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  3. /Why Samsung Phones Are Failing Emergency Calls in Australia
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  3. /Why Samsung Phones Are Failing Emergency Calls in Australia
Nov 19, 2025 at 1:43 PM EST

Why Samsung Phones Are Failing Emergency Calls in Australia

mivok
47 points
16 comments

Mood

thoughtful

Sentiment

negative

Category

tech

Key topics

Samsung Phones

Emergency Calls

Telecom Issues

Debate intensity20/100

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 engagement

First comment

33s

Peak period

10

Day 1

Avg / period

10

Comment distribution10 data points
Loading chart...

Based on 10 loaded comments

Key moments

  1. 01Story posted

    Nov 19, 2025 at 1:43 PM EST

    4d ago

    Step 01
  2. 02First comment

    Nov 19, 2025 at 1:43 PM EST

    33s after posting

    Step 02
  3. 03Peak activity

    10 comments in Day 1

    Hottest window of the conversation

    Step 03
  4. 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

Discussion (16 comments)
Showing 10 comments of 16
danishSuri1994
4d ago
2 replies
I’m curious whether this is an RRC/IMS stack issue on Samsung’s implementation or something carrier-side in Australia’s 000 routing setup.

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.

nomel
4d ago
3 replies
What's the difference with emergency calls? (I know nothing of this.)
pta2002
4d ago
Namely the fact that emergency calls can be routed through other networks that aren’t your own (in fact, you can place an emergency call without a SIM).
testing22321
4d ago
You can also make emergency calls when you don’t have enough signal for regular calls.

It forces it through

ssl-3
4d ago
I don't know how it is with VoLTE and other recent things (it may be the same; it may be different), but at one time in cellular world: Emergency calls differed from other calls in that they Must Always Work.

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.

*: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWc3WY3fuZU

Maxious
4d ago
> Emergency call handling tends to expose edge cases that normal calls never hit.

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...

more_corn
4d ago
Nobody should have a Samsung phone now or in the future due to the mandatory, total, and permanent Samsung boycott over putting ads on their damned refrigerators.
ChrisArchitect
4d ago
Some more discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45981608
doener
4d ago
Dupe: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45981608
asdefghyk
4d ago
on a side related issue , there was much criticism of the 3g shutdown in Australia. including lack of preparation - google words - criticism of 3g shutdown in Australia

6 more comments available on Hacker News

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ID: 45983312Type: storyLast synced: 11/22/2025, 10:20:08 AM

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