CONTACT911™ is a convenient, easily
accessible communication service that helps keep your family connected anytime,
anywhere. This is especially critical during emergencies (hurricanes,
earthquakes, terrorist attacks, etc.). CONTACT911™ can also be used
whenever YOU deem your message urgent. Some examples include: notifying your
family you are on the way to the hospital; being at the airport and needing to
let your family know you missed your connecting flight and how you are being
re-routed, and schedule changes that affect drop off and pick up times and/or
places of minors, etc.
CONTACT911™ enhances your ability to communicate critical messages to your family in the event
of an emergency. Following the September 11th attacks, phone circuits in New
York were completely jammed. It could take a hundred attempts to make a call
before you finally got through. With CONTACT911™, you can use that one phone
call to call everyone. The peace of mind that your message is being sent means
you can focus on your family's game plan, instead of dialing phone numbers over
and over.
For non-emergency use, CONTACT911™ is a convenient, time-saving tool that allows the busy
subscriber an efficient way to expedite getting an important message to more
than one recipient at a time.
You tell us the people you would need to communicate with in urgent situations and worst-case
scenarios. This list is your personal Emergency Contact Manager™. In the event
of an emergency, all you have to do is make a single, toll-free phone call
to CONTACT911™, leave your critical message and CONTACT911™ broadcasts that
message to anyone or everyone on your list. You have the ability to choose who
will receive the message - selected recipients or the whole group. When sending
a message via email or through our website, the message is delivered to everyone on your list. It also
gives each recipient the ability to respond to your message so you can know
their status as well. The system automatically continues to send your message
until a delivery confirmation is received. As the subscriber, you
can return to the system at any time to check for responses to your
original communication and/or to update your location, situation, or to
respond to those leaving you return messages.
With CONTACT911™, users can reach everybody they want to with just one call. In addition to
CONTACT911™ broadcasting a user's message to all their contacts, subscribers
have the option to press one button to get a new dial tone and make a new call,
all without giving up the initial connection.
Are you sure your phone doesn't work? In times of crisis, demand for dial tones increases
tremendously. Try holding the receiver for 60-90 seconds. You will be in line
for the next available dial tone. Sometimes patience is the key to getting a
dial tone.
In the event that the phones are truly out of service, you can use any communication method
available to you including email, text messages or IM messages via the internet
or wireless and satellite communications like Palm Pilots and Blackberries.
CONTACT911™ converts text messages to voice files and then calls all of the
people in your Emergency Contact Manager with that message. All responses to
your message are sent back to you as voice files attached to an email.
Efficient communication is key in the event of an emergency. It could take hours, days or weeks
of dialing to get your message to five people in the midst of a
disaster. The Wall Street Journal said “…it can be easier to make
long-distance calls than local calls. This occurred on 9/11 when Verizon’s
local switching center was damaged.” CONTACT911™ uses the long distance
network, enhancing your odds of getting through and freeing you from the task
of repetitive dialing and excessive hand holding so you can focus on what
really counts - YOUR FAMILY'S GAME PLAN.
For other urgent situations, calling several people to deliver the SAME message is just not time
efficient. And you know there is always a family member who wants to play the
"20 questions game" and is impossible to get off the phone! When saving time or
being more productive with a short window of time is a priority, CONTACT911™ is
the resource you can count on 365 days a year.
YES. CONTACT911™ completely bypasses the local phone systems
that are most likely to be overwhelmed in the event of a disaster and operates
exclusively over long distance circuits. With CONTACT911™ you can call someone
down the street (or across the country) using the long distance network. This
benefit has been well documented by numerous, credible sources. The Department
of Homeland Security says "it may be easier to make a long-distance phone call
than to call across town". The AARP reported to its members that "during
the Sept. 11 crisis, local phone service and cell phone networks were
overwhelmed, but long distance functioned.” Even the Red Cross urges families to
"designate a common family contact who is outside their region in the event a
disaster damages the local phone systems.” CONTACT911™ serves that function and
keeps you connected to your family, especially when it is critical as
when disaster strikes.
CONTACT911™ has hundreds of lines available and repeatedly
tries to get the message through so you don't have to do the dialing.
CONTACT911™ keeps trying to deliver the message until we succeed or you tell us
to stop. If after an extended period of time we are still unable to get through,
we will notify you through the system.
CONTACT911™ has a variety of plans
to choose from. We have plans that can be paid for on a monthly basis, or you
can choose to save even more with an annual subscription. Plan differences are
based upon how many contacts are in your group, how many minutes of messaging
time is included and who is authorized to use the plan (just you or the whole
group). Current plan choices include three levels of service - standard, gold,
and platinum. Each of these levels is available for both individual subscribers
and for family groups. For an instant quote based on your preferences, go to
Join Now. If you are affiliated with a group that has provided you with a PROMO
code, be sure to enter it to ensure an accurate quote.
The difference between an Individual and a Family plan is in who
is authorized to initiate calls on the service. In the individual plan, you (the
subscriber) are the only one who can initiate a messaging on CONTACT911™. All
response messages are sent to you. For the Family plan, anyone on your contact
list can initiate a message and responses will go to them. Subscribers have the
ability to purchase additional minute blocks with both plans. For large groups
or corporate accounts, please contact
sales@contact911.com.
Yes, all subscribers will
have the option of using an English or Spanish version of CONTACT911™. The
interface language is chosen at the beginning of the communication connection
with the service. All messages left on the system will be delivered in the
language in which they were recorded. CONTACT911™ does not translate messages at
any time. The bi-lingual feature only applies to the user interface with the
system. Please contact
support@contact911.com for additional
questions relating to this feature.
Click here to sign up or call us at 800-536-1111. After we have processed your
subscription, you will receive email confirmation which includes an electronic
"how to" packet. We will also mail you a welcome kit that includes key
information on your account as well as personalized, wallet-sized cards with
your contacts' names and phone numbers printed on them.
After you sign up
using our website, you will be automatically directed to your Emergency Contact
Manager, where you can enter the names, phone numbers and email addresses of the
people you would need to communicate with during an emergency. When you send a
message to the group, CONTACT911™ will try all of the contact points you enter
here. If you sign up by calling 800-536-1111, you will enter your contacts using
your touch tone phone or by dictating the information to a live operator.
You can edit or update your emergency contact list 24 hours a
day by logging in to your account or by calling our account maintenance
department toll free at 800-886-5110. Changes to your account are made in
real time, so you never have to worry that your contact manager is out of date.
Or, if you prefer, let CONTACT911™ keep your list up to date with our automated
maintenance feature!
Yes. If you choose, CONTACT911™ will proactively maintain your
account. By selecting the "Auto Maintenance" check box in your Emergency Contact
Manager, you can have the system call everyone on your list periodically to
ensure the contact information listed is up to date. In the event the system
cannot get through to a person on your list, you will be notified so that you
can update your account.
All you have to do is call
800-321-CONTACT and type in your account number (which is also your phone number)
and PIN code. Once you are validated, the system will prompt you to leave a
message. When you are finished with your message, you can listen to it again,
re-record it or broadcast it to your contact list. It's that simple! If you can
use voicemail, you can use CONTACT911™.
CONTACT911™ has hundreds
of lines that will be available to take your message. However, depending on the
severity of the emergency, you may get a busy signal, so a certain amount of
patience may be required. Since CONTACT911™ distributes its traffic in a way
that you will never be directed to a CONTACT911™ service center in your State, a
busy is almost certainly caused by call volume and not a service outage.
Yes.
The number of minutes included with your plan varies with the level of service
you have chosen. For an instant quote based on your preferences, go to Join Now.
CONTACT911™ will tell you when you've used all of your time and give you the
option to purchase additional minutes.
Usage of CONTACT911™
is automatically tracked and usage reports are available via the Internet. To
access these reports, log in and go to My Account Information. Click on Call Log
- all calling activity is listed there with a summary of how many minutes were
used and how many you have remaining.
Your subscription will renew
automatically until you notify CONTACT911™ by telephone, fax or electronic mail
of your decision to terminate the subscription, or until the subscription is
terminated by CONTACT911™. All fees and charges paid to CONTACT911™ are
nonrefundable.
Your messages are private within
your family/group. When you leave a message, everyone within your group will
receive that message. No one but your family can listen to your messages.
CONTACT911™ will not listen to, make public, modify, or in any other way
interfere with the contents of your messages.
While CONTACT911™ is not a
secure communications system, it is as secure as standard consumer telephone
communications. We do offer the maximum amount of security that can be provided
by requiring use of an account number and PIN code to change your account
information. Using a PIN code to record and retrieving messages is optional.
Although PIN codes provide some level of security and identification capability,
it cannot be considered a truly secure system.
CONTACT911™ is NOT a telephone company but does rely on the
Qwest and AT&T communications backbones.
CONTACT911™ is NOT in any way whatsoever a part of, or affiliated with the national 911
Emergency system.
Contact-911, Inc. is a subsidiary of
CIQ, Inc., a Florida based communications company. Since it's formation over ten
years ago, CIQ has serviced the Interactive Voice Response needs of thousands of
corporations in all 50 States. The company currently processes over 13 million
calls a year at its fully automated, state-of-the-art call center.
CONTACT911™ features world-class client support. If you do
not find the answer to your specific question, you can email us anytime at
support@contact911.com,
fill out this
form, or call us toll free at 1-800-886-5110.
Within one to two weeks after completing your contact list on line or via phone, you will receive your membership packet that contains a letter detailing your account information, a copy of the subscriber agreement, personalized wallet cards for you and your group members, another card that can be placed by your phone or on the refrigerator and detailed printed instructions for using the service. Separate the folding wallet card from the other card by folding it in half and separating along the perforation. The wallet card now folds in half again. If you subscribed to the CONTACT911™ service electronically, you will receive the above material electronically, immediately following your subscription. Distribute the cards to your group members and sign the emergency personnel authorization.