Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Issue dialing 911 on Google Pixel 6 cell phones

actionnewsjax.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 265 posts

Re: Issue dialing 911 on Google Pixel 6 cell phones

#41

Post by n0tth3dro1ds »

lultimouomo wrote: post #36
DoingIsLearning wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why they don't say it by name but the bug was originally found with MS Teams. "The issue is the result of an “unintended interaction” between Teams and Android, specifically when the users have the app installed but are not logged in to any account." [0] [0] https://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-microsoft-team...

So users who join Teams calls but refuse to login cannot call 911, and die. Seems in line with the general Teams ethos to be honest.

Unless Teams is abusing private APIs or acting in other nefarious ways, this is 1000% a problem with Android itself. It shouldn’t be possible to break emergency service call operation through normal usage (or even naive usage) of the public APIs on the system. To blame Teams here is completely backwards.

Re: Issue dialing 911 on Google Pixel 6 cell phones

#42

Post by lultimouomo »

n0tth3dro1ds wrote: post #41
lultimouomo wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So users who join Teams calls but refuse to login cannot call 911, and die. Seems in line with the general Teams ethos to be honest.

Unless Teams is abusing private APIs or acting in other nefarious ways, this is 1000% a problem with Android itself. It shouldn’t be possible to break emergency service call operation through normal usage (or even naive usage) of the public APIs on the system. To blame Teams here is completely backwards.

Of course it is an Android problem. But as someone who is forced to use Teams, it is hard not to see irony in the situation.

Re: Issue dialing 911 on Google Pixel 6 cell phones

#43

Post by moffkalast »

edent wrote: post #12

When I used to work for a large mobile network, we would spend ages testing the firmware of new devices. Even giants (at the time) like Nokia would release phones which couldn't dial the emergency services, or put out more than the legal limit of radiation, or were in other ways defective. We'd test, send a report back, wait a few weeks, get a new firmware, test again, repeat until everything worked. It took months.…

The way I see it, this just moves the responsibility for safety to the manufacturers instead of the network. It's on the specific company then to provide adequate QA for their firmware before they release updates, or it reflects badly on them. This fiasco for example, tells me to never buy a Google phone since they apparently don't test their devices properly.

I'm not sure why it would be on the network to test devices anyway, it's not like every net card needs to be approved by ICANN or something. There should be standards to adhere to, if those are breached on either end, fines should follow.

Re: Issue dialing 911 on Google Pixel 6 cell phones

#44

Post by izacus »

edent wrote: post #12

When I used to work for a large mobile network, we would spend ages testing the firmware of new devices. Even giants (at the time) like Nokia would release phones which couldn't dial the emergency services, or put out more than the legal limit of radiation, or were in other ways defective. We'd test, send a report back, wait a few weeks, get a new firmware, test again, repeat until everything worked. It took months.…

Well, the fact that big American mobile operators outright blocked or delayed updates for months did not go unnoticed.

Testing is one thing, but in my first hand experience, many carriers used this "testing" as a convenient way to block phone updates without preloaded bloatware preferring their services or apps they were paid to put on the phones.

Re: Issue dialing 911 on Google Pixel 6 cell phones

#45

Post by edent »

moffkalast wrote: post #43
edent wrote: post #12

When I used to work for a large mobile network, we would spend ages testing the firmware of new devices. Even giants (at the time) like Nokia would release phones which couldn't dial the emergency services, or put out more than the legal limit of radiation, or were in other ways defective. We'd test, send a report back, wait a few weeks, get a new firmware, test again, repeat until everything worked. It took months.…

The way I see it, this just moves the responsibility for safety to the manufacturers instead of the network. It's on the specific company then to provide adequate QA for their firmware before they release updates, or it reflects badly on them. This fiasco for example, tells me to never buy a Google phone since they apparently don't test their devices properly. I'm not sure why it would be on the network to test devic…

Most people buy their phone from a network provider / carrier. And when someone goes wrong, customers complain to the network - not the manufacturer.

That's why networks test firmware. Because they face the complaints and chargebacks when the phone breaks.

Mobile networks are, in effect, private networks. Your employer may prohibit certain devices from connecting to their in-office LAN. Or they may insist on specific devices which they know work well with their equipment.

