Man am I glad the only time I had to call 911 from my cellphone was before they put that alarm in. I was held up at gunpoint on walking home from work a few years ago and I could still see the jerks running away when I was connected to the 911 operator. I can't imagine what would have happened if they'd turned back to take my phone off me while I was calling for help.

That being said, it gives me greater motivation to do what I've known I should do since I moved: Call the local police and ask for their direct line to program into the phone. 911 calls from cellphones aren't always routed to the local department, and it can take up to five minutes to be transfered to someone in your area, or so I was told the one time I did dial 911.

Sigh. I really didn't need anything else to make switching phone carriers more attractive.