Cell phones forum: Cell Phone & 911

What are the makes/model numbers? A CDMA handset would probably be your best choice since that system is a long way from being replaced per se. In any case, we need to know what you have to know which one works. There's also the issue of the legalities of testing it out without there actually being an emergency. In this case I'd call the local non-emergency number (usually, 311) to see what they recommend for the non-user cell phone owner for emergency purposes.

hth,
Pedro

You do bring up a great point about a non-regular user forgetting about the phone in the glove box and losing battery power though. Even if the handset battery is dead, it won't matter as much if they can simply use A/C (if home) or a car charger to squeeze in the 911 call.

Frankly though, it doesn't sound like the OP is tolerant enough of cell phones to even go prepaid .

As mentioned, any old cellphone that works on a currently available network is supposed to be able to dial 911. Here's a way you can test the cellphone without making a nuisance call to 911. I can't promise this will work with every phone, but I have done it successfully with old unserviced phones before. Turn on the phone and dial operator. Here's a secret that few use. If you want to have a cellphone for NON-emergencies that you RARELY use, here's something that's even cheaper than prepaid. Just turn on the phone, call operator, and place a credit card call. Yes, that's right. You can "pay-as-you-go" on the spot with your credit card. No plan, no prepaid card, no nothing. Now, you will be charged an ungodly amount of money for the call, but if you want the phone for only rare occurrences, this is still cheaper than any prepaid plan. Even if it's $10 per minute, you don't have to worry about cards that expire, or some minimum monthly fee, or minimum number of minutes to purchase. You can keep the phone for five years, make one single phone call, then it works out to, what, fifteen cents a month?