Think about where you get good phone service and where you don’t. Sometimes, your provider has pockets of dead space. If you had a crash or broke down in one of those spots, you wouldn't be able to call for help.
Unless of course, you had an old phone in your glove compartment. Yup, you need to fish out that old phone out of a drawer and charge it up.
“All phones are still required to be able to call 911, even if you don't pay for service,” says a deputy sheriff. That's right, a decommissioned cellphone and charger in your glove box can come in handy.
According to Very Well Health this is how it works (and doesn’t):
*You won't be able to get calls or make calls to anyone --but 911
*The company you bought the phone from has to still be in business, if not there will be no signal usable.
*GPS does not work on these phones, so you have to give the 911 operator all the location information. And if you can't speak into the phone, they can't locate you by a ping.
*If you get disconnected, 911 cannot call you back because the phone doesn't have a number. You have to initiate the call.
