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Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

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201–210 of 275 posts

Re: Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

#201

I tried to use my old pixel 3 recently as a hotspot. Blows my mind how it’s been broken for a while (according to online) and won’t ever be fixed since there’s no more software support. I ended up buying a used iPhone SE instead.

I use a Pixel 3a with GrapheneOS as my daily driver.

How is it? Was debating rooting it and loading it but it was easier to get a cheap used iPhone SE.

Re: Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

#202

When I had a Pixel4, I witnessed a car accident in which someone got hurt quite substantially. Hard as a tried, the process of dialing 911 failed multiple times; the phone app simply crashed and left me with a blank screen or the home screen. I put a complaint in with my carrier but nothing was ever done. And of course Google could give 0 fucks with their customer support. A few months later, I needed to call 911 for…

> A few months later

I’m surprised you kept the phone. I would have gotten a new phone if I discovered my current one couldn’t dial 911 properly.

Re: Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

#203

All cell phones with 911 functionality should have a way to periodically test that the 911 feature is fully functional. The reality is that I rarely even make a phone call anymore... but I don't even know whether being able to make a call implies 911 works? And I don't know if its still true but there used to be pretty significant fines for calling 911 so I'm not just going to dial 911 and say "making sure this still…

> I rarely even make a phone call anymore

This is true for many young people. Turns out phone calls are pretty much the only time the earpiece speaker gets used on a phone. Lots of people have killed their earpiece speaker by filling it with sand, salt, water, lint, etc. Speakers seem to die more easily when never used, presumably because use vibrates dirt out. End result: When they call 911 they can't hear anything.

My phone currently has a dead earpiece speaker, and I just know that if I need to call 911, it better be on speakerphone.

Re: Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

#204
post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

https://www.911.gov/calling-911/frequently-asked-questions/ From that link: Test calls confirm that your local 911 service can receive your 911 call and has the correct location information. Test calls can be scheduled by contacting your local 911 call center via its non-emergency phone number.

I'm sure that's labor intensive, and the only reason they can provide such a service is that almost no one uses it.

Re: Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

#205

Android is such a mess - this should have criminal penalties. Anyone working in the Android SDK knows how poorly designed it is.

What does this have to do with Android? Other Android mobiles do not have any difficulty making emergency calls.

Re: Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

#206

I will say I have had plenty of similar issues across my iPhone devices. For a variety of reasons these phones fail to make calls. Drop calls or can’t dial 911. I suspect voice calling itself has become network deprioritized or still has trouble selecting between calling tech. I worked on dialer for pixel and and am deeply familiar with these problems. Voice call tech is easily one of those mostly worthlessly convolu…

I’m going to be the one to say that you definitely didn’t have the same issue with an iPhone. As much as people love shitting on Google they love shitting on Apple 100x more and it would be front page news for days if what you are saying is true.

I like using a heavily scrutinized phone. When Apple throttled my iPhone 6, there was so much media backlash that they responded by adding an option to disable the throttling. Android issues like this would likely get swept under the rug, especially with a non-Pixel device where someone else makes the hardware and both sides avoid blame.

Re: Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

#207

There should be some kind of test number twin of 911 that works exactly the same (without SIM, supplying E911 data), but just plays a pre-recorded message optionally with some "debug" info.

The article says to test by calling the non-emergency number, but that seems like a really unrealistic test. Even if they offered a test version of 911, I wouldn't trust that it works exactly the same as 911.

Re: Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

#209
post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our primary concern is dialer crashing! I don't understand why you're trying to shift the blame away from Google. That's just stupid.

> Our primary concern is dialer crashing! Yes, so being able to use the phone UI is important for qualitative testing. > I don't understand why you're trying to shift the blame away from Google. That's just stupid. I feel like you didn't read my comment. I stated that a screened room isn't prohibitively expensive, but can't be delivered for the suggested $10k. In another comment, I said "Society spends a few billion…

You must have the UI? Call your factory, ask them make an extra ICE and hook it up to the simulator through an attenuator and shielded cables. Easy. Cost couple cars worth, so what. Add noises, simulate phasing, handover, do anything you want to. premises is, you're a top mass market smart phone manufacturer, and Google, both of that at the same time.

No, you're trying to find a way to make it sound impossible. But what you're saying is more along, probably, "finding a parking lot to test brakes is impossible even for a car company". Something real stupid as that.

Re: Some Pixel owners still can't dial 911 during an emergency

#210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Omnipresent use of 911 has been arguably the most impactful killer app since cell phones first emerged over 40 years ago. It has saved countless lives. In the days of not having a landline this is completely unacceptable. To have issues utilizing 911 from a cellular device in 2023 is exactly the kind of thing regulators should make painful for device manufacturers who can’t even get this right. What’s even more puzzl…

>has been arguably the most impactful killer app since cell phones first emerged over 40 years ago.

I strongly disagree. Most people aren't buying a phone so that they can use 911. It isn't a killer app.

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