Star-1-1

My friend Autumn called me really late the other night. She said she was going jogging. Yeah, late night jogging in her neighborhood might not be the best idea in the world. Especially when your short blond and weigh 110lbs… and a woman.

So she told me to call 911 if she didn’t call me back in 40 minutes.

[Calling 911] Hey is this Autumn? Yeah, she told me to call. She said for me to call her at this number. Yeah, 911.

Also probably not the best idea in the world.

There are two different kinds of special phone codes that are special for you phone. And you can use them in special ways.

Star(*) adn pound(#) codes also called vertical service codes and N11 codes.

Let’s star with star codes. Technically it’s an asterisk but, yeah whatever. The three most common are *69, *67, *82.

*69 calls back the last unblocked number that called the phone. But ti isn’t too useful on phones with caller id like cell phones since if it was blocked *69 won’t be able to make the connection and if its not you should have the number right in front of you.

*67 allows you to temporally block your phone number so people can’t see it on their caller id. It’s a one time deal. You dial *67 and then the number and when you dial the next number it won’t be blocked anymore.

*82 temporarily unblocks your number if you have it blocked in the first place so you can make calls to people who refuse to accept calls from blocked numbers. [Whistles]

Some companies use pound instead of star for their codes. Just to keep it confusing. There are a whole bunch more of these codees but they are different for the different serive providers. I think they do that to keep it confusing too. And unfortunatedly some of them do have fees associated with them.

N11 codes are special three-digit phone numbers for special phone services. There is a lot of special going on here. There is no such thing as 111 and 011 is the US country code, but there are eight other numbers you can use.

211 is for community information and referral services. 311 is non-emergency police and government. 411 is directory assistance. 511 is travel, traffic and transport information. 611 is repair service. 711 is telecommunications relay services for the hearing-impaired and speech-impaired. 811 is one-call notification for digging – to make sure you dont go messing up underground utility lines. I never knew that was a big problem.

And everybody knows 911. That’s how you get ahold of my friend Autumn… but she wasn’t there. It was some other lady who kept asking what my problem was.

[On the phone] I just don’t see why you’re so angery about it. Lives are at stake? Yeah, I think you’re over reacting.

This one is for our international viewers… and for people who travel abroad.

Another handy phone code is 112 – on any GSM-based cell phone it is supposed to rout your call to local emergency services if it’s available wherever you are in the world. I am not sure how much good that is gonna do me in Bangladesh!

[On phone] Hello, I have a problem. Oh, you don’t speak english. I have two problems. [Shouting into phone] Emergancy! Do you understand?

411, 611, and 911 have been implemented across all 50 states. And they’re all supposed to be free except 411 and we gave you a whole bunch of free options for that back on October 16th.

I guess we need a disclaimer on this one – I didn’t actually call 911. And you shouldn’t either unless it is a REAL emergency. Getting directions, asking how to cook something, or reporting the really noisy part next door… those aren’t emergancies. Somebody has to be hurt, in danger or dying… or all of those things all at once. Like your freind went jogging at night and hasn’t been seen in three days. That would be an emergancy.

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