An Apple Facility That Repairs iPhones in California Won't Stop Calling 9-1-1 -- and Nobody Knows How To Stop It (businessinsider.com)

The small city of Elk Grove, California received more than 2,000 erroneous 911 calls from Apple devices at an Apple repair facility. The months-long issue is yet to be resolved. From a report: Between October 20, 2017 and February 23, 2018, the police department in Elk Grove, California received 2,028 calls on its 911 lines originating from the Apple facility -- an average of 16 calls per day. At one point in January, the calls from the Apple factory were so frequent that they tied up every single one of Elk Grove's six 911 lines, according to public documents reviewed by Business Insider. "They lit us up like a Christmas tree," one dispatcher wrote in in an email to other dispatchers. It was obvious to Elk Grove police that the 911 calls were not real emergencies, but rather, the equivalent of accidental "butt dials," mysteriously ringing the city's hotline on an assembly-line scale.

For whatever reason, many of the iPhones being repaired at the Apple facility were going rogue and dialing 911. But for city officials trying to stop the nuisance and to ensure that a critical emergency resource was not overburdened, fixing the problem has not been easy. Despite crediting Apple for being responsive to their pleas for help, Elk Grove officials have been frustrated by the company's inability to fix the problem. At one point, officials even discussed the possibility of getting the state government involved and sending police to the factory.

Comments

Repair in a room you can't transmit from

[Mr D from 63]

problem solved.

Re:Repair in a room you can't transmit from

[cayenne8]

Hell...institute a FINE of even say, $100/$1000 per false alarm after the first 3x bad 911 calls.

Most cities/states I know of, do this for people what alarm systems at their homes that keep sending out false signals or have the people setting them off themselves with wrong codes, etc.

Put a $$ bite on Apple and I"m guessing they'll figure how to curtail this pronto.

Re:Repair in a room you can't transmit from

[Mia Yuuki]

Perhaps not, but I bet an additional $16,000 per day would make a significant difference to the budget of the 911 call centre.

Re:Repair in a room you can't transmit from

[Dorianny]

The problem with fines is that it's the cellphone's owner who's number is going to show up on 911 dashboard.

Although the bad publicity of people getting 911 fines in the mail because of AppleCare, is probably going to make Apple find a solution much quicker then fining Apple, what's to them an insignificant amount

Charge a false alarm fee

[hawguy]

Just send police for every call and charge a false alarm fee for false alarms.

Once it starts costing $1000 per false alarm, Apple will find it much easier to resolve the problem.

Easy-Peasey

[kenh]

Apple needs to set up a stingray at the factory, filter out 911 calls from unknown devices, allow employee phones to dial through to 911 if needed.

Corporate liability

[DogDude]

In the US, corporations are liable for just about nothing. They can do whatever they'd like, with impunity. If an individual accidentally called 911 a fraction of the times that this facility did, that person would be in jail. Without a phone. Problem solved.

We *should* be holding the company's owners responsible, but that'll never happen.

Re: Faraday cage?

[bobbied]

That's why you store all phones in shielded containers when not being actively worked on. Shielded containers and bags are commonly available and should already be in use in any facility that handles electronics. So, when the phone arrives and is unpacked, it is immediately put in a shielded bag. It stays in this bag until it is being worked on. Any parts of the process where the phone is possibly under power is done with the phone in a shielded container or room.

This isn't rocket science...