Connect for Safety^™

A national survey¹ by Impulse Research reveals numerous potential at-home emergency situations that would prompt most Americans to dial 9-1-1. The survey also reveals that many people are unaware of the potentially life-saving benefits of having a landline phone at home for greater reliability and accurate emergency response.

According to the National Emergency Number Association, while technology is advancing, a landline phone currently offers the greatest reliability for at-home emergency calls. When you call 9-1-1 from a cell phone, your call may not always be routed to the nearest 9-1-1 call center. In addition, emergency responders may not receive specific apartment numbers for callers in multi-unit complexes. And during power outages, your cordless, cable or Internet phones may not function. That's why it's important to maintain a non-cordless, landline phone in your home.

Consider the survey's key findings about emergency call behaviors and attitudes:

• Only 50 percent of respondents use landline home phones as the primary phone service; more than 30 percent use it as their sole phone service.
• Consumers ages 40-49 use landline home phones more often than any other age group; consumers ages 18-29 use it least often, with 25 percent of young adults using only non-landline phones.
• 60 percent of respondents believe "it is important" to have a traditional landline phone at home.
• 37 percent of respondents have only cordless phones in the home.

• 56 percent of respondents feel it is important to use landline phones for emergencies because they believe it is the most reliable phone technology with the fewest interruptions.
  • Nearly 40 percent of respondents say their cell phones occasionally receive poor reception if indoors; nearly one-quarter of consumers admit that their cell phone batteries are often low. (Weak reception or low batteries may inhibit a user's ability to place a call.)
• Just one-third of respondents say it is important to have a non-cordless phone so a 9-1-1 call will go through during a power outage.
  • However, only slightly under half of the respondents were aware that cordless phones rely primarily on electricity.
• Of the respondents surveyed, 28 percent were under the false impression that when a 9-1-1 call is placed via cell phone, an emergency dispatcher always receives the caller's name and exact location, including a unit number in an apartment building or condominium complex, automatically.

¹Source: Impulse Research, Los Angeles, conducted the survey online in June 2006, among a national probability sample of 1,014 men and women across the country. The sampling error for this survey is +/- 3% at the 95% level of confidence.