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It finally happened...

I wonder what people did in 1971, the year I was born, when stumbling upon a car accident.

I think people probably went to a payphone and dialed 0 for the operator :)
I'm a year older than you, and in 1977 I was in a multiple school bus accident, I just remember tons of people pulled off the side of the roads to help us kids and someone in the neighborhood called the firedept/ambulance. Lucky out of 3 school buss', no child was killed, but a lot of us were pretty banged up.
 
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I think people probably went to a payphone and dialed 0 for the operator :)
I'm a year older than you, and in 1977 I was in a multiple school bus accident, I just remember tons of people pulled off the side of the roads to help us kids and someone in the neighborhood called the firedept/ambulance. Lucky out of 3 school buss', no child was killed, but a lot of us were pretty banged up.

How did that happen?...
 
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In Case of a Police, Fire, or Medical Emergency:

1. Pull your battery.
2. Delete your call log.
3. Perform a factory reset.
4. Go into airplane mode and then back out.
5. Install a task killer from the market.
6. Root! (Don't confuse with cheering)

If none of that works summon the police by email and conclude with, "I would have called but, you know, I have an Eris..."

And as long as you have the cops on the phone ask them if they know when 2.2 is coming out.
 
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Not being able to make a phone call is absolutely unacceptable.

Why? Who verified it was an Eris problem? Why couldn't it be the network or user error? What is the service level that Verizon has committed to? Point being, not being able to make a call IS acceptable. It may be inconvenient or cost you money if you rely on the phone for business or it may even be occasionaly dangerous BUT I don't get "absolutely unacceptable".

Second observation. Now, I'm not impugning this OP's story or the many others related here BUT the template for many is report problems, throw in a dash of drama, deal with a couple replacements, make case for a newer model. At least, if you are embarking upon this path be a little more subtle than finishing your post with ".....Verizon should upgrade me to an Incredible/Droid".
 
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Why? Who verified it was an Eris problem? Why couldn't it be the network or user error? What is the service level that Verizon has committed to? Point being, not being able to make a call IS acceptable. It may be inconvenient or cost you money if you rely on the phone for business or it may even be occasionaly dangerous BUT I don't get "absolutely unacceptable".

Second observation. Now, I'm not impugning this OP's story or the many others related here BUT the template for many is report problems, throw in a dash of drama, deal with a couple replacements, make case for a newer model. At least, if you are embarking upon this path be a little more subtle than finishing your post with ".....Verizon should upgrade me to an Incredible/Droid".

The Eris Silent Bug Problem is well a Big Well Known Problem, please don't just assume that he was trying to make a call in a no reception area or something of that sort. I would advise you to look into the problem first next time before speaking completely out of your bum next time :)
 
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I've had this happen a couple of times on my Eris on both dialed numbers and stored numbers. I've thought about complaining, but the next call always goes through and I forget about it until the next time it happens.

I have a couple of notepad apps on my phone. I guess I should note each time one of these failed calls occurs.
 
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I was going to ask the same thing. I've never experienced a silent call on my Eris. but have often on other phones, especially Verizon. How do we know it's not just a service issue, some combination of problems related to the network?

As someone who has had multiple experiences with this problem: It is a two-way street, audio is neither sent nor received, and in addition to that the audio wouldn't play on my music/ringtone/notifications either until i rebooted. And i have *literally* traveled across the country and experienced the exact same issue, so network error is highly doubtful to have occured in about 15 random cities that i happened to travel in. :rolleyes:
 
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Verizon will say, "go right ahead. Knock yourself out," because legally, their butt is covered. The contract every subscriber signs makes no guarantee that any level of service will be available at any time or place and the warranty on the handset disclaims fitness for any particular purpose.

Let me clarify that a little for you: FCC rules require that mobile carriers connect 911 calls from any handset, subscribed or not, to a public safety answering point. If the handset is incapable of placing the call or there's no network for it to connect with, it's out of the carrier's hands.
I'd let the lawyers worry about the exact meaning and what-not. It would do VZW no good whatsoever to use their legal interpretation of this in addressing a potentially public-relations issue. The public doesn't give a rat's a** about the legal wording. The public expects their phone to connect to 911 when they attempt to call.
 
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I just went to Verizon this morning to try and get a replacement for my Eris after getting the silent bug. My mom explained a scenario exactly like you experienced and was saying what if I could not call in an emergency. He said he understood the issue and just gave me an Eris as a replacement. The replacement still laggs...touch sensitive buttons sometimes dont respond, but no silent bug yet....i think im going to call again tomorrow and complain
 
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My girlfriend got a droid Eris back in December and she has the same problem with the current (2.1) firmware. The phone occasionally has issues where the sound stops working for everything, voice calls included.

She has not rooted her phone or modified it in any way aside from a couple of marketplace apps (nothing special, just games and a movie locator app)

There is an easy way to test if the sound has stopped working. Just turn up or down the volume - normally you get a response 'beep' from the sound going up or down. When the audio has crashed you will hear nothing.
 
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I'd let the lawyers worry about the exact meaning and what-not. It would do VZW no good whatsoever to use their legal interpretation of this in addressing a potentially public-relations issue. The public doesn't give a rat's a** about the legal wording. The public expects their phone to connect to 911 when they attempt to call.

Of course, and I expect my calls to connect just like the next guy. But with all of the screaming about filing suit earlier in this thread, it was worth pointing out that confronted with a lawsuit, Verizon will give a rat's a** about how their contracts are worded. They'll fight the lawsuit with one hand and deal with the PR problems with the other.

The point, really, is that if being able to communicate in an emergency is your top priority, carrying a single cell phone doesn't cut the mustard. Have a plan B ready. I'm not going to go so far as to suggest two different phones from two different carriers, a satellite phone and an EPIRB, because that's a bit much. But if nothing else, toss an old phone and a 12-volt cord in your trunk as a backup. Even without being provisioned on anyone's network, it can still place 911 calls.

--Mark
 
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