It is our position that eliminating one’s land phone line may not be in our best interests. Although this is a growing trend, one element of not having a land line is how it affects calls to emergency services. Calls from cell phones are automatically directed to the nearest cell tower geographically. A call from a suburban or rural area conceivably could be directed to a tower in a neighboring county. Since first responders have designated areas to cover, a responder in southern Madison County could not respond to a call from northern Hamilton County. The time that it takes to redirect the call to the appropriate personnel could be the difference between life and death.
Additionally, those who have moved and decided to retain cell numbers may want to reconsider that decision as well. Not only could an emergency call be directed to the wrong tower, but the old, likely out-of-area code number will not provide the agency with good information on the location of the emergency.
Land lines may be old-fashioned, but they do automatically go to the appropriate emergency service agency.