Do you Support 112?
Do you know that if you use any cell phone in the world except for Verizon or Sprint you can dial 112 to reach emergency services?
I’ll say it again: If you use T-Mobile or AT&T or any cell phone on any carrier* in any country anywhere you can reach emergency services by dialing 112.
We Americans know the 911 code. But that code isn’t widely used globally. Other countries may use 999 or 119 or 110 or 1155 or a plethora of local codes. This is a serious, life threatening problem for international travelers.
But cell phones quietly standardized the 112 code for emergencies about 20 years ago. It’s a potentially life saving secret feature.
Here is what I think you should do: program 112 into your VOIP phone system or PBX and route it to your national emergency services number. Now, when an international traveler needs emergency help and doesn’t know our unique and funky 911 code they can get help.
You can program in 112 without much fanfare or announcement. It can just be there, ready to save a life. It’s super trivial on an Asterisk system.
While on this topic, I wish that Verizon and Sprint would accept 112 on their systems. It likely would save a life. I can think of no reason not to do this.
Don’t believe me? Dial 112 from your cell phone and talk with the 911 operator. Really, it works!
And remember: if you are in a foreign country and need emergency help and you don’t know the local emergency number, just dial 112 from any cell phone on any system in any country.* it’s a good number to memorize.
*The world is big, it is possible there are other exceptions I don’t know about.