Mobile networks can ban equipment which is stolen. I assume they can also de-register an IMEI if the handset if interfering with the network. Most countries have a regulator who can issue fines for disrupting the airwaves. But they are often unable to investigate non-systemic issues.

Re: Issue dialing 911 on Google Pixel 6 cell phones

#46

Post by WrtCdEvrydy »

edent wrote: post #12

When I used to work for a large mobile network, we would spend ages testing the firmware of new devices. Even giants (at the time) like Nokia would release phones which couldn't dial the emergency services, or put out more than the legal limit of radiation, or were in other ways defective. We'd test, send a report back, wait a few weeks, get a new firmware, test again, repeat until everything worked. It took months.…

This was one of my first jobs at Blackberry.

It was considered the utmost priority for a call to 911 to be clear enough for the other side to hear that you are an employee at a testing facility verifying that the device does work and the other person can hear you and NOT dispatch emergency services....

Cops/EMTs show up, your firmware is junk.

Re: Issue dialing 911 on Google Pixel 6 cell phones

#47

Post by theshrike79 »

lultimouomo wrote: post #36
DoingIsLearning wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why they don't say it by name but the bug was originally found with MS Teams. "The issue is the result of an “unintended interaction” between Teams and Android, specifically when the users have the app installed but are not logged in to any account." [0] [0] https://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-microsoft-team...

So users who join Teams calls but refuse to login cannot call 911, and die. Seems in line with the general Teams ethos to be honest.

Teams is the app whose main proposition is "it's free with our O365 subscription". Feature-wise it's a pain in the ass every day.

Re: Issue dialing 911 on Google Pixel 6 cell phones

#48

Post by dm319 »

I'm all over the place with pocket computing devices and remain confused. I once has an iphone. Beautifully crafted, both inside and out, but so frustratingly locked down that I was desperate to leave it behind. They have progressively opened up the platform, but it always lags behind (I remember I couldn't access the cloud storage from anything other than a mac).

My favourite devices have been more alternative. E90 running symbian, which was fairly 'open' for its time - I could install any software, proper multitasking. The N900 also, full linux system, great phone. But then the apps I find useful, are often not available for that platform.

At the moment I'm on Pixel, which has been a good balance between being well supported, while still fairly open. I can sideload apps, run a linux distro in the form of termux. As a bonus the camera is great. I have to remind myself that while it might not quite compare to iphones in terms of refinement and hardware, I do at least have more freedom on the platform, and it's easy to take that for granted until you lose it.

Re: Issue dialing 911 on Google Pixel 6 cell phones

#49

Post by repler »

n0tth3dro1ds wrote: post #41
lultimouomo wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So users who join Teams calls but refuse to login cannot call 911, and die. Seems in line with the general Teams ethos to be honest.

Unless Teams is abusing private APIs or acting in other nefarious ways, this is 1000% a problem with Android itself. It shouldn’t be possible to break emergency service call operation through normal usage (or even naive usage) of the public APIs on the system. To blame Teams here is completely backwards.

Most underrated comment on the thread.

Re: Issue dialing 911 on Google Pixel 6 cell phones

#50

Post by jeroenhd »

n0tth3dro1ds wrote: post #41
lultimouomo wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So users who join Teams calls but refuse to login cannot call 911, and die. Seems in line with the general Teams ethos to be honest.

Unless Teams is abusing private APIs or acting in other nefarious ways, this is 1000% a problem with Android itself. It shouldn’t be possible to break emergency service call operation through normal usage (or even naive usage) of the public APIs on the system. To blame Teams here is completely backwards.

I believe this is the result of two problems. One is the fact Teams registers phone service providers over and over again, the other is that Android didn't pick the right phone account for a while.

The Teams issue will cause generic connectivity issues because Teams says "I can call this number!" but then can't; the Android issue is an emergency issue because the Teams app shouldn't indicate the ability to call emergency services but Android tries to use Teams regardless. Even if Google fixes the 911 bug, users may still be unable to call if Microsoft hadn't fixed the registration issue.

Both problems should be fixed by now, but it's possible Google and Microsoft haven't updated every single device out there. It's also possible a different bug has shown up.

Post reply on HN