Emergency Cell Phone

I have a big HTC Evo that I refuse lug up longer routes or into the backcountry, but I do recognize the usefulness of a phone in emergency situations (so I make my partners carry theirs =P)

Does anyone use a secondary pay-as-you-go or similar phone for climbing/hiking? I would like to get one and keep just enough minutes on it for emergency calls/texts.

I know that you can use any old cell phone with or without a plan to make emergency 911 calls. It also opens it up to any cell signal available, regardless of the provider. But it's only for 911 calls, no calling your buddy to come to the rescue.

I always carry my regular cell phone anyway. It is nothing special though, I might reconsider if I had a snazzy phone.

Kevin, although I believe that 911 is possible from phone without minutes, you cannot make a call with a phone across all carriers. Each carrier has it's own frequency which requires a certain receiver. Phones aren't made with one of each receiver, therefore an emergency call can only go out on the frequency the phone was made for.

I believe that Sprint/Verizon are CDMA receivers and TMobile/AT&T are GSM based. So maybe those two pairs could work together, but no phone on ATT/Tmobile could ever go through a Sprint or Verizon network.

As for carrying a "burn" phone for emergencies : Tracfones can cost $5/month to put 30 minutes on them each month. Which isn't bad for emergencies only, and the plan keeps it up to date and you won't have an end of service date. They are cancel anytime, and with these you could use it to call anyone/get directions or other help. Not just 911. I'd say 5$/month isn't much to pay for that, since you won't be burning through minutes or anything.

Brendan - Thanks for the correction. I have heard that a couple times, but now looking it up I see what you're saying.

Not sure if Sprint added SIM cards when they went 4G/LTE but a SIM card phone (i.e. GSM so AT&T/TMobile and possibly some new Verizon offerings) you can take the sim card out of the fancy phone and dump it in a cheap phone for instances where you don't want to risk damaging your good phone. Doesn't cost any more.

Tyler Wick wrote:I have a big HTC Evo that I refuse lug up longer routes or into the backcountry, but I do recognize the usefulness of a phone in emergency situations (so I make my partners carry theirs =P) Does anyone use a secondary pay-as-you-go or similar phone for climbing/hiking? I would like to get one and keep just enough minutes on it for emergency calls/texts.

Any working cell phone has the ability to dial 911, even if its never been activated. You do not have to have a plan, and the phone does not need to be activated to dial 911. The only requirement is that the carrier the phone is designed to be used with has cell phone service in your area, or in the case of a GSM cell phone, you need the SIM card. If your cell phone requires any type of card, your going to need it to be inside the phone to make a call.

Go to the nearest Family dollar store and you can
get a phone for $8-10. You have to buy some prepaid
minutes to go with it, but you're not tied to a plan
with monthly bills etc. . .

When you donate your old used cell phone to battered women they give them a phone with no service plan. No service plan or activation is needed to dial 911, as emergency calls do not go against your plan (cost you minutes)

RockinOut wrote:No service plan or activation is needed to dial 911, as emergency calls do not go against your plan (cost you minutes)

It has nothing to do with that, its allowed because its the law. Carriers are legally required to process 911 calls just like they are legally required to forward E911 information to the 911 operators.

20 kN wrote: It has nothing to do with that, its allowed because its the law. Carriers are legally required to process 911 calls just like they are legally required to forward E911 information to the 911 operators.

What I`m trying to point out is that there is no need to sign a service contract or spend even 5 bucks for a few minutes, its not needed. All you need is a cellphone with reception....I was pointing it out to save him a few bucks

One thing I like about the phones is if you can get a call into dispatch, they can possibly get a fairly rough fix on the phone from pings off the comm towers.

Some of you comm experts may know how this all works, but this helps in at least getting help into the right mountain/valley off of pings even if you can't fully communicate. I've seen about 10 or so saves from just approximate locates. Again, it's not exacting; but if it gets people going to an approximate correct area in the backcountry, human beings can start yelling to each other and get to where help is needed.

However, I've also seen it where the voice communication from wind and crappy reception sent everyone to a completely wrong wilderness area that sounded the same as the area trying to be described. I don't think the dispatch worked to find a ping though. Luckily, the heli that was sent in could be redirected from a later call and made the find and rescue.

The PLB is my tech choice for doing a locate (as long as it is activated for a true emergency and stays active); if they had two way texting, that would be such a huge benefit.

RockinOut wrote: What I`m trying to point out is that there is no need to sign a service contract or spend even 5 bucks for a few minutes, its not needed. All you need is a cellphone with reception....I was pointing it out to save him a few bucks

This is true, my only point was that at 5$/month you could possibly use it even if it's not an emergency. I mean dialing 911 for directions seems kinda silly to me ;)

Thanks for the feedback guys. I'm interested in 911 calls as well as calls/texts to family to let them know to expect me later, etc. It's often much easier to get a text out than a call.

If I was with a GSM provider I would just buy a cheap unlocked secondary phone I could swap my SIM card into. Unfortunately, I'm with Sprint.

Basically just looking for the cheapest pay-as-you-go option. The tracphone suggestion seems ok, but the $5/month fee sucks. Anyone know if there is a provider that doesn't charge a monthly fee?

Let me ask my drug dealer.

Otterbox is your friend.