Emergency 911 calls with your old smartphone

Ever want to carry a cell phone with you just for emergencies. Did you know that all cell phones are required by law to allow you to dial 911, even if your phone doesn't have a cell phone plan? Well that is correct. The FCC’s basic 911 rules require wireless service providers to transmit all 911 calls to a PSAP, regardless of whether the caller subscribes to the provider’s service or not. This is a great reason to hang on to that old smartphone, or any old cell phone that you have laying around. The ability to dial 911 from anywhere is one of the main reasons why people own a cell phone, and over 70% of 911 calls are from wireless phones.

Note: If you use a VoIP service over an internet network, you will not have the ability to dial 911. Instead use the phones main dial pad to accomplish this task.