Is it true that all US cell phones have the inherent ability to make a live connection to 911 (emergency service)?
Is this true regardless of whether the account is paid up or long-cancelled?
Is this true regardless of whether the cell phone remains in the physical area covered by the original service plan or has been removed to some other location?
On this site, the claim is made that you do not have to have a current plan in place, just a functioning cell phone. I should probably take them at their word but I thought you needed an account in order to even make a connection to a carrier that would receive the digits that you dial.
From what I have always heard, you can still dial 911. “Women and Children’s in Crisis” ask for old cell phones as donations, so that they may give these phones to women in abusive situations. You must keep the battery charged. The woman can hide the phone and use it if things get out of hand.
You should be able to. It’s been required for several years. But, phone companies mess up. I would advise checking first, but I don’t know a practical way to do this without annoying the 911 people.
On some phones (usually older), you can even make collect/credit card calls without signing up. I have two of these for emergencies. (Barely need a phone at all, let alone a cell phone.)
I don’t know what standard they use in the US, but in Europe all cellphones can dial the universal number ‘112,’ whether or not they have a SIM card in place, which connects to the Police emergency switchboard. This number free of charge and standard right across Europe - i.e. independent of the varying local emergency numbers such as 999 in England or whatever.
Interestingly, it’s even possible to dial 112 on my Nokia phone without unlocking the keypad. When dialing the first two digits nothing happens, but when you press the third one in the sequence the display lights up and shows 112. Pressing the green button would then dial the number. I guess this is to make it possible to call for help as quickly as possible.
Some other types of phone display the message ‘emergency calls only’ if switched on without the SIM card in place.
No, even the latest state of the art telephone can make credit card calls without a current account. You may need to search Google groups to get the unlock codes to free up your phone, or a quick trip to the original store should do the trick for you. Sure, calls may be $6/minute, but for an emergency is fine. That’s what I do since I realized I paid $30/month for never, ever using my cell phone. I’ve used it twice, and get the America’s Roaming Network which last time cost me $12 for a few minutes. Oh well, still cheaper than anything else for the amount of usage.
No, even the latest state of the art telephone can make credit card calls without a current account. You may need to search Google groups to get the unlock codes to free up your phone, or a quick trip to the original store should do the trick for you. Sure, calls may be $6/minute, but for an emergency is fine. That’s what I do since I realized I paid $30/month for never, ever using my cell phone. I’ve used it twice, and get the America’s Roaming Network which last time cost me $12 for a few minutes. Oh well, still cheaper than anything else for the amount of usage.
My Motorola v120 would dial 911 with the keypad locked, but my Kyocera 3035 wouldn’t.
Some (many/all?) phones will search for analog service when you dial 911 in an area with no digital service, even if you’ve set the phone to “digital only”. (Though of course a phone without analog capability won’t do that.)