Earthquake... Wellington slides into the sea... and people die TXTing?

Forums › Vodafone New Zealand › Earthquake... Wellington slides into the sea... and people die TXTing?

juha

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# 12081 27-Feb-2007 09:44

"Texters face gridlock" says the Herald.

"In an emergency don't use SMS. Don't send a message saying: 'I'm dying here on the floor, please send help'. It is known that you have this slight risk that your SMS doesn't get through."

Juha

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# 62101 27-Feb-2007 09:53

And we have government departments seriously looking at using SMS for large scale notifications of emergencies..

nairda

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# 62102 27-Feb-2007 09:58

But then at the end of the article Breslin says:

...worried people should text relatives rather than call,as the messages take up less room on the network.

That is a little confusing, isn't it?

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# 62104 27-Feb-2007 09:58

Wow! For once I agree with Paul Budde

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# 62105 27-Feb-2007 10:02

This article is pointing out nothing new!!

Look at 9/11
UK bombings

All mobile networks were overloaded

juha

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# 62108 27-Feb-2007 10:06

Wouldn't the whole SMS system have to be redesigned to provide the reliability required to use it in emergencies for instance? Then again, we're using SMS for mobile payments systems so...

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# 62110 27-Feb-2007 10:08

Yes, nothing new. Just look at Vodafone's overload during Christmas, New Year and when the WCDMA network comes down with no SMS.

But as a point for all operators. SMS is not guaranteed delivery. The only service we can rely 100% is voice, when a call is connected. Other than this there's no certain way to guarantee delivery.

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# 62111 27-Feb-2007 10:13

nairda: But then at the end of the article Breslin says:

I was intrigued to see that the Harold reporter couldn't even get the spelling of Paul's name right

Paul BRISLEN has been around long enough you would think any reporter worth his/her salt would know how to spell his name.

juha

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# 62112 27-Feb-2007 10:16

Given that he wrote for the Herald as well, it kind of shows the level of commitment towards basic research there...

Juha

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# 62122 27-Feb-2007 11:18

Putting aside for the moment any issues I may have around the reporting or the journalist's ability (ahem) can I just take this opportunity to clarify what I said about TXT messaging.

In the event of a something big happening (September 11, natural disaster like the Boxing Day Tsunami) I said customers trying to contact loved ones would be best advised to send TXT messages rather than trying to call as international lines would be saturated as hundreds if not thousands of people try to find friends and travellers etc...

I stand by that as a piece of general advice - a voice call ties up the whole line (well, a circuit-switched call) whereas a TXT makes its own way through the network and in times of congestion that would be a better way of finding out if the person is OK or not.

I did not suggest people should stop calling emergency services and start TXTing them instead.

Just to be clear.

Cheers

Paul

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Jama

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# 62123 27-Feb-2007 11:36

You would need to have some sort of prioritisation or QoS for emergency services to use Text. Very tricky. They can still use the good old Telecom paging network.

Is it just me or does any one else notice that every time Ernie Newman is quoted he is always uses the same old rhetoric. Ernie is very good at spending other peoples money!

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# 62131 27-Feb-2007 12:52

A question for you Paul - is Vodafone's network is capable of having ACCOLC implimented if required? I know this was never implimented as of 2 or 3 years ago, I'm just curious as to whether anything has changed since then.

It came out after the London Bombings that O2 implimented access control on their network around Aldgate on numerous cellsites. This was fine since the MET all used O2 but the Ambulance service did as well and suddenly found themselves with dead mobiles as many of the senior staff who where there found their SIM cards had not been registered.

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# 62132 27-Feb-2007 12:57

ACCOLC? Read that as a TXT VRSN of ALCOHOLIC at first.

What is it, for the benefit of me and several other GZers who don't know as much as you do about these things?

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# 62133 27-Feb-2007 12:58

And for me, too, I'm afraid... too new to the world of the Mobile Device to know all the acronyms yet...

although that's a good one.

Tell me more and I'll find out.

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Paul

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# 62134 27-Feb-2007 13:05

It's GSM's access control system. Basically specific SIM card or IMEI numbers are loaded into the system and only these devices can access the network once ACCLOC is implimented. AMPS/DAMPS had a similair system, I'm unsure if CDMA does (but is bound to)

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# 62135 27-Feb-2007 13:05

Wikipedia is my friend!

snip:

ACCOLC (Access Overload Control) is a British procedure for restricting mobile telephone usage in the event of emergencies. It is similar to the GTPS (Government Telephone Preference Scheme) for landlines.

This scheme allows the mobile telephone networks to restrict access in a specific area to registered numbers only and is normally invoked by the Police Incident Commander (although it can be invoked by the Cabinet Office). The emergency services are responsible for registering their key numbers in advance.
snip:

And in response, I've checked and we only prioritise 111 calls (they always have top priority). We are looking at the ACCOLC scheme from the UK but it's at an investigation stage at the moment.

How's that for responsiveness, Mauricio?

Cheers

Paul

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