I love this one. It’s been around for Eons!
An email I received (yet again [Edited for brevity]):
From: Co-Worker-Who-Forwards-Everything
Sent: TODAY
To: [EVERYONE THEY KNOW + ME]
Subject: FW: 112 emergency call number
IN AN EMERGENCY DIAL 112 ON YOUR CELL PHONE
Some knew about the red light on cars, but not the 112.
…Lauren was driving to visit a friend. An UNMARKED police car pulled up behind her and put his lights on… Lauren had actually listened to her parents advice, and promptly called112 on her cell phone… The dispatcher checked to see if there were police cars where she was and there weren’t… Ten minutes later 4 cop cars surrounded her and the unmarked car behind her.
…I never knew about the 112 Cell Phone Feature, but especially for a woman alone in a car, you should not pull over for an unmarked car. Apparently police have to respect your right to keep going to a safe place….
*Speaking to a service representative at Bell Mobility confirmed that 112 was a direct link to State trooper info. So, now it’s your turn to let your friends know about 112.
This applies to ALL 50 states
According to EVERY web page I looked at regarding this, 112 is the official emergency number in the European Union. And worldwide all GSM networks such as AT&T or T-Mobile, are required to forward 112 to the local equivalent. NOT Verizon or Sprint. Those last 22 run on CDMA networks (mostly). Pretty much the only document I can find that mentions CDMA emergency numbers is from the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association: See here (pdf)
If you are using a CDMA digital mobile phone, you should
dial ‘000’ to connect to the emergency call service. Dialling
the GSM international emergency call number ‘112’ from a
CDMA mobile phone will not work.
So for the US, on a GSM Mobile phone, 112 just forwards to 911. OR, you could just dial 911…
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The following was tacked on to the latest edition of this particular email. I did NOT edit this part, this is EXACTLY the way it was in the email I received, as if to back up the obviously fake story above:
1. snopes.com: Cell phone 112 Emergency ••
Will dialing 112 connect you with an emergency call center when your cell phone has no signal?
…Claim: Even when your cell phone signal is blocked, dialing 112 will connect you with an emergency call center. Example: [Collected on the Internet,…
…your mobile phone has no signal (so even if you were in a tunnel) if you dial 112 it diverts to a satellite signal and puts you through to the 999 call…
….The global mobile emergency number, 112, is “special” in the sense that (unlike other local emergency numbers, such as 999) it will use any tower your…
Fri, 23 Apr 2010 11:18:08 GMT http://www.snopes.com/science/mobile.asp
As for connecting to a satellite etc… Uh no. Need Proof? SEE HERE. Any cell carrier is required to transfer a 911 call no matter what, weather the phone is on a different network, not activated, locked, whatever. But if there’s no signal, no TOWER anywhere nearby…in a freaking TUNNEL… it’s not physically possible. The Snopes quotes above are terribly out of context, and mangled.
Actual quote from the Snopes.com URL above:
Claim: Even when your cell phone signal is blocked, dialing 112 will connect you with an emergency call center.
Status: False.
Another one for the “Unbelievably Gullible” pile, along with the ‘Bill Gates pays you to Spam people” and all the other hoax emails that have been going around since email was invented.
People, please. PLEASE learn the truth and pass it on.
For more information use your favorite Search Engine.
Also, please be sure to read: Wikipedia’s List of Common Misconceptions. (Soon to be required reading in the 4th Grade)
Thank you!