It would. A SIM just holds an ID for a carrier to whitelist the device for their services. The phone is otherwise fully connected to the network and the nearest tower to it, just no one wants to whitelist it because no one can see their ID on a SIM. Carriers aren’t allowed to block emergency comms though, so as long as the device is connected to any tower, emergency calls are allowed to go through.
People would still be able to use any network for emergencies if their’s go down. If they only have one network in their area, they should have a landline or a sat phone if rural enough, since even a lightning strike could black their only tower out. It wouldn’t be too smart to setup an emergency plan on something with a single point of failure that could occur many different ways.
Though I’d hope a government or network provider points this out clear enough to anyone that somehow doesn’t get it.
I’m going to boot a phone with no SIM. I’m curious if it will still get it in “SOS calls only” mode.
It would. A SIM just holds an ID for a carrier to whitelist the device for their services. The phone is otherwise fully connected to the network and the nearest tower to it, just no one wants to whitelist it because no one can see their ID on a SIM. Carriers aren’t allowed to block emergency comms though, so as long as the device is connected to any tower, emergency calls are allowed to go through.
That’s how it should work. Lots of things should happen. Testing sees if what’s expected does happen.
Carriers are also meant to ensure the network stays up. That didn’t happen earlier this month.
People would still be able to use any network for emergencies if their’s go down. If they only have one network in their area, they should have a landline or a sat phone if rural enough, since even a lightning strike could black their only tower out. It wouldn’t be too smart to setup an emergency plan on something with a single point of failure that could occur many different ways.
Though I’d hope a government or network provider points this out clear enough to anyone that somehow doesn’t get it.
That’s actually a great test
It fired! Even on a phone without a wifi connection either.
It even fired on a Galaxy S4, which I thought would not connect to a network at all.