If our phone doesn’t have any bars, how can you still call for help? Will the “Emergency Calls Only” work?

Question

If our phone doesn’t have any bars, how can you still call for help? Will the “Emergency Calls Only” work?

In: 20

Answer 1

Because emergency calls have to be allowed on any carrier’s network, not just the network you have your cell phone plan with. E.g. you can call 911 and the call could be handled by AT&T towers even if you have a Verizon phone.

This is also true for landlines that are functional but don’t have paid service (i.e. your house has a landline but you don’t pay for landline service bc you only use your cell phone) – if you plug in a land line phone you can use it to call 911.