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

Posted by msmash on from the stranger-things dept.

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.

6 of 190 comments (clear)

  1. Repair in a room you can't transmit from by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    problem solved.

    1. Re:Repair in a room you can't transmit from by cayenne8 · · Score: 5, Insightful
      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.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    2. Re:Repair in a room you can't transmit from by Mia+Yuuki · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

    3. Re:Repair in a room you can't transmit from by toejam13 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      This is actually an edge case of a much larger problem. Apple's iPhone UI makes it too easy to inadvertently dial emergency services. I'm guessing that the phones are password locked and that during transport within the factory, something rubs the screens in such a way to bring up the unlock screen and then hit the dial 911 button at the bottom of the unlock screen.

      My old Nokia brick phone had a simple solution: you actually had to type in 911 in order to dial 911, even if the phone was still password locked. That made pocket dialing emergency services incredibly unlikely.

  2. Charge a false alarm fee by hawguy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  3. Easy-Peasey by kenh · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    --
    Ken