Airltel Emergency Alert Service: Fight Crime Against Women

India’s capital, New Delhi, is increasingly become insecure for women. Crime against women  have been on the rise since many years. With the gang-rape of a 23 year old physiotherapist inside a moving bus in New Delhi –the concern of the nation against such ghastly incidents has reached a crescendo. But then it’s not only Delhi –crime against women take place everywhere on the globe. More and better mechanisms to ensure safety and security of womenfolk are the need of time.

Here comes technology for help.

Now, a mobile phone service is available that can help women to raise alarm in case of an emergency. This is India’s first mobile phone-based alert service. If a subscriber gets into trouble or if s/he just want to tell near and dear ones that s/he is safe; this service comes very handy. Here are more details about this service.

• When the subscriber wants to send a notification, she would just need to dial and make a call to 55100
• Subscribers can also send a text message SAFE to 55100 if they just want to notify that they are safe. They can send HELP to 55100 if they found themselves in trouble and need help.
• As soon as the call connects or SMS is sent, text and voice messages will be instantly sent to the 10 pre-configured mobile phone numbers. These messages will also contain the location of the subscriber.
• Alerts will be sent even if the call gets disconnected right after getting connected.
• Subscriber has the option of enabling tracking mode of this service. If enabled, updated location information will be sent every ten minute for next half-an-hour. This is very useful if the subscriber is being transported in a vehicle against her wish.
• When a subscriber will send an alert, all the people on alert list will get a pre-recorded voice message (OBD call) from 8527355100.
• This service gets activated as soon the subscription is made. The service remains with you all the time of all the days.
• The service can be used on any basic mobile handset. You DON’T need any special handset.
• You also DON’T need 3G, GPRS, or any kind of Mobile Internet or broadband service.

At present Bharati Airtel provides this service to their subscribers. But other cellular service providers are expected to begin this service soon. Currently Airtel charges Rs. 30 for unlimited use for one month. For postpaid customers Rs. 30 will be added to their monthly bill. If a prepaid customer activates this service, first Rs. 30 for 30 days will be charged. In case the customer does not have Rs. 30 in balance; Rs. 10 for 10 days will be charged. If this charging also gets failed; the prepaid customer will be charged Rs. 1.5 for one day.

HindustanTimes.com reported Alka Pandey, a 30 years olds software engineer from Delhi, saying, “It works on even the most basic handsets and does not require internet access, Wi-fi, GPS, GPRS or even a subscription balance”. Another respondent, Babita Raturi, 27, said, “In an unsafe city like Delhi, it can prove very handy”

How to subscribe and use Emergency Alert Service on Airtel

To subscribe to this service on Airtel, you can send a START to 55100 or call 55100 (toll-free). Your monthly subscription will start.

Now you will need to invite a maximum of 10 people whom you want to send alerts through this service. You can invite these people through 55100.

You can start the service and invite people in one go by sending START <space> <1stMobileNumber><space><2ndMobileNumber>… and so on… then SMS it to 55100

The invitees will get an SMS saying that you are being added to the list of subscriber. Each invitee would have to reply YES <subscriber’s mobile no> to 8527355100 within 3 days of receiving the invitation. If the reply is not made within 3 days –the invitee will not get alerts

When the invitee will accept the invite, the service subscriber will get a message that the so-and-so person has accepted the invite (and therefore will receive alerts sent by the subscribers.)

To activate tracking mode all you need to do is to send a message TRACK<space>ON to 55100. Tracking can be deactivated by sending an SMS TRACK<space>OFF to 55100. You can also enable or disable tracking mode by calling 55100

To Readers: Please let me know if there are any mistakes need to be corrected or updates need to be made in the above information. It is an important service and we should strive to make it a success. If you have any questions, please post and we will see if we can get answers for you.