Patent ID: 8498676

Claim:
A terminated call alert process, comprising: detecting, via a cellular chipset associated with a vehicle-dedicated communications device disposed inside a vehicle, that a voice connection initially established between the vehicle-dedicated communications device and a facility has been terminated; identifying a method used to terminate the initial voice connection via a processor operatively associated with the vehicle-dedicated communications device, the processor executing computer program code encoded on a computer readable medium, wherein: the method used to terminate the initial voice connection includes a purposeful disconnect initiated by the user of the vehicle-dedicated communications device; and the terminating of the initial voice connection via the purposeful disconnect is accomplished by activating a disconnect function operatively associated with the vehicle-dedicated communications device; transmitting a signal from hardware utilized to activate the disconnect function to a cellular chipset operatively connected to the vehicle-dedicated communications device, the signal indicating that a communication channel for the initial voice communication is no longer established; automatically disconnecting the telematics unit from the communication channel; and automatically transmitting an SMS message from the vehicle-dedicated communications device to the facility upon disconnecting the vehicle-dedicated communications device from the communication channel, the SMS message indicating that the initial voice connection was terminated purposefully.