Can my phone receive an SMS while on a 111 call?

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macjones

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#176985 18-Jul-2015 01:59

Hi All,

Just wondering....

Can my phone receive an SMS while on a 111 call?

Why I wonder....

I read (random forum posts elsewhere) that some networks in some countries, block SMS and/or data using a carrier configurable setting.

1. Is this true?
2. Do we do it in NZ?

Cheers
Mac

nakedmolerat

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#1346593 18-Jul-2015 02:05

One of the telco guys/gals here can confirm.

I'm just curious why you need to know this? Surely when you're on 111 call, SMS is the last thing to think about?

johnr

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#1346596 18-Jul-2015 04:08

Yes

kingjj

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#1346600 18-Jul-2015 07:07

nakedmolerat: One of the telco guys/gals here can confirm.

I'm just curious why you need to know this? Surely when you're on 111 call, SMS is the last thing to think about?

Emergency services are increasingly using SMS messages to complement 111 calls. The NZ Police are currently increasing their usage of a service that sends people SMS messages with a unique URL, when they click the URL the webpage requests their GPS location and sends it back to Police (for phones that have data and support GPS ofcourse). This is useful in situations where exact locations are hard to obtain with data coverage available. Often Emergency Services want callers to stay on the line until services arrive which makes it difficult for people to contact family/friends at the same time, SMS is useful in this situation as well.

macjones

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#1348418 21-Jul-2015 16:34

JohnR,

Yes?

A. Yes - you can receive an SMS while on an emergency call.
B. Yes - the carrier can select to block SMS (or Data) while on an emergency call via a network setting.

Your answer here: ______ :-)

Thanks a bunch!
Mac

macjones

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#1348419 21-Jul-2015 16:35

nakedmolerat: One of the telco guys/gals here can confirm.

I'm just curious why you need to know this? Surely when you're on 111 call, SMS is the last thing to think about?

KingJJ,

Pondering's over the SMS location idea.

Mac

n4

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#1348428 21-Jul-2015 16:48

Bear in mind it is possible to make an emergency call in scenarios where SMS/data/other calls are not possible - eg make an emergency call on another network when you have no coverage from your own network (treating 2d roaming on VF as 'own network' for the purpose of this example).

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kingjj

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#1348456 21-Jul-2015 17:33

macjones:
nakedmolerat: One of the telco guys/gals here can confirm.

I'm just curious why you need to know this? Surely when you're on 111 call, SMS is the last thing to think about?

KingJJ,

Pondering's over the SMS location idea.

Mac

It's certainly a great additional tool for emergency services but it won't be replacing a calltaker asking specific location questions anytime soon. GPS co-ordinates as reported by phone's can be rather inaccurate and a data connections is not always available to transmit the location. The service in question (provided by a third party) has to be initiated manually by Police and the recipient has to take steps and have the means to action it. It is not practical to use the current service to quickly and efficiently send every caller an SMS as the service doesn't link up with the CAD systems in use by the Emergency Services. It has great benefits in SAR operations and emergency situations where the caller doesn't known their locations and is capable of actioning the SMS (take that woman last week who ran off the road), but for day to day situations it is no quicker or more accurate than current processes. It will likely be largely circumvented by the Governments new smartphone app for Emergency Services due out next year.

All opinions are of course my own

NikT

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#1349637 22-Jul-2015 09:01

Yes, you can receive text messages while on an emergency call - they are treated no differently from this perspective than any other call.

I can only speak for the Vodafone NZ network, of course.

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