoWhat else would someone who dials 911 be trying to achieve? And does the benefit outweigh the cost? 911 has enough mindshare that it'd be silly to use it for anything else. And if you're not going to use it for anything, a redirect seems like a very productive way to park it.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- detaro 1y agoAFAIK in mobile networks yes (911 and 112 are specified as emergency numbers in the specs and redirected as needed), not necessarily on landlines.
- Ralfp 1y agoDepends on country but in Poland where I live calling 911 also reaches emergency dispatch even if „valid” number is 112.
- swiftcoder 1y agoNo, only in a handful of countries, or on US airbases. 112 is your friend in all of Europe
- Symbiote 1y ago112 should work in almost the whole world on a mobile phone, since it's part of the GSM standard.
- cguess 1y ago112 works in the reverse way in the US as well (along with 999 which is the equivalent in many other countries such as the UK). There's not really any reason not to have many numbers just in case. Tourists shouldn't have to memorize, and recall, new numbers in an emergency.
- wink 1y agoHello operator, gimme the number for nine one one!
- thejazzman 1y agohttps://amphetamem.es/meme?id=the-simpsons_02_07_335×tamp=0%3A16%3A39.602&text=Hello%2C+operator%3F%0AGive+me+the+number+for+911.&dimensions=1440x1080&series=The+Simpsons&season=2&episodeNumber=7&episodeTitle=Bart+vs&at=%2Fthe-simpsons%2F02%2F07%2F0-16-39-602 https://amphetamem.es/meme?id=the-simpsons_02_07_335×ta...
- cameldrv 1y agoThe only problem is that at least in Germany, there are two numbers, 110 for the police, and 112 for fire/ambulance.
- eqvinox 1y agohttps://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/112 https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/112 As siblings have commented, 112 and 911 are in the GSM standard. On landlines, only 112 will work in most EU countries (and even that is an EU achievement; e.g. in Switzerland 112 is inconsistent)
- alexpotato 1y agoThis is probably the case now as my original post was referring to a situation about 20 years ago (should have clarified)