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This article is about an incident from just last month, but the fact that there are 20+ failure reports over just Feb 2022-Jan 2023 (https://www.reddit.com/r/Go

This article is about an incident from just last month, but the fact that there are 20+ failure reports over just Feb 2022-Jan 2023 (https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/y039zn/i_compiled_all_the_pixel_911emergency_call/ https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/y039zn/i_compi...), across multiple Pixel models, is insane. There’s something seriously wrong here.

shawnz 3y ago
Is there any data on how often this occurs with other brands, or what the failure rate was (i.e. how many attempts to call 911 succeeded in that time?) Otherwise 20+ reports certainly sounds bad but I don't really have a perspective on how bad it is. It could very well be that 20 failures across a year is within the expected failure rate due to unavoidable transient network issues.
- Kwpolska 3y ago
  The author of the linked Reddit post was unable to find anything for other Android brands, and only three cases across ten years for iPhones.
  - nneonneo 3y ago
    And, it’s worth pointing out that the sales volumes of iPhones and just Samsungs (not counting any other brand) are many times that of Pixel, so if there was an issue even nearly as frequent with those phones it would definitely have been noticed by now.
    - simfree 3y ago
      Samsung has probably automated this testing given the number of SKUs they support, and they definitely have a lot more developers who are familiar with the cellular modems they use (Exynos and Snapdragon) to fix up edge cases unlike Google. The Pixel 6 (Pro and non-Pro) is a great example of an improperly tuned LTE/5G NR modem. Cellular connectivity was unreliable as could be, and the random No Network issue seemed consistent across T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T, meanwhile a Pixel 7 or any other phone is stable and able to call/use data when this is occuring. If this were a Samsung phone, it is likely their internal engineering could have identified the Exynos modem issue and pushed a patch, but no one at Google was familiar with the modem they bought from Samsung and they certainly have little leverage over 'em to get issues like this resolved.
      - nneonneo 3y ago
        It’s worth pointing out that the 911 issue cropped up on Pixel 7 phones too, so the issue is not unique to the Pixel 6 line.
mips_r4300i 3y ago
My pixel 4a was unable to place a simple 800 call last week, even after rebooting twice. I was manually entering the number on the dial pad, and the call would never initiate. Finally, I created a dummy contact with the number and then it finally worked. I now have a phone that isn't a phone.

shawnz 3y ago

Is there any data on how often this occurs with other brands, or what the failure rate was (i.e. how many attempts to call 911 succeeded in that time?) Otherwise 20+ reports certainly sounds bad but I don't really have a perspective on how bad it is. It could very well be that 20 failures across a year is within the expected failure rate due to unavoidable transient network issues.

Kwpolska 3y ago
The author of the linked Reddit post was unable to find anything for other Android brands, and only three cases across ten years for iPhones.
- nneonneo 3y ago
  And, it’s worth pointing out that the sales volumes of iPhones and just Samsungs (not counting any other brand) are many times that of Pixel, so if there was an issue even nearly as frequent with those phones it would definitely have been noticed by now.
  - simfree 3y ago
    Samsung has probably automated this testing given the number of SKUs they support, and they definitely have a lot more developers who are familiar with the cellular modems they use (Exynos and Snapdragon) to fix up edge cases unlike Google. The Pixel 6 (Pro and non-Pro) is a great example of an improperly tuned LTE/5G NR modem. Cellular connectivity was unreliable as could be, and the random No Network issue seemed consistent across T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T, meanwhile a Pixel 7 or any other phone is stable and able to call/use data when this is occuring. If this were a Samsung phone, it is likely their internal engineering could have identified the Exynos modem issue and pushed a patch, but no one at Google was familiar with the modem they bought from Samsung and they certainly have little leverage over 'em to get issues like this resolved.
    - nneonneo 3y ago
      It’s worth pointing out that the 911 issue cropped up on Pixel 7 phones too, so the issue is not unique to the Pixel 6 line.

mips_r4300i 3y ago

My pixel 4a was unable to place a simple 800 call last week, even after rebooting twice. I was manually entering the number on the dial pad, and the call would never initiate. Finally, I created a dummy contact with the number and then it finally worked. I now have a phone that isn't a phone.