Emergency Communications Using iPhone via Satellite

Status
Not open for further replies.
nzaugg

nzaugg

Keeper of San Juan Secrets
Much to my chagrin, I can now report that you will get a response if you report an emergency via the satellite emergency SOS features of an iPhone. We had a phone in our group this past week that was put away with some water droplets on the screen that wound up activating an emergency that went through via satellite to Garfield County dispatch and texted back to them reporting a crime involving weapons. There was a little back and forth between dispatch and the phone, which clearly showed that the phone was being inadvertently activated, texting gibberish back to dispatch. The last message from dispatch indicated the communication was being discontinued. The offending phone was shown to me and I thought it was clear that we were not under emergency conditions, but I didn't think to have the phone reactivate the communications and indicate we were not experiencing a problem. About 30 minutes after I was shown the phone, 2 hours after the emergency was activated, we had a helicopter start circling our location. Realizing what was happening, we tried then to text back immediately but the satellites were not in the right position. Shortly thereafter, the helicopter landed on a flat spot on the mesa across 7-mile canyon from our houseboat. After we saw flashlights approaching the cliff of the canyon, we turned everything off so we could communicate directly with the officers who were planning to rappel down the wall and into the water and they explained why they were there and we explained that there was no emergency and that it appeared there was an inadvertent activation of the emergency SOS on the iPhone. They were very forgiving and we were extremely apologetic. It was really a pretty cool show though, as it happened right at dusk and they put lights everywhere.

Lessons learned:
  • iPhone SOS works!
  • You may need to wait for satellites to be available.
  • Response time will be around 2 hours, though your mileage may vary.
  • If you inadvertently activate an SOS, make sure you communicate with dispatch ASAP to prevent a lot of concern on both sides of the call.
 
Curious how the iphone managed to text back to dispatch that a crime and weapons were involved?

Earlier in July, we found the cell phone Starlink text feature worked awesome (T-mobile Android phone). Used it to text location, etc between boat out fishing and houseboat moving up lake with Starlink. Fills in the gaps in cell coverage and remote canyons where marine radio doesn’t have the range.
 
nzaugg said:
It has a form to fill out to indicate the nature of your emergency. I haven't seen it yet, but the phone indicated it had sent a report. Just happened to be the area the water drop was sitting was crime involving weapons.
Click to expand...
We carry Zoleo using the Iridium satellite network. Has SOS feature + texting between anyone in the world. Never seen more than 13 minutes between satellites. $35.00/month during active season, can be reduced to $4.00/ month when not active. Great insurance and warm fuzzy feeling when away from normal cell service.
 
Nzaugg, what an amazing tale.....so great they were 'forgiving'....and of course you were appropriately apologetic....bet you offered them beer before they flew their hellofacopter away... :cool:

But seriously, your post gives some pause for thought....1) it's both good & not so good your phone always tracks you 2) could this be a place where AI could have been useful in determining how accurate the 'distress call' was? :unsure:

Don't think we can even imagine cell phone tech 20 years in the future....
 
Now that I’ve stopped laughing. I get the seriousness of inadvertently trigging such an extreme 911 call and realize that it’s really bad…..

Great to know the iPhone feature worked. I used the text messaging to do a daily check in with my parents earlier this year when we parked in a spot with no coverage
 
Rainbowbridge said:
Nzaugg, what an amazing tale.....so great they were 'forgiving'....and of course you were appropriately apologetic....bet you offered them beer before they flew their hellofacopter away... :cool:

But seriously, your post gives some pause for thought....1) it's both good & not so good your phone always tracks you 2) could this be a place where AI could have been useful in determining how accurate the 'distress call' was? :unsure:

Don't think we can even imagine cell phone tech 20 years in the future....
Click to expand...
Considering it was about 9:00 pm and they were across the canyon and about 50 feet above us, we were not able to get them anything without triggering a real SOS call. The phone wasn't tracking us, when you send the SOS it sends out your GPS coordinates. I would think that a human would have easily have been capable of determining that this was not a real call better than AI would have, but I think they are wary of not responding to these SOS call outs since the potential downsides of not responding are really bad. We could have had a voice call with them over satellite through the SOS as well, which is astounding to me.

PowellBride said:
Now that I’ve stopped laughing. I get the seriousness of inadvertently trigging such an extreme 911 call and realize that it’s really bad…..

Great to know the iPhone feature worked. I used the text messaging to do a daily check in with my parents earlier this year when we parked in a spot with no coverage
Click to expand...
We were also texting back and forth with several parties using the satellite services. The only downside with Apple's implementation is that the user on the other end also has to have Apple Messages. I was able to get a neighbor to get my garbage cans out and was also able to coordinate with one of our party who was coming late regarding our location and their arrival time. Overall a great experience and nice added feature that doesn't cost me anything extra to use.
 
WOW! That is crazy... and great at the same time knowing the feature worked. I rented a satellite phone last September for our journey from AP to CID, camping one night. It was expensive but without another boat with us it was peace of mind I gladly paid.
 
Jyboat said:
We carry Zoleo using the Iridium satellite network. Has SOS feature + texting between anyone in the world. Never seen more than 13 minutes between satellites. $35.00/month during active season, can be reduced to $4.00/ month when not active. Great insurance and warm fuzzy feeling when away from normal cell service.
Click to expand...
Does this have voice or just texting, SOS and emails?
 
Crazy story, technology is a blessing and a curse sometimes.

So I'm wondering if this is the source of the rumor I heard on the docks last week that some guy had kidnapped his family up lake with a weapon? I heard that from a ranking Aramark employee so I thought well that's crazy and they would know I guess.

I'm hoping that was not true and that the possible rumor was sprung from this incident. If your extended houseboat guests were driving you that crazy the best option would be to pull anchors and go home but in an actual personal emergency you could always grab an extra anchor and go down the slide. The last thing you'd want to do in my mind is make everyone stay onboard with you way up lake, dumb idea.
 
I saw an article recently (sorry can't remember when/where other than it occured in Colorado), where a newer iphone did the same type thing involving an emergency text plus the back and forth, to the local authorities causing a response similar to what you describe. According to the article, there were actually several other cases of the same thing happening elsewhere. Turns out it was a glitch in the operating system.


Edit, I was able to find the article

coloradosun.com

First responders in Colorado’s mountain towns are receiving wave of unfounded texts for help from satellite-enabled iPhones

At least 10 Colorado 911 dispatch centers have received emergency texts from iPhones saying people were trapped, lost or on fire
coloradosun.com coloradosun.com
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top