Yes, it's really true! You can make calls to 000 (Emergency Services) from any mobile phone not currently connected to Telstra, Vodaphone, Optus etc. We all have "old" phones at home. Whilst browsing a USA site we came across a comment, that it is law overthere for all mobiles to work on 999 even if unfinancial or in another carriers zone. A quick look on all the telco sites in Australia revealed zero mention of this. We dug out a couple of our CDMA "mistakes" (pictured below) and yes they happily dialled 000. This means that if you can't afford a mobile all you need to do is ask one of your kids to give you one of their old phones and hey presto you have INSTANT SECURITY as you can dial 000 in an emergency. We now keep one of our oldies in the motorhome together with its old car charger just in case something causes us to lose our current phones. Obviously this trick wont work on any old analogue phone.

Emergency Calls When Out of Range

It's worth remembering that if your phone is registering NO SIGNAL and you need to make an emergency call to 000 you MAY get service from another carrier. This is because by law all carriers must accept 000 calls weather originating from a financial customer or not. It could be a good move to advise all members of your family and fellow club members of this procedure as it could easily save a life.