Old cell phones

MaggieMae

Reality bits
Apr 3, 2009
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I have a Tracfone that I no longer use, but never actually cancelled the service because I rarely used it, but for awhile I was keeping it in my car just in case I had to dial 911. (It was my understanding that even if you ran out of minutes or let whatever else you subscribed to expire, anyone could still use the phone for an emergency call to 911.)

I now have a different cell phone that I do use, but I wanted to give the Tracfone to an elderly neighbor who will need to drive her husband to the VA hospital about once a week, and I think she should have that simple emergency capability available. She's scared to death of anything electronic, so isn't apt to buy one for herself.

Anyone know for sure that you can still call 911 from any expired cell phone as long as it's still operational but has no time left?

Thanks.
 
I have a Tracfone that I no longer use, but never actually cancelled the service because I rarely used it, but for awhile I was keeping it in my car just in case I had to dial 911. (It was my understanding that even if you ran out of minutes or let whatever else you subscribed to expire, anyone could still use the phone for an emergency call to 911.)

I now have a different cell phone that I do use, but I wanted to give the Tracfone to an elderly neighbor who will need to drive her husband to the VA hospital about once a week, and I think she should have that simple emergency capability available. She's scared to death of anything electronic, so isn't apt to buy one for herself.

Anyone know for sure that you can still call 911 from any expired cell phone as long as it's still operational but has no time left?

Thanks.

You will have to reactivate the phone and put time on it. Most people who recieve ss can qualify for free cell phones with free montly minutes. Tell her to get in touch with ss.
 
I have a Tracfone that I no longer use, but never actually cancelled the service because I rarely used it, but for awhile I was keeping it in my car just in case I had to dial 911. (It was my understanding that even if you ran out of minutes or let whatever else you subscribed to expire, anyone could still use the phone for an emergency call to 911.)

I now have a different cell phone that I do use, but I wanted to give the Tracfone to an elderly neighbor who will need to drive her husband to the VA hospital about once a week, and I think she should have that simple emergency capability available. She's scared to death of anything electronic, so isn't apt to buy one for herself.

Anyone know for sure that you can still call 911 from any expired cell phone as long as it's still operational but has no time left?

Thanks.

You will have to reactivate the phone and put time on it. Most people who recieve ss can qualify for free cell phones with free montly minutes. Tell her to get in touch with ss.

I doubt she is going to want to go through the machinations with SS for this purpose. I did find the link which gave me the information I was looking for a year or so ago. So I plan to call the local non-emergency police and see what they have to say.

Thanks anyway.

Inactive Cell Phones Can Still Call 911 « Broken Secrets
 
That is very kind of you to watch out for your neighbors.

If you used the phone a lot, you may want to pull or clean the SIM card first.

I donate my old cell phones to a local org that refurbishes them, and sends them overseas to our military.
 
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I kid you not I saw a phone that I don't know the model but was popular around 1999-2000 in an antique mall the other day for $25.
 
That is very kind of you to watch out for your neighbors.

If you used the phone a lot, you may want to pull or clean the SIM card first.

I donate my old cell phones to to a local org that refurbishes them, and sends them overseas to our military.

Hi -- no, I didn't use that one a lot. I did delete all personal information, but I doubt my friend would have abused it in that regard anyway. I agree that old cell phones should not wind up in landfills when they can be used for a lot of purposes by a lot of people.
 
I kid you not I saw a phone that I don't know the model but was popular around 1999-2000 in an antique mall the other day for $25.

I don't think anything becomes an antique until it's at least a hundred years old. But landline phones always did come in a variety of, shall we say, interesting styles. Of course I'm old enough to remember when we had to have an operator dial the number for us, and we had a two-party phone system, meaning a neighbor down the street might be yaking at the moment you wanted to make a call. And we all still thought that was progress! Blows your mind, I'll bet!
 

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