1. T-MOBILE GHOST CALLS

2. QUESTION – WHICH OF THESE ARE REAL?
Easter bunny (A)
Bigfoot (B)
Santa Clause (C)
T-MOBILE Ghost Calls (D)
None of the above (E)

3. ANSWER
None of them are real!

4. QUESTION – DID YOU SEE THIS STORY?
Evil T-MOBILE floods Dallas call center with Ghost Calls that endanger citizens of Dallas and overwhelms call takers
Yes (A)
No (B)

5. QUESTION – DID YOU SEE THIS STORY?
Dallas Mayor retracts blame of T-MOBILE and says “staff has misled us for years” regarding staffing & problems at call center
Yes (A)
No (B)

6. QUESTIONS
This is all so confusing – who do we believe?
If Ghost Calls are not real what happened?
If its not TMOB’s fault who is to blame?
What did the mayor mean about being “misled us for years?”
How did we get to this point?

7. GOALS FOR TODAY’S SESSION
The people in this room must understand what happened because none of us can afford to repeat the mistakes that were made in Dallas
Might take an hour of your time, but this is important
Need your input and help
Follow the steps I took in looking for answers

8. GOALS FOR TODAY’S SESSION
Explain Ghost Calls – fact vs. fiction
Offer a possible explanation of what happened
Explain the fallout in TC from the mess in Dallas
Offer suggestions going forward

9. KEVIN’S CLUES ABOUT GHOST CALLS
TMOB only
South Dallas only
Happens only when calls are in queue

10. ROADMAP TO SOLUTION Find out who calls 9-1-1
These are the callers who end up in queue
Find out what happens when callers are in queue
Look at the few facts we have about Dallas
Draw conclusions and develop recommendations

11. WHO CALLS 9-1-1?
5,000 – 6,000 per day
Seasonal – higher in summer and lower in winter
84% come from cell phones
8% from NSI cell phones (9-1-1 Area Code)

12. WHO CALLS 9-1-1?
9-1-1 calls in my city are evenly divided among all neighborhoods in the city (A)
9-1-1 calls in my city are not evenly divided among all neighborhoods – some of my neighborhoods register very few calls while we get a lot from other neighborhoods (B)

13. WHO CALLS 9-1-1?
Most calls in my city come from people in the upper income groups (A)
Most calls in my city come from people in the lower income groups (B)
9-1-1 calls in my city are about evenly split between all income groups (C)

14. WHO CALLS 9-1-1?
Most calls in my city come from people in the higher education groups (college plus) (A)
Most calls in my city come from people in the lower education groups (high school or lower) (B)
9-1-1 calls in my city are about evenly split between all education groups (C)

15. ESTIMATED CELL PHONES BY CARRIER IN TARRANT COUNTY 9-1-1
Total Cell Phones – 1,980,000
ATTMO = 33%
VZW = 30%
TMOB = 27%
SPPCS = 10%

16. WHICH CARRIER NETWORK CALLS 9-1-1 THE MOST?
ATTMO (A)
SPPCS (B)
TMOB (C)
VZW (D)

17. ACTUAL 9-1-1 CALLS BY CARRIER IN TARRANT COUNTY 9-1-1
TMOB                   41.3%
 ATTMO                 36.0%
 SPPCS                   14.4%
 VZW                        8.3%

18. WHY SO MANY 9-1-1 CALLLS FROM TMOB?
Metro PCS started in 2007 & had a big impact here
Metro PCS serves lower income customers who cannot afford or don’t have good enough credit for traditional “post pay” plans from traditional carriers
2 years ago TMOB bought Metro PCS
9-1-1 calls from Metro PCS customers are included in the TMOB calls
Remember the 8% NSI cell phones?

19. PROFILE OF 9-1-1 FREQUENT CALLERS
Probably calling from an economically depressed neighborhood
Probably lower income
Probably lower education
Probably using a MPCSI cell phone which shows TMOB

20. KEVIN’S CLUES ABOUT GHOST CALLS
TMOB only
South Dallas only
Happens only when calls are in queue

21. “QUEUE EFFECT”
Customers in ACD queue are likely to hang up and call back if calls not answered quickly
This is true even if the recording says “do not hang up – your call will be answered in the order received”

22. “QUEUE EFFECT” FOR 9-1-1 CALLS
Southwest Airlines does not try to call you back if you abandon in their queue
Most PSAP’s attempt to call back all callers to who abandon in queue
If a PSAP is understaffed this policy compounds the staffing problem by driving more calls into queue

23. “QUEUE EFFECT” FOR 9-1-1 CALLS
At any given time most of your callers are TMOB
If calls go into queue then most of your callers in queue are TMOB

24. “QUEUE EFFECT” FOR 9-1-1 CALLS
Why would callers in queue hang up and call back?
Language issue?
Not familiar with queue?
Judgement impaired?

25. WHICH CARRIER NETWORK CALLERS ARE MOST LIKELY TO HANG UP IN QUEUE AND CALL BACK?
ATTMO (A)
SPPCS (B)
TMOB (C)
VZW (D)

26. “QUEUE EFFECT” FOR 9-1-1 CALLS
Majority TMOB calls Majority TMOB in queue TMOB majority hang up & call back

27. “QUEUE EFFECT” FOR 9-1-1 CALLS
“But Bill that couldn’t happen here – our time spent in queue isn’t high enough to support a flood of calls”
No it could not happen here!
In May only 3 calls spent 3 minutes in queue
But what if we traveled to another planet . . .

28. “QUEUE EFFECT” FOR 9-1-1 CALLS ON ANOTHER PLANET
Very big city – over 90 call take positions
100 trunks with 100 queue slots
Unbelievably understaffed
2nd shift on Friday & Saturday nights had calls in queue all shift
Most calls were in queue 20 minutes or longer

29. “QUEUE EFFECT” FOR 9-1-1 CALLS ON ANOTHER PLANET
Majority TMOB calls Majority TMOB in queue TMOB majority hang up & call back

30. “QUEUE EFFECT” FOR 9-1-1 CALLS ON ANOTHER PLANET
TMOB callers most likely to hang up and call back
VZW, ATTMO & SPPCS less likely to hang up and call back so their calls clear
Analysis of call data for that entire shift shows what?
Flood of TMOB Ghost Calls!

31. DALLAS 9-1-1 7th largest city in USA (public record)
Over 90 call take positions (public record)
100 trunks with 100 queue slots (public record)
Very understaffed (Dallas Morning News editorial)
Some calls were in queue 20 minutes (TV interview with man whose husband died)

32. DALLAS 9-1-1
What did the mayor mean when he said “staff has misled us for years?”
How bad the staffing really was (Dallas Morning News editorial)
Handout – excerpt from Dallas Morning News - March 20, 2017
ESIF conference – May 2017

33. GHOST CALLS REALLY QUEUE EFFECT
Callers who call and abandon the call and then call back later
Can and do happen on all wireless networks
TMOB stood out because most calls come from TMOB
Long times in queue magnify the problem

34. QUESTIONS SO FAR?

35. QUESTION?
I think I understand Ghost Calls and what happened in Dallas
Yes (A)
No (B)

36. FALLOUT #1
“But they’re Ghost Calls there’s nothing we can do about them . . .”

37. RECOMMENDATION #1
Please make sure all call takers know that Ghost Calls are not real
Please make sure that if you are having a problem PLEASE call someone here
That’s why we are here

38. FALLOUT #2
“Council wants to know what we can do to make sure what happened in Dallas does not happen here . . .”

39. RECOMMENDATION #2
Make sure your staffing does not reach critical point
Share ASA with your boss and all the way up to Council
If Dallas Council had been monitoring ASA for the past 4 years do you think this would have been avoided?

40. LAST CHANCE FOR QUESTIONS?

41. GOALS FOR TODAY’S SESSION
Explain Ghost Calls – fact vs. fiction
Offer a possible explanation of what happened
Explain the fallout from mess in Dallas in TC
Offer suggestions going forward

42. QUESTION?
Did we meet the goals for today’s session?
Yes (A)
No (B)

43. FOR COPIES OF EVERYTHING