Ottawa’s emergency operators dealt with some 27,000 inadvertent 911 calls in 2009, representing 12% of all emergency calls and resulting in many unnecessary police attendances, according to a recent report.

Many of these accidental calls result from cell phones being dialed in callers’ pockets or handbags, which is especially likely to happen when ’911′ is placed on speed dial, and a high percentage of the inadvertent callers immediately hang up.

“The most intuitive reaction when you accidentally call 911 is hang up and hope that nobody realizes that 911 was called,” commented Ottawa police Staff Sgt. Sandra McLaren. “In actual fact, it’s that reaction that will cost us a lot of time.”

When a 911 call is terminated, operators must follow a procedure of calling back and asking the person a series of questions to ensure that there isn’t an emergency. If such calls go unanswered, police are deployed, McLaren explained, noting that the best thing for mistaken 911 callers to do is remain on the line.

“We can get to the bottom of this much more quickly than if the person hangs up,” she explained. “Every minute we can save in a 911 environment is a very precious minute to everybody.”

The Ottawa-basesd Public Interest Advocacy Centre is complaining to telecom regulators about Bell Mobility, due to a $100 promotion that the carrier is offering in place of a $67 CRTC-ordered rebate.

In August, the CRTC ordered Bell, along with Telus and MTS, to refund a substantial amount of money to local telephone customers. The funds, which had been set aside for rural broadband expansion, amounted to $67.41 per Bell Canada customer.

Now, Bell is offering customers a $100 coupon in lieu of the rebate, in exchange for signing a two-year Bell TV or Bell Mobility contract.

“They’re basically providing an incentive to customers with their own money,” commented Public Interest Advocacy Centre executive director, Michael Janigan, when interviewed by CBC News.

Bell stands behind the offer, however, stating that it will benefit consumers.

“Considering that several hundred thousand people will sign up for a new Bell service at this time of year in any event, the promotion makes sense for a large number of customers who would be selecting a new Bell service anyway,” commented Bell spokeswoman, Marie-Eve Francoeur. “Keep in mind that we are offering almost 33 per cent greater value with the promotion than the rebate, and that $100 is on top of any other applicable promotions we have in market. Again, it’s the customer’s decision to choose the offer or the rebate cheque.”

Bell Canada has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit alleging that it overbilled a number of landline and wireless customers in Ontario.

The company apparently charged late fees to customers that paid their phone bills by cheque, before the deadline listed on the bill.

Bell denies any fault or obligation in the case, but has agreed to take certain actions in order to rectify the dispute. These actions include changes to the way late fees are calculated as well as account credits to current customers who are disputing their late fees. For people who are no longer Bell customers or cannot be identified, Bell will make charitable contributions on their behalf.

Listening in strangers’ cell phone calls is hard for human brain to resist, according to a new study published in the journal, Psychological Science.

“We have less control to move our attention away from half a conversation than when listening to a dialogue,” explained Lauren Emberson, a Ph.D. candidate at Cornell University who conducted a study into the distracting effects of overhearing ramdom conversations.

Participants in the study were asked to perform various computerized tasks that required attention, while listening to recordings of one- and two-sided conversations. The volunteers were found to perform significantly worse when listening to only one side of a phone call, indicating a higher level of distraction.

Emberson believes that this is because our brains are trained to ignore predictable things, but will perk up when faced with an unpredictable series of statements and silences.

A person who listens to such a conversation and tries to figure out what’s being said isn’t necessarily evesdropping, Emberson says. “Their cognitive mechanism basically means that they’re forced to listen.”

Magic Talk is similar to Skype in that it allows users to place VoIP calls through a broadband internet connection. Skype charges a small fee for calls to ‘SkypeOut’ calls to landline and cellular phones, however, whereas all Magic Talk calls are free.

The company hopes to make money by charging other phone companies for incoming calls to Magic Talk numbers. Whether such a business model is viable remains to be seen.