Some cordless phones have been reported to do that when they run low on battery:
911 and 611 should work. 611 will get you through to the access provider (verizon, att whatever) and by providing a credit card number you could make a call on a deactivated cell phone (at a very expensive rate, but it does work).
Also dialing 911 will put some phones on emergency mode which will give them access to systems that normally they wouldn’t be allowed on for about 5 minutes after the 911 call.
I researched this really hard (google groups) before disconnecting my cell phone service. I keep it for emergencies. I think I had to find a “secret menu” to change the phone to a providerless service. That is, there’s a code somewhere that lets the phone know it connects to Verizon vs. whomever else is out there. Also I reprogrammed the number to 1234567890 (something like that) so that it would be recognized as an unsubscribed phone. If I try to dial it now, I get connected to something called the American Roaming Network and asked for a credit card number. In the event I really, really need to call AAA, that $2/minute is still cheaper than $360/year for an essentially unused phone. Oh yeah, and 911 works, free.
“cheaper than $360/year for an essentially unused phone.”
You should be able to get a pay as you go phone for around $7 a month. 7-11 usually has some deal on these as does Tracfone.
Paying $2/minute “as I go” is still cheaper than $7/month ($84/year). Really, it’s not that I’m cheap or can’t afford it (remember, I use Macs :)). I just don’t jabber constantly to anyone. I did consider one of those prepaid cell-phones, thinking I could drop a couple of hundred bucks a single time and have minutes available for the rest of my life. BUT, the catch is they expire in 30-60-90 days. So aside from not choosing that option, I wonder if it’s only suckers that choose that option since assuming you have to use those minutes before they expire, the per-minute rate is drastically higher than a conventional plan (even out of contract).
I’ve noticed that it seems that the pre-paid cell phones are marketed towards people without good credit (“No Credit Check!!!”) or who fear the year-long commitment of a cell phone. I think that they are also aimed at poorer people who don’t think that they can afford a cell phone.
It seems that most of the services aimed at poor people are generally bad deals. (Pre-paid cell, Rent-to-own furniture, buy here/ pay here vehicles, paycheck advance loans, …)