Emergency 112 in Europe from cell phone
 

Question ~ On the site for France, it says

"It is not possible to call 112 from a mobile phone without a SIM card"

So if I just take my iphone to use in France and Switzerland I will not be able to dial 112 in case of an emergency?

Interesting question.

I would imagine that as long as your iPhone has a SIM, you can call 112; HOWEVER, if your phone is locked to an American provider, it might not be able to.

Solutions:

1. Get your phone unlocked before leaving and get a local SIM when you arrive.
2. Take along an unlocked older phone and use that to call 112 when you careen off the road after drinking too much wine or get assaulted by gypsies.
3. Buy a used phone and a PAYG SIM when you arrive in Europe.
4. Live dangerously and go as-is.

I just noticed you said "...if I just take my iphone to use in France and Switzerland..."

If you're taking it to use it, then your question becomes moot as it will have a sim.

It will have its own SIM and you can still use it wherever you are assuming it links up with the local network.

I never buy or use local SIM cards mainly because I rarely ever use my phone to make calls when I'm in Europe.

So I think the question actually is if you are using your phone in Europe and you don't insert a LOCAL SIM card can yous till call that number and if so do you have to dial any prefixes, etc.

Afaik you can still dial 112, and get through, with any SIM in it, including a US one. You don't need any prefix since your phone will be using a local network.

I think you need:

- Phone operating on GSM (If it has a SIM slot, it is GSM)
- on 900mhz / 1800mhz
- with any SIM card

Verizon iPhone before 4S does not have GSM.

Thanks, everyone even though I am not the OP. I leave for Amsterdam and beyond on 30 June so this is good information to have.

There was a relatively amusing article in the French newspapers today saying that 96% of the calls to 112 are "pocket calls" made accidentally from pockets and purses. It may not have been a good idea to choose such a simple number for emergencies.

Or to assume that people remember to turn the phone "off" so it isn't dialed automatically which is a real PITA.

We are now in Riquewihr, and our apartment has an incredibly complete and efficient notebook of everything that we