End of 911 service on old cell phones 'an area of concern' for at-risk people

The coming end of service for old cell phones could be a concern for some vulnerable people in Vancouver, according to police and an outreach group.

Over the years, the Vancouver Police and other groups have given at-risk people free phones that use older Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology, because despite not being on a plan, these phones can still call 911.

On Jan. 31, CDMA phones will no longer work in B.C. and won't be able to dial 911.

"There were a variety of phones handed out for a variety of reasons," VPD spokesperson Randy Fincham said. "Certainly there were benefits for some of these individuals who may have needed that extra bit of help, that help was readily available through 911."

"[Now] if they were to pick up one of those phones expecting to call 911 to get help for any reason, then that phone would no longer be able to use that function at the end of January."

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Fincham says the phones were given out by a number of officers to crime victims, particularly the elderly,sex trade workers or people who could not afford a phone of their own.

Sales of CDMA phones largely ended in B.C. in 2009, but between then and the fall of 2016 when the VPD was made aware of the end of CDMA service, Fincham estimates hundreds were handed out by police.

Phones make'big, big difference'

Mebrat Beyene,executive director of WISH, a non-profit group that helps sex trade workers on the Downtown Eastside, says the free phones were "a hot commodity" for her clients.

While many sex trade workers pay for their own phones, she says the free phones were popular, and WISH helped distribute as many as 20 a month.

"That is an area of concern," she said. "That piece, phones that may not have had data but it's still possible to make a 911 call does make a really, big, big difference."

She says part of the challenge of getting the word out about the discontinued phone service and finding replacement phones for marginalized women is that it's not clear how many are still out there, who is still using them and where they are.

Fincham says police are now working to distribute only phones using the newer GSM standard those which can accept a SIM card. Those phonescan still make 911 calls without a plan.

Police are now encouraging the public to donate phones capable of taking a SIM card so they can be distributed. Fincham says SIM cards should not be donated along with the phones, and the phones will be wiped once received by police.