Traditional Landline Telephone

Traditional landline telephone technology is a telephone that is plugged into the wall of your house or business. Landline telephones operate through a network of cable and satellite connections.  The caller’s voice is encoded into signals; it goes through the network and is decoded on the other end turning the signal into voice.

Some things to keep in mind when making calls to 9-1-1 using the traditional landline telephone technology include:

  • If you are using a cordless phone, make sure the phone remains charged.  You never know when you will need the phone to make an emergency call.  Dying batteries on a cordless telephone have also been known to cause the phone to make a 9-1-1 call whether you intended to or not.
  • If you have terminated your phone service and you still have a physical wire connection to your home, you will still be able to dial 9-1-1 from your residence.  You may not be able to call any other numbers as you would with a paid service however you will still have 9-1-1 calling capabilities.
  • If you are using a PBX landline phone system, location and telephone information the main telephone number and location information may display on the 9-1-1 screen versus the exact location of the phone where you are making the call.
  • PBX systems often require you to dial a “9” or other number to receive an outside line before dialing the number. Don’t forget to dial the “9” or other number prior to dialing 9-1-1.
  • If you move, from your residence and you keep your same service, it may take time for the phone company to update your records with your new address.  You may want to consider following up with them to verify that your records have been updated.