911 "Friends-and-neighbors please call" list? [telecom]

As a (partial?) solution to the 911 "can dial, but can't speak" or "unknown location" problems, would it make sense to maintain a short list of user-or-purchaser-supplied phone numbers (maybe 2 or 3 numbers) linked to every phone number that can call 911.

If the 911 operator can't get a meaningful response or a clearcut location from an incoming 911 call, s/he punches a button and an automated call (or text?) goes to these numbers saying something like "Phone number xxx has made an automated 911 call to 911 at location yyy at zzz, but further communication with the caller has not been possible".

The owner-user of the originating phone could be responsible for adding or updating these numbers of appropriate friends, relatives, neighbors the list by dialing into the central registry. Each time a number is added or changed, an email or autocall could go out the added number, asking them to confirm this is OK by punching a key or code.

The point of this service would of course be that these callees, if nearby neighbors, could rush over to check, or if distant relatives would know who to call locally.

Seems to me this basic idea would be workable and not all that expensive to implement (gradually), and might ease the local on local emergency responders. But what abuses would it be subject to?

Alternative: A service like the above is offered by a commercial alarm company. For a monthly fee they'll program your smart phone, or somehow modify your cellphone or landline phone service, so that if you ever dial 911, your phone service will also simultaneously dial their number, and they'll provide the added "dial a friend" capability.

Maybe this already exists? -- I've not yet gotten involved in any commercial home alarm services or any kinds of "grandma's fallen and she can't get up" commercial alarms, although I've read about the smart rice cooker alarm system that is allegedly widespread (?) in Japan.

Reply to
AES
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I think it would be more productive to allow text messages to be sent to "911". Then phone owners can anticipate this problem by storing his own canned messages in the phone to be sent in such situations, maybe by "speed dial" buttons.

Reply to
John David Galt

Reminds me of the "nearby" [numbers] that operators called to try to complete long distance calls in the days when not everybody had a phone. Wes Leatherock snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com snipped-for-privacy@aol.com =0A=0A=0A

Reply to
Wes Leatherock

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