auto dial

[jtimmerman]

Is it legal to have the system dial 911 with a recorded message for notification to the police?
I have heard that some states don't allow this?

[MikeMatthews]

While it may be a fun idea, wouldn't you feel bad if someone died because the phone line was tied up due to your (or Microsoft's, or HS's) less than perfect programming?

[jtimmerman]

I understand what you are saying, I am asking if it is legal to do this. Here is the scenario, I have it dial my cell phone but it is out of coverage area, my house is on fire, can it call the 911 with " house at xxx is on fire "

[Rupp]

I would call my local police station and ask them.

[Waldoman]

Lots of info and links at
http://www.911dispatch.com/911_file/911explain.html

Bottom line on your question is, depends on local authority. In Texas each county regulates 911, although one county may actualy get service from another county and the State PUC oversees the whole thing.

[Shawn]

If your house is on fire, does it matter that much what the legalities are?

It is hard to imagine that your scenario is much different than an alarm company receiving an alarm and then dialing 911 on your behalf. Isn't that really the same result (could be false alarm or not).

Shawn

[MikeMatthews]

If your house is not on fire, it does matter what the legalities are.

[Shawn]

I suppose my point is that the worst conceivable consequence would be some sort of hefty fine imposed by the local authorities if indeed having an autodialer phone 911 for a false alarm. The potential for this to occur should warrant sufficient rigor to ensure a false alarm does not happen - certainly not twice anyway. If an autodialer to 911 is illegal by local standards, and the house is on fire - they're still gonna respond and put the fire out, in which case a prudent man would happily pay any fine for the autodialer.

The analogy I draw from this is whether or not I provide CPR to a cardiac arrest victim given that my skill to do so is in place, but wondering if my certification to do so will be called into question if the victim dies (after all, who checks for such credentials if you save a life).

[MikeMatthews]

I would say the worst consequence is much worse...
Your phone gets tied up because of a bug and your family cannot call the cops when they are being robbed, kidnapped, etc... instead the fire dept shows up, or no one shows up because of the bug.

Or, your phone ties up a line at 911 when there is no fire, and someone else dies because they can't get through to 911.

Lightning damages your modem in such a way to enable it to take control of the line, but not dial, resulting in the above scenarios. Countless other hardware software failures apply too.

I understand your motivation to provide security, and it's a great goal for any HA system. But to me the risks seem high.

[dmurray14]

I am surprised at some of the replies here. I'm with Shawn, if your house is on fire, who gives if you get a $200 fine for having an autodialer...your HOUSE, or at least part of it, is STILL STANDING. I would think that would be more important then a few bucks.

MikeMatthews...I am a little confused by your post. Why would a line that is bugged by a theif make any difference in the ability to get help? Both HomeSeer AND residents can't get through. I don't see what that has to do with having an autodialer. Also, so what if lightning takes control of your modem and fries it. Yes, now you don't have your autodialer anymore, but at least you HAD it for some amount of time. Basically, it seems like it would be something that would kick into place when you can't be there to do so, so I guess I'm just not seeing the risk involved.

[MikeMatthews]

dmurray,

I could have been more clear, sorry. By "bug" I mean a software or hardware bug... the kind that makes HS think your house is on fire when it isn't, the kind that makes your modem take the phone off-hook but doesn't dial or allow you to dial. There are countless kinds of these bugs, ranging from the user's scripting, to HS errors, to Microsoft errors, to viruses, to hardware/driver errors, ad infinitum.

My point is that while you are trying to do something that may save your house and your life, you are also puting your house and lives in the hands of many people and companies, many of whom didn't think they had that responsibility when they designed the hardware/software.

If you designed a modem driver for a company, you might take a little more time doing it if you knew it would be used for security/safety applications.

[collegeboyslive]

if you are really so wrried just get an alarm system that can interface with homeseer, and a monitoring company. have hs trigger the alarm that calls the monitoring co that calls the fire dept. same as what happens right now if you have an alarm unit with smoke detectors.

i saw these same p[osts when i discussed about a fingerprint lock for the front door ( which i have had for about 2 years now) people would come up with all these fancy reasons why you shouldnt have it and how a theif with a load of time and money could get past it ( of course they could also break a nice glass window)

[MikeMatthews]

College,

There difference here is that if YOUR house ties up the 911 lines, it might be ME who dies. With your fingerprint thing, you potentially compromise only your own security.

True, it's not likely that your 911 call ties up the line and someone dies. But the instant your actions could affect others, it's worth taking pause.

[Cyber-Wizard]

I think it's most likely that you'll find it to be illegal to allow anything to contact 911 apart from a warm body. In Ontario, auto dialers were very popular for home security once upon a time. The police got so fed up with false alarms that they don't allow it any more (not sure if it's actually illegal or not). Unfortunately, false alarms are still a very prominent issue, and as such the police in general are usually pretty touchy about any sort of electronic equipment calling for help. Around here (and I'm sure many of you have seen the same thing) people who don't have alarm systems get police response for free while those who do have electronic systems pay additional fees. These fees are paid directly to the local police force and these are in addition to the monitoring fees that are already being paid to the 3rd party alarm monitoring centre. This varies from town to town but where I live you must register a monitored alarm with your local police for an extra $50/yr. If your monitoring station contacts 911 on your behalf you will not get police response if your fees are not paid up or if you aren't a registered alarm user. Given this attitude that police forces have had to take with the alarm industry I suspect that any auto dialer calls made to 911 would largely be ignored in terms of response, but may well incur a fine. I'd say it's always safest to check with the local authority but don't expect much in the way of a favourable response.