There's a spam email doing the rounds at the moment which is probably being spread by kind-hearted but ill-informed Londoners worried about travelling on the Tube.
It suggests that "if your mobile phone has no signal (so even if you were in a tunnel) if you dial 112 it diverts to a satellite signal and puts you through to the 999 call centre. ALL phone companies have signed up and as it is a satellite service it also gives them a trace to you if you don't know where you are."
It is, though, total nonsense. While 112 is the pan-European emergency number (and so dialling 112 above ground will connect you to 999), in the deep sections of the underground there is no phone signal at all. Satellite signals don't penetrate hundreds of feet of earth, and even the police's special Airwave radios don't yet function on the Tube.
Transport for London has some more:
"This e-mail is incorrect. The 112 number does link people through to 999, but it only works if you have a signal on your mobile phone. If you have no signal bars on your phone, it will not work.
"It will not divert to a satellite signal. Even with a satellite mobile phone (which very few people have), you would need to have a clear line-of-sight to the satellite. You would have to be outside, not in a building or a tube tunnel."
If this comes your way, ignore it - or let your friends know that they've been had.
(thanks Simon)
