Ok so you’ve missed a couple payments, and they “big company X” closed your cell phone account. Then your house-phone get’s shut off. You just graduated college and can’t afford anything, your bartending at a dive pub with peanut shells on the floor and hating everyminute of it because you have your masters and the red-nosed guy your serving that high-ball to can not even pronounce synesthetic. You close up bar, go home in your old beat up Fiat and walk in the door. You can’t even get a buzz on because the only thing in your fridge is moldy musturd. So you go to sleep. Then at 3 am, you hear a crash downstairs, it’s a robber. They want to take your delapatated tv and nintendo.
Could you dial 911 on your cell phone and have it go through? Even though the service has been cut off? I know you can call your service provider when your phone has been turned off…what about 911?
The 911 call will go through. So those that have a cell “just for emergencies” do not really need a service plan.
I have been told that any old cell will work regardless of service. When a number is sent, the cell phone operator in the area of service can be reached and if the caller provides a credit card number, that call may be paid for individually.
Just do not tell the operator about your “moldy musturd,” people with musturd that have not properly care for their musturd are not permitted to use phones of any type.
Yes, and for you paranoid types, many modern cell phones also have a GPS chip in them which is supposed to activate even if the phone service is shut down. That’s Phase II of the E911 program.
With my own phone, I have to pay to use the GPS feature, but Sprint (and The Man) theoretically know where I am at all times. In practice, I suspect they don’t have a clue.
But that brings up an interesting question. Can a law enforcement agency force your service provider to cough up your GPS location if you are a fugitive?
FTR, the story is fictional. Those who know me on the boards should know that. Thanks for the info. I have a two way radio built into my motorola so I’m not too concerned.
I don’t have a factual answer but this is a huge privacy question raised with regard to this service. You might want to start a new thread on that one.
You can (in Sweden at least on the GSM network) call 112 (european 911) on a phone that does not even have a SIM card in it. There are various programs where you can donate old cellphones to people living in “risky” situations (abusive family members etc) so thaty they can call 112 if needed.
Law enforcement agencies can do pretty much whatever they want if they get a court order or warrant. I don’t know whether there’s a specific provision in, say, the “Patriot Act” that allows for the release of that information without a court order but with a court order those records are definitely available.
And yes, the “whatever they want” bit is hyperbolic. But not by much.
“112 is the GSM international standard emergency access number, which can only be dialled on digital mobile phones. It cannot be dialled from the fixed network or from new technology such as CDMA. The advantage of 112 is that it can be dialled anywhere in the world with GSM coverage and automatically translated to that country’s emergency number. 112 can also be dialled in any network coverage area (for example, in Australia, it could be dialled on a Vodafone mobile out of coverage and connected to 000 by MobileNet where there is Telstra coverage) and without the presence of a SIM card or having to key in a security-protection key.”
112 is a free call from your cellphone, and is routed directly to MRI (Medical Research International). If you are a member of CareCall, your details will appear to MRI when you call them.
112 operates throughout South Africa 24 hours a day. The service provides advice and assistance on most critical circumstances, including medical advice, fire, police, roadside assistance, and snakebite/poison information. You can even dial 112 without a SIM card in your phone."
Yep. I have an old 1997 era cell phone that I’ve kept in the car for just that reason. I’ve used it regularly to report ladders on the freeway, scary drunk drivers weaving around at 75mph, etc. No worries about the battery because I just plug it into the cigarette lighter with the adapter. When the 911 operator asks for my number I explain the situation and give my home number.
There’s also a program up here in the pacific northwest that privides old cellphones to women’s shelters; they hand them out to people at risk of domestic violence for the 911 service.
Just for the record, this is crap, or at best missleading. The number 112 can be dialed from all telephones, land-lines, public phones etc in the EU to reach emergency services.
Thanks for the clarification. Maybe that’s valid for the EU, but it might not be valid in countries where 112 is not an emergency number (or where 112 is not mapped to emergency services for fixed line phones). Perhaps the EU maps 112 from fixed lines to local emergency numbers. Or is 112 itself the emergency number in the EU?
If I dial 112 from my fixed line phone, I’d get an error tone (since 112 does not exist as an emergency number here - the emergency number here is 100).
I can dial 112 from my Canadian GSM phone; it’s mapped onto the usual emergency number of 911. I can also dial these numbers on my Motorola L7089 without a SIM card present: the phone’s display says ‘check card’ but lets me go ahead and dial anyways.
I just tested this by moving into the part of my apartment that doesn’t have signal before dialing.
I had an old cell phone, I think it was an Ericsson - which would just shut off once it had tried a network and found it wasn’t activated. No way to dial emergency on it.
If anyone wants the model number I can go dig it out of my closet
Obviously, if you hadn’t been charging the phone’s battery because you hadn’t been using the phone for a while, it wouldn’t work. Otherwise, it should work.
I believe that most wireless carriers in the US do route 112 to 911.
Used phones are okay but some are locked & without the code for them you can’t use them to do much. I wonder how to test this to see if they work for that number? I suppose a visit to the local police dept & asking them would be the best way.
My sim card asks for a code when you power on the phone. If I type 112 instead of the code and press the dial button it shows “Attempting emergency call”. I’m assuming this works with a phone lock on as well, but I’m not sure.
