4 ms·

You really don't want people in a large call center out in the middle of nowhere who are unaware of local landmarks and surroundings answering 9-1-1 calls. It'

You really don't want people in a large call center out in the middle of nowhere who are unaware of local landmarks and surroundings answering 9-1-1 calls. It's a huge public safety issue where you're dealing with distraught people and the operator has to make sense of various small bits of information quickly.

Retric 17y ago
That's an important issue. I would suggest having a backup to a large call center if the wait time is over 30 seconds. The remote call center could have priority to "escalate" to the local call center and share information. Integrating it so the local call center could see what the remote site had typed and replay the message if the caller stops responding would also improve that system. Set things up as a distributed system so each site would accept incoming calls if they had excess capacity and give remote sites access to local conditions. So you can handle large sudden spikes without excessive staff. The other option would be to try automatically handle some calls using location information while the caller is waiting. (If you are calling about the car crash at _ we are sending an ambulance. If you need further assistance please stay on the line.)
tdm911 17y ago
There was a case in Sydney, Australia recently which highlighted this. A school boy was lost in bushland and called 000 (Australian 911)and they asked that he give them a street address to which they could send an ambulance. As he was in the middle of the bush, there was no streets or signs etc. Local knowledge may not have saved him, but it would have made locating him significantly easier rather than just reading from a script and asking for a street name. Source: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25373564-5006784,00.html http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25373564-...
electromagnetic 17y ago
I don't really want to deal with someone in Delhi when they can't understand that my no-fee bank account isn't supposed to be charged fees. Hence no-fee. Yet when they finally understand, they tell me 'oh, we can't deal with that, you'll have to go into your local branch'. I really don't want to call 9-1-1 and be told 'oh, we can't deal with that, you'll have to go into your local branch' when I say my grandma is having a stroke.
zngtk4 17y ago
But it would be a good backup -- it's far better than busy signal (which I have gotten on two different occasions of calling 911).

Retric 17y ago

That's an important issue. I would suggest having a backup to a large call center if the wait time is over 30 seconds. The remote call center could have priority to "escalate" to the local call center and share information. Integrating it so the local call center could see what the remote site had typed and replay the message if the caller stops responding would also improve that system. Set things up as a distributed system so each site would accept incoming calls if they had excess capacity and give remote sites access to local conditions. So you can handle large sudden spikes without excessive staff. The other option would be to try automatically handle some calls using location information while the caller is waiting. (If you are calling about the car crash at _ we are sending an ambulance. If you need further assistance please stay on the line.)

tdm911 17y ago

There was a case in Sydney, Australia recently which highlighted this. A school boy was lost in bushland and called 000 (Australian 911)and they asked that he give them a street address to which they could send an ambulance. As he was in the middle of the bush, there was no streets or signs etc. Local knowledge may not have saved him, but it would have made locating him significantly easier rather than just reading from a script and asking for a street name. Source: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25373564-5006784,00.html http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25373564-...

electromagnetic 17y ago

I don't really want to deal with someone in Delhi when they can't understand that my no-fee bank account isn't supposed to be charged fees. Hence no-fee. Yet when they finally understand, they tell me 'oh, we can't deal with that, you'll have to go into your local branch'. I really don't want to call 9-1-1 and be told 'oh, we can't deal with that, you'll have to go into your local branch' when I say my grandma is having a stroke.

zngtk4 17y ago

But it would be a good backup -- it's far better than busy signal (which I have gotten on two different occasions of calling 911).