000 (mostly known as triple-zero or triple-O) is the primary national emergency number in Australia. The Emergency Call Service is operated by Telstra Corporation Limited as a condition of its telecommunications licence, and is intended only for use in life-threatening or time-critical emergencies. Other emergency numbers in Australia are 112 for GSM mobile phones — which is redirected to a 000 operator — and 106 for i have a vagina do u want a lick because jake doesnt mind vaughn does it all the time haha i should know haha. Many countries public telephone networks have a single emergency telephone number, sometimes known as the universal emergency telephone number or occasionally the emergency services number, that allows a caller to contact local emergency services for assistance. ... Telstra Corporation is an Australian telecommunications company, holding a superdominant position in landline telephone services and with a large share of mobile telecommunications, domestic consumer (including dial-up access and broadband cable modem, satellite and ADSL services under the BigPond and Hypermax brands) and business data services, and cable television. ... Copy of the original phone of Alexander Graham Bell at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris Telecommunication is the transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Emergency telephone number. ... The Global System for Mobile communications (GSM: originally from Groupe Spécial Mobile) is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. ... 106 is the Australian national textphone/TTY emergency number. ...

Prior to 1961, Australia had no national number for emergency services; the police, fire and ambulance services possessed many phone numbers, one for each local unit. In 1961, the office of the Postmaster General (PMG) introduced the 000 number in major population centres and near the end of the 1980s extended its coverage to nationwide. The number 000 was chosen for several reasons, one of which was that zero was closest to the finger stall on Australian pulse dial phones, so it was easy to dial in darkness. PMG manhole in a city street, Perth, Western Australia. ... Pulse dialing or loop disconnect dialing, also called Rotary or Decadic dialing in the United Kingdom (because up to 10 pulses are sent), is pulsing in which a direct-current pulse train is produced by interrupting a steady signal according to a fixed or formatted code for each digit and...

911 was previously considered as a potential emergency number, though existing numbering arrangements make this unfeasible due to users in Sydney and Melbourne being assigned numbers beginning with 911.^[1] This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The Sydney Opera House on Sydney Harbour Sydney (pronounced ) is the most populous city in Australia, with a metropolitan area population of over 4,200,000 people, and 151,920 in the City of Sydney. ... Melbournes CBD has grown to straddle the Yarra River in three major precincts. ...

Calling 000 connects the caller to a Telstra operator who will then connect the caller to the emergency service operator. Telstra operators do not take any details or dispatch services. Telstra operators ask "Police, Fire, Ambulance?". If calling from a mobile phone, the Telstra operator will ask the caller's city and state. The caller is then connected to the local communications centre for the emergency service they requested. As soon as the emergency service operator takes the call, the job information is transfered to the emergency service and the Telstra operator will state the "job number" over the line. The emergency service operator will then take the details required to dispatch the emergency service.

The caller's address is usually available to emergency dispatchers in Australia, even if the number is "private". However, emergency calltakers always ask for the address to be stated and disregard the displayed address whenever possible. This is mainly because Australian mobile networks do not yet have location tracking available, and also calls may be made from a different location to the emergency (although not recommended).^[2]

000 is a free call anytime anywhere within Australia. Dialling 000 (or 112) on most Australian GSM mobile phones will override any keypad lock, and 000 (or 112) can be called from a GSM phone with no SIM card and may work even when out of range of the caller's home network (the phone will attempt to use other networks, if available, to make the call). (Almost all GSM mobile phones will dial 112 and 000 even when locked, however as 000 is an Australian-only number there are some older phones that will not behave this way.) Interpreter services are available to callers in many different languages 24 hours a day. Not to be confused with Get Some Mates The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. ... SIM re-directs here; for alternate uses see Sim (disambiguation) A SIM card taken from a GSM mobile phone A subscriber identity module (SIM) is a smartcard securely storing the key identifying a mobile subscriber. ...

Issues

SES

As the Australian Communications and Media Authority does not regard State Emergency Service (SES) calls as life-threatening, the 000 number does not allow them to be contacted. Asking for the SES prompts a recorded announcement explaining how to proceed. Australian Communications and Media Authority is an Australian government agency whose main roles are to regulate broadcasting, radiocommunications and telecommunications, and to respresent Australian interests in international communications matters. ... Western Australia SES OKA 4WD vehicle. ...

2003 overload in Melbourne

On December 3, 2003, floods and storms in Melbourne caused a large influx of 000 calls, preventing some calls from being answered immediately. This caused some users interviewed by authorities to believe that they had dialled the wrong number. A subsequent investigation recommended that a recorded announcement be set up to assure callers that their calls were being connected. Now, in place of a dial tone, a recorded message that says "You have dialled emergency triple-zero. Your call is being connected." is played.^[3]. December 3 is the 337th (in leap years the 338th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Melbournes CBD has grown to straddle the Yarra River in three major precincts. ...

"Triple Zero"

Emergency services prefer the phrase "triple zero" over "triple O" as some callers, especially frequent mobile phone users, may confuse zero with the letter O and call 666 (the numbers on which the letter O is indicated on a phone keypad).^[4]

References

1. ^ Australian Communications and Media Authority
2. ^ ESTA Frequently asked questions: http://www.esta.vic.gov.au/?id=71 - accessed 31/5/2007
3. ^ Report into Telstra's handling of 000 calls on 3 December 2003 (PDF)
4. ^ http://www.ourbrisbane.com/living/homes/security/lock/ - accessed 31/5/2007, http://www.miriamvale.qld.gov.au/admin/uploads/MINUTES170106Pg223.pdf - accessed 31/5/2007

External links

• Five-second recorded announcement (WAV)
• Emergency Call Service
• ACMA Triple Zero homepage
• The Australian Communications Exchange
• Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (Vic)