EmergencyCalling
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Nexus S on Vodafone Australia won't get Jelly Bean today after all
Continuing this morning's Jelly Bean soap opera, we've just heard that Nexus S owners on Vodafone Australia won't be getting their pioneering update today -- despite the fact that only 24 hours have elapsed since the carrier said the roll-out was on its way. According to the carrier's official blog, the update has been delayed because Android 4.1 "does not meet all Australian regulatory requirements related to emergency calls." Ouch. On the other hand, that sounds eminently fixable. [Thanks, Daniel]
AT&T redirecting 911 calls from Salt Lake City to Seattle, working on a fix (update: fix is in)
Ready for a surreal way to start your day? Salt Lake City's KSL News has a report out this morning detailing the baffling experience of AT&T subscribers trying to access emergency services in the city. Instead of being routed through to their local dispatcher, the urgent calls somehow found their way to Seattle's 911 response center. Brought to the news team's attention by one Tony Sams, this issue was originally thought to originate in his iPhone's GPS system, as he was being identified as being located in the Seattle area, but then his local police also tried dialing their own number only to find themselves chatting it up with their Emerald City colleagues. Until they figure this out, we'd recommend using your landlines -- if you still have one of those antiques -- or just yelling at passersby for help. Hit the source for the full video report and the 10-digit direct number for Salt Lake City general dispatch. Update: AT&T has been very nippy in getting this routing problem sorted out, and proper service has been restored. The company is now investigating the cause of this problemo. [Thanks, Ryan]
Rogers rolls out fixes for 911 problems with Dream and Magic, cuts off data for non-upgraders
So Rogers and HTC have worked with the kind of hustle you don't normally see from carriers or manufacturers to fix a rather dangerous glitch in their branded versions of the Dream and Magic causing calls to 911 to fail with GPS enabled -- and needless to say, you're going to want to apply the upgrade on the double. Why? Well, the problem's so dangerous that Rogers has taken the unusual step of vowing to disable internet access altogether for anyone failing to apply the "mandatory" patch by 6AM today (but don't worry, you should get it back as soon as you've upgraded) which actually allows emergency calls to go through. For their troubles, affected customers will be credited one month's worth of data -- and Magic owners will be delighted to discover that their phones have magically received HTC's Sense UI as a result of this whole ordeal. All's well that ends well, right?
Rogers' HTC Magic having 911 call problems on Rogers, too
Turns out it doesn't matter if you took up Rogers on its offer to swap your Dream to a Magic after all, because the bug's spreading: Canada's first keyboardless Android set is confirmed to be suffering from the same dangerous malaise as its older brother. Basically, neither model can complete emergency calls to 911 with location-based services enabled, and until HTC is able to spit out a patch, the only fix is to disable GPS altogether -- not exactly an awesome solution. In the meantime, a quick check of Rogers' site confirms that both the Dream and Magic have been pulled from retail, so let's hope this gets cleaned up on the double. And try not to have an emergency, of course. Ever... but especially right now. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Rogers yanks HTC Dream from shelves for urgent emergency call fix
Some of you Rogers subscribers have probably already taken your carrier up on its offer to upgrade your Dream to a Magic, but if not, pay very close attention here: calling 911 doesn't work right now without making some changes. Basically, there's an issue that prevents emergency calls from being completed if location-based services are enabled, which means you've got to head into Settings and disable GPS -- not an optimal solution by any stretch of the imagination. Rogers and HTC are said to be working on a patch as we speak, but in the meantime, don't expect to waltz into a Rogers store and pick up one of these bad boys.
Jitterbug issues recall to fix emergency calling in "no service" areas
When we first saw this, our immediate reaction was, "trust us, Jitterbug, we appreciate your extra-mile attitude here, but it's not your fault that 911 doesn't work without a signal." Turns out that's not quite the issue, though -- in reality, Jitterbug is recalling phones sold after March 1 of last year because they maybe be unable to place calls to 911 in areas where the company doesn't have MVNO or roaming agreements in place. In other words, the phone is showing "no service," but you've still got a signal -- and whenever a phone's got a signal, it should be able to dial the cops. Jitterbug is offering affected customers the option either of taking their handset into a local Samsung service center or mailing it in, at which point a software update will be applied. Too bad these things don't do firmware updates over the air, isn't it? [Via Phone Scoop]
