During the Coffee County Commissionโs regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, Marvin McIlwain of E-911 addressed the commission and meeting attendees regarding distressing issues E-911 has seen recently.
According to McIlwain, the trending abandonment of landline phones and switch to primary cell phone usage is proof of technological advancements E-911 works to match every day; however, not all service providers are alike, and county citizens should be aware of the differences before they find themselves in an emergency situation.
โI want to warn you: all cell phones are not alike. Some services are better than others when it comes to location,โ McIlwain said. โ911 serves two purposes: (for you) to be able to speak to us or get to us, and to give us your location. If you canโt talk to us, if you canโt speak to the dispatcher, itโs very important that we know where you are. Technology is there, but it doesnโt all work alike, and I would encourage you to be aware of how well your service provides location to dispatchers.โ
Landline service providers are more troubling than cell phone service providers in some cases, however. McIlwain said that a recent trend has been to cancel landline service with companies like CenturyLink and switch over to the new voice-over IP, or VoIP, phone service; unfortunately, VoIP service could have caused a massive issue for some county residents last week.
โMost everybody has a cell phone, but if they do have a landline, theyโre going to internet protocol phone service, and theyโre not all alike either,โ McIlwain said. โWeโre one of the few 911 systems that monitors our databases — and when I say our databases are monitored, every day I get daily updates from the phone service from the landline people who have gotten phones or have deleted it. People are keeping their so-called landline and are hooking it to their internet service, voiceover IP, and there are several providers for that. I ran into a circumstance that really troubled me: a flag went up when a certain bank of phones were being deleted, so I called the phone to make sure it was either deleted or still in service. The phone was still in service, but it looked like it had been deleted; it was leaving CenturyLinkโs service, but they donโt tell me who itโs going to. It went to VoIP service. I asked them if theyโd checked to see if they could dial 911, and they said no. I said, โWhile I have you on the line, I want you to have someone with one of the other phones dial 911.โ They did so, and got a busy signal. 911 doesnโt give out busy signals — if Elba is tied up, it would have rolled to Enterprise; had Enterprise been tied up, it would have rolled to Dothan. But this call was a busy signal. Thatโs not acceptable.โ
McIlwain said that the problem is being rectified and he is personally keeping tabs on the situation; however, he urged other county residents to make sure they are able to reach 911 before an emergency arises and gave instructions to do so safely.
โIf youโre changing to voiceover IP in your home phone, check with your provider and see if you can reach 911, and donโt take their word for it,โ McIlwain said. โAll you have to do is call Elba Dispatch on their landline, 897-2555, or you can call Enterprise Dispatch at 347-2222 and tell them youโd like to make a test call to 911. Weโre very accommodating unless theyโre tied up on a 911 call, and theyโll tell you if they canโt, but test that phone: call 911 and make sure that they can tell you where you are. If they canโt tell you where you are, your provider is not giving an IP address. We donโt want word to get out that 911 was busy — we donโt get busy. If you have any questions, feel free to come to our office.โ
Commissioner Jimmy Jones added that residents should heed McIlwainโs advice.
โWe have one of the best EMA and E-911 services in the state of Alabama — these guys are always improving, so donโt take this information for granted,โ Jones said. โDo what he said to do, because in a time of emergency, you donโt have minutes to waste.โ
