In emergency situations, our cell phone is often our best resource for various reasons ranging from contacting our loved ones to determining our best avenues to safety to access to .

Our focus in this post is to remove the mystery behind several urban myths regarding cell phone capability.

1.  112, The Worldwide Emergency Number

Myth: The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you are outside of the coverage area of your mobile network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked.

Reality:   112 is the Europe-wide emergency phone number. Throughout most of the European Union and some neighboring countries, dialing 112 will connect callers to local emergency services. The system doesn’t include North and South America, Asia, or Africa.

Most, but not all, cell phone models are pre-programmed to redirect calls made to any of the most common emergency numbers (e.g., 911, 999, 000, 112) to the proper local services regardless of the caller’s location. And most, but not all, cell phone models and service providers will allow the most common emergency numbers to be dialed even if the caller is outside his or her regular service area, or the phone lacks a SIM card. However, no mobile phones can put through calls, emergency or otherwise, from locations where no cell service exists at all.

Within the U.S., dialing 911 remains the most direct and reliable way of contacting emergency services regardless of what kind of phone you use.
2.  Unlocking your car via mobile phone.

Myth:  If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone up to your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock.

Reality:   Cell phones and remote keyless entry systems work on entirely different radio frequencies. Therefore, cell phones are incapable of re-transmitting the signal from a remote key to unlock a car door.

3. Hidden Battery Power

Myth: Your cell battery is very low. To activate the “reserve” , press the keys *3370#  and your cell will show a 50% increase in battery power. This reserve will get recharged when you charge your cell next time.

Reality: Completely false.  In fact, toggling between codes that will invariably fail will decrease the battery life.

(We’re shutting down for the day due to Hurricane Sandy.  The remainder of this post will be up shortly.)

Stay safe.

Filed under: 112, 911, battery, cell phone, Emergency Information Tagged: | Battery (electricity), battery life, Cell Phones, Cellular network, emergency, Emergency telephone number, European Union, Mobile phone, myths, Remote keyless system, South America, Subscriber Identity Module