Cell Phone Consumer Information

I.C.E. stands for In Case of Emergency, and is a simple thing you can do to make sure the right people are contacted if you're ever involved in an emergency situation.

The idea was conceived by a paramedic in Cambridge, England who was frustrated by not knowing who to contact when he was treating injured patients who could not provide the information themselves.

The campaign encourages cell phone owners to put an entry in their cellular phonebook for I.C.E. with the appropriate number they want called in the event of an emergency. Emergency personnel can easily check the cell phone for an ICE entry and reach whoever's contact information is listed.

"If there is a number in their phone, an 'ICE' number, we can use that as a tool," says Seattle Fire Captain Preston Bang, who says it could help in a variety of situations. "Something as simple as a car accident, or maybe as complex as a subway bombing."

It is estimated that 75% of us don't carry information about who we would want contacted in the event of an emergency. ICE is an easy way to remedy that situation. If you have more than one person you'd like contacted, enter them into your phone as ICE.1, ICE.2, and so forth. Or maybe use ICE-mom, ICE-dad, ICE-son, etc. To make it even easier for emergency personnel to find your I.C.E. number, consider entering it with a period in front of it (.ICE) which will force it to the top position of your cellular phone book.

One other consideration is that some cell phones may not allow you to enter the same phone number as someone else already listed in your phone book. If this is a problem for you, enter the ICE number with a "1" in front of the area code. Your cell phone doesn't care whether you use a "1" or not.

Postscripts

There is an urban legend that "ICE" entries stored in cell phones allow viruses to access those units and drain them of their credits. This is completely FALSE! See Snopes for verification of any Urban Legends.

There is a website offering ICE Stickers to place on the back of cell phones to visually alert emergency workers that you have ICE contacts in your cell phone.

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Last Modified: Wednesday, 14-Feb-2007 12:45:15 MST