home phone service - 911

[ramsfan]

Hi - hoping someone can help with advice. We had home phone service through UVerse, it as something like $30 a month, but we rarely used it, as we have cell phones. So, I did what I thought was prudent, and cancelled the home phone service, as many people are doing these days.

However, my son has come down with a serious food allergy, and it caused us to realize that we don't have 911 service in our home, and need to.

Does anyone have any recommendations on low cost home phone service, primarily for 911 only?

Thanks!

[livesoft]

We have a so-called "safeline" which gives us 911 and toll-free calls and all incoming calls for a very low price. Outgoing non-toll-free calls are 50 cents. Check with your phone company. I think we pay under $10 a month for this.

[rasputin]

Your cell phones are perfectly capable of dialing 911. The primary difference is that the dispatcher will know the general area you're in rather than the exact address.

considering that your primary concern is for your son's peanut allergy, this shouldn't slow down 911 at all since you only need a second to communicate your address.

[Anon1234]

Ooma is $180 up front then $3.50 or so per month (taxes only, service is free) for unlimited calling. You register your address when you sign up so 911 knows where you're calling from. It's IP, so it requires your internet to be working.

http://www.ooma.com/
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002O3 ... linkCode=a

[Mudpuppy]

You could get a landline exclusively for 911. That will cost about $15-20 a month with AT&T after taxes are figured into the equation. However, if you live in an area that has enough people to be upgraded to AT&T uVerse, you likely also live in an area that has been updated to use E911 for cell phones. This allows the 911 system to use the GPS unit in your cell phone or triangulation with the provider's cell towers to pinpoint the location of the call, which should get the call routed to the appropriate local authority. You could inquire with the non-emergency number (NOT 911, look in the phone book for the non-emergency number) for your local law enforcement agency if you wanted to verify this.

Edit: By the way, some local law enforcement agencies support a service called Smart 911, which lets you associate a medical profile with specific phone numbers. When one of the registered numbers calls in, the screen for the dispatcher will show the registered medical information. If you call the non-emergency number about wireless E911 support, you should ask if they support this as well.

[skylar]

At least some phone companies will maintain dial-tone service for 911 calls even if you're not paying for other land-line service. I *think* that if you pick up the handset and there'a a dial-tone, the FCC requires the phone company to let you place a 911 call.

Skylar

[Mudpuppy]

At least some phone companies will maintain dial-tone service for 911 calls even if you're not paying for other land-line service. I *think* that if you pick up the handset and there'a a dial-tone, the FCC requires the phone company to let you place a 911 call.

That wouldn't work for the OP since the OP's neighborhood is an AT&T uVerse neighborhood (hybrid fiber-copper service instead of traditional copper service). uVerse is essentially a digital service, not an analog service. There is no dial tone once your house's copper line has been "turned off" at the fiber optics level.

[William4u]

We use free google voice hooked up to a Obi100 ($40). It is free incoming and outgoing anywhere in the US. We have cell phones for 911, but every city has a regular phone number that reaches the same 911 dispatch and works just like 911. We just put that 7 digit 911 dispatch number into the speed dial on the google voice phone, just in case we don't have the cell phones handy (which we usually do). See http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-573 ... th-an-obi/

[stlutz]

Get the Obi and then get 911 service from Call centric or Anveo for $1 or $2 per month. These companies are VOIP providers.