Why Samsung Phones Are Failing Emergency Calls in Australia
Mood
thoughtful
Sentiment
negative
Category
tech
Key topics
Samsung Phones
Emergency Calls
Telecom Issues
Samsung phones are experiencing issues with emergency calls in Australia, sparking discussion about the cause and potential implications for users; commenters are speculating about the technical reasons behind the problem and its scope.
Snapshot generated from the HN discussion
Discussion Activity
Moderate engagementFirst comment
33s
Peak period
10
Day 1
Avg / period
10
Based on 10 loaded comments
Key moments
- 01Story posted
Nov 19, 2025 at 1:43 PM EST
4d ago
Step 01 - 02First comment
Nov 19, 2025 at 1:43 PM EST
33s after posting
Step 02 - 03Peak activity
10 comments in Day 1
Hottest window of the conversation
Step 03 - 04Latest activity
Nov 19, 2025 at 6:03 PM EST
4d ago
Step 04
Generating AI Summary...
Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns
Emergency call handling tends to expose edge cases that normal calls never hit. Would be interesting to know if this affects only certain models or firmware branches.
It forces it through
An emergency call can connect using any tower that is compatible with the caller's hardware -- with or without service provisioned, and with or without any sort of SIM.
Need help, and find a dusty phone somewhere? Turn it on, call emergency services using 0118 999 881 999 119 725 3 [*], and if there's any cell service within range that it is physically capable of chatting with then the call will go through.
It will kick other users off if that's necessary in order to allow the emergency call to happen.
There's nothing to bill, so there's no billing systems (or even billing logic) to get in the way either.
It's intended to always work.
Indeed. It now has been revealed even telcos were not doing real world tests https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-08/surprise-drill-for-te... and new laws were passed this month that they must make it possible for an independent university to do testing https://www.acma.gov.au/articles/2025-10/acma-strengthens-in...
6 more comments available on Hacker News
Want the full context?
Jump to the original sources
Read the primary article or dive into the live Hacker News thread when you're ready.