I want to call on a phone with no service or data?

[Double44]

Hi guys!

I like to keep an old phone in my vehicle at all times for emergency situations, and for some rare calling as well. To some people it might defeat the purpose, but I try to avoid taking my Note3 with me to work, and/or leaving it in the vehicle for an entire work day.. it is just too expensive to chance.

I used to do Tmobile prepaid, but annually i had to add a minimum amount of minutes to keep the minutes and account alive. Last year i lost 150$ in minutes because i forgot to fill up by a week.. I'm still feeling the consequences

I'm wondering, is it possible at all to call from a phone that does not have any service or data connection? I was looking at Google Voice, but i think that may require a data connection.

I probably should have posted this in the Android Lounge..

 

[Crashdamage]

I think you can call 911. That's it.

 

[johnny_w]

I know you can call 911 on any cell phone even without service or data. I used to manage facilities for a software company and I donated our old phones to a women's shelter for just that reason.
Other than that I don't think you can make or receive calls without some kind of connection. I may be wrong and if so I'm sure one of the greater minds of this forum will correct me. Honestly, I love it when they do. I learn a lot that way!

 

[Hadron]

If you have a WiFi connection you could do something, but otherwise without either a cellular voice connection or cellular data there's clearly nothing you can do apart from emergency calls.

A cheap pre-paid and not topping it up more than needed is probably the best bet (why have $150 credit on it if it's rarely used?).

 

[boathead]

wifi and hangouts ftw.