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by Ezzy on January 4th, 2007

Ezzy

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Why is 911 only a three digit number?

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  • by TheAnswerer on January 4th, 2007

    TheAnswerer

    Easy to remember, fast to dial.
    ______________________________
    Here is the why:

    The push for the development of a nationwide emergency telephone number came in 1957 when the National Association of Fire Chiefs recommended a single number to be used for reporting fires. In 1967 the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice recommended the creation of a single number that can be used nationwide for reporting emergencies. The burden then fell on the Federal Communications Commission, which then met with AT&T in November 1967 in order to come up with a solution.

    In 1968, a solution was agreed upon. AT&T had chosen the number 911, which met the requirements that it be brief, easy to remember, dialed easily, and that it worked well with the phone systems in place at the time. How the number 911 itself was chosen is not well known and is subject to much speculation. However, many feel that the number 911 was chosen to be similar to the numbers 2-1-1 (long distance), 4-1-1 (information, later called "directory assistance"), and 6-1-1 (repair service), which had already been in use by AT&T since 1966. Also, it was necessary to ensure that the 9-1-1 number was not dialed accidentally, so 9-1-1 made sense because the numbers "9" and "1" were on opposite ends of a phone's rotary dial.

    Furthermore, the North American Numbering Plan in use at the time established rules for which numbers can be used for area codes and exchanges. At the time, the middle digit of an area code had to be either a 0 or 1, and the first two digits of an exchange could not be a 1. At the telephone switching station, the second dialed digit was used to determine if the number was long distance or local. If the number had a 0 or 1 as the second digit, it was long distance, and it was a local call if it was any other number. Thus, since the number 911 was detected by the switching equipment as a special number, it could be routed appropriately. Also, since 911 was a unique number, never having been used as an area code or service code (although at one point GTE used test numbers such as 11911), it fit into the phone system easily.

    AT&T announced the selection of 9-1-1 as their choice of the three-digit emergency number at a press conference in the Washington (DC) office of Indiana Rep. J. Edward Roush, who had championed Congressional support of a single emergency number.

    In Alabama, Bob Gallagher, president of the independent Alabama Telephone Co. read an article in the Wall Street Journal on Jan. 15, 1968, which reported the AT&T 911 announcement. Gallagher’s competitive spirit motivated him to beat AT&T to the punch by being the first to implement the 911 service, somewhere within the Alabama Telephone Co. territory. He contacted Robert Fitzgerald, who was Inside State Plant Manager for ATC, who in turn recommended Haleyville, Alabama as the prime site. Gallagher later issued a press release announcing that the 911 service would begin in Haleyville on Feb.16, 1968. Fitzgerald designed the circuitry, and with the assistance of technicians Jimmy White, Glenn Johnston, Al Bush and Pete Gosa, quickly completed the central office work and installation.

    Just 35 days after AT&T's announcement, on February 16, 1968, the first-ever 9-1-1 call was placed by Alabama Speaker of the House Rankin Fite from Haleyville City Hall to U.S. Rep. Tom Bevill (Dem.) at the city's police station. Bevill reportedly answered the phone with "Hello." Attending with Fite was Haleyville mayor James Whitt. At the police station with Bevill was Gallagher and Alabama Public Service Commission director Eugene "Bull" Connor (formerly the Birmingham police chief involved in federal desegregation). Fitzgerald was at the ATC central office serving Haleyville, and actually observed the call pass through the switching gear, as the mechanical equipment clunked out "9-1-1." The phone used to answer the first 911 call, a bright red model, is now in a museum in Haleyville, while a duplicate phone is still in use at the police station. Some accounts of the event claim that, "Later, the two (Bevill and Fite) said they exchanged greetings, hung up and 'had coffee and doughnuts.'"

    In 1973, the White House urged nationwide adoption of 911. In 1999, President Bill Clinton signed the bill that designated 911 as the nationwide emergency number. Even though 9-1-1 was introduced in 1968, the network still does not completely cover some rural areas of the United States and Canada.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9-1-1

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  • by Anonymous on January 4th, 2009

    Anonymous

    Because it is easy to remember, easy to dial, but at the same time not too easy to dial, if you had two numbers it would be much easier to accidentally dial.

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  • by Go know thyself is THE RED QUEEN on January 4th, 2009

    Go know thyself is THE RED QUEEN

    Huh?

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  • by royal77 says hello friend on January 4th, 2009

    royal77 says hello friend

    To help you dial quickly and it's easy to remember.

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  • by shandy on January 4th, 2009

    shandy

    I can see how it can be anything other than three digits.

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  • by Amber757 on January 4th, 2007

    Amber757

    1-800-911. It's probably only 3 digits so it's easy to remember

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  • by RedScareX on January 4th, 2007

    RedScareX

    I don't understand why the 9 is on top and the 1's are all the way on the bottom. What if you had a cell phone on you when a tree fell an all you could dile are 1's?

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  • by O_hare on January 4th, 2007

    O_hare

    Do you want a 1-800 number? a three digit number for emergencys i way easier to remember.

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