You don’t need a SIM for 911.
I was going to post to say this, too. By law all cell phones in the US (and Canada, too) must be able to connect to emergency services without being activated. You don’t need a SIM card to connect to a cellular network, it just identifies you on a network. But a cell phone without service is still mandated to be used to dial 911.
Wow, good to know.
This makes for a good reason to keep an old phone around. E.g., charge it up, power it down, throw it in the glove compartment. Check on it once in a while. Good for an emergency when your regular phone is dead.
(One problem is the craze for upgrading phone networks. The old analog system is dead. CDMA is going away. Older GSM will go away. Etc. So make sure the phone still operates on available networks.)
Is there a way to test that 911 works without calling in a false alarm?
I have actually seen advice from quite respectable sources that calling and checking to see if you have 911 service is okay.
But …
There is such a huge variety of 911 service centers I’m far from sure that all of them would welcome such “Just checking.” calls.
Note that if you call using a phone without a SIM and hangup once it’s clear the call is going thru it may not be easy to trace it back* to you if they aren’t happy about this. But still, you might be making some people unhappy so I, for one, would rather not test this without being more sure such a call is not a problem.
- Triangulation using cell towers can sometimes narrow down your position to, for example, your house. If GPS is enabled on your phone then that can get recorded and you’re really pegged. Note that some phones re-enable GPS if you have it turned off when you make a 911 call.
Thanks for the info. While they would probably not go to the trouble of tracing a one-off hangup (as opposed to a malicious false report or repeated hangups), I guess you never know, and in any case I don’t want to take an even minuscule chance that I might be distracting someone from a genuine emergency.
That’s the problem I face. I have a smartwatch that is capable of operating as a standalone phone, so it should be able to call 911 without syncing to my phone, but I’ve been afraid to try it.
How do I place a “test” call to make sure 911 works for me?
Test calls confirm that your local 911 service can receive your 911 call and has the correct location information. Test calls can be scheduled by contacting your local 911 call center via its non-emergency phone number. To contact the local 911 center responsible for answering calls from your location, go here and click on the state in which you are located. The person responsible for operating the state’s 911 system will be identified, and they should know who you should talk to at your local 911 call center, to schedule a day and time for test calls.
I have no idea how easy it is to schedule a test call, but one thing to keep in mind is that if your phone has no plan, the 911 center can’t use the phone to locate you nor can they call you back if disconnected.
Thanks, I’ll look into that.
The “no call back” is true if the phone is not in service. But note my previous post on possible ways that can locate you. Which is far from my primary worry. It’s just annoying the local 911 service I mainly care about.
Thanks for the 911 FAQ link.
From the FAQ:
“calls to 911 on phones without active service do not deliver the caller’s location to the 911 call center”
In such a situation, the 911 call center can’t triangulate your phone during an emergency call. They aren’t getting that data. They aren’t receiving any GPS data either.
I mean if you want to list all the possible, technical, theoretical ways a cell can be located, have fun doing that, but is a 911 call center set up to get that information from a cell without active service? The answer is no.