UK SMS messaging to emergancy services

[Tony 13]

Hi
This subject came up in another thread, but i was interested in learning more. Although not MRA related.

In the UK you can send a message to contact emergency services. I think this service is aimed primarly to help deaf people.
It was suggested this could be a useful service in areas of poor reception eg remote areas. I could find nothing about this type of use on the website below.
Is it correct sounds like it could be helpful, or at least reassuring, to have on my phone?

https://www.relayuk.bt.com/how-to-use-relay-uk/contact-999-using-relay-uk.html

[BertM]

@Tony-13 I do not understand how you can send a SMS in an area with poor reception

[Tony 13]

Quite. Having done some more research. If there is any sort of signal from any network provider then your emergency call will get through. There is no practical advantage to the SMS system. The SMS system is there to help disabled people.

[richtea999]

As I wrote in the original thread, voice calls need a synchronous two-way connection, i.e. both parties can hear each other and talk to each other. A voice call cannot have any (significant) loss of signal as you well know from experience - the call drops.

An SMS can be sent or received in a small window of connectivity and with only a tiny amount of bandwidth (160 characters!), and once it gets to the receiver the signal can drop come back, drop again - but the SMS has already been received.

Yes - you need some connectivity for the SMS to get through, but patchy connectivity will do.

Consider keeping the message below 160 characters so it's a single SMS being sent.

References:
https://www.mountaineering.scot/safety-and-skills/essential-skills/mountain-rescue/calling-for-help

https://www.scottishmountainrescue.org/how-to-call-for-help-emergency-in-the-hills/

https://www.thebmc.co.uk/en/what-to-do-in-a-hill-walking-emergency

[paul69]

hi @richtea999

out of interest, are you an outdoors person or a mountaineer etc, I myself am a winter mountaineer, lots of winter training in Cairngorms, and ex mountain rescue, and those references above are the type I would recommend to people. As i am well aware of the use of SMS as an emergency back up.

[Tony 13]

I found this really helpful, thank you
think I will set it up on my phone

[Tony 13]

follow up question. Are there similar services in Europe you can sign up for? I assume it would be different for each country

[richtea999]

@paul69 said in UK SMS messaging to emergancy services:

hi @richtea999

out of interest, are you an outdoors person or a mountaineer etc, I myself am a winter mountaineer, lots of winter training in Cairngorms, and ex mountain rescue, and those references above are the type I would recommend to people. As i am well aware of the use of SMS as an emergency back up.

No - not my skill, but I'm sure it must be fabulous!
I used to work as an app developer and phone OS engineer for a UK mobile network, and one of my fun tasks was making sure 999 calls and texts worked as expected, especially the location aspect.

(When you make a UK 999 call, in theory, your GPS location is automatically supplied to the emergency services within 15 seconds. You'll find that setting in all modern phones, but in 2015 is was limited to a few phone models only. However, I'm not sure all centres implemented it. What3Words is a simpler solution nowadays - assuming the person can spell/say the 3 words correctly.
And going back to 999 SMSes, they aren't GPS-located IIRC, just the phone base station location will be given.)

[richtea999]

@Tony-13 said in UK SMS messaging to emergancy services:

follow up question. Are there similar services in Europe you can sign up for? I assume it would be different for each country

First point: The European emergency number is 112, but dialling 999 / 911 will get you through too, if you're a Brit / US and can't remember the number.

There's no universal SMS emergency solution for Europe - disappointing. There are some countries supporting 112 SMS though:
https://eena.org/knowledge-hub/press-releases/the-reality-of-accessible-emergency-services

And generally worldwide:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_text_messaging_services

They're mostly aimed at deaf/imparied users, rather than remote location users.

France in particular has a special number - 114 rather than 112! Doh - who will remember that? But it does say for use by anyone, no pre-registration needed.

Maybe some Euro members can fill in the gaps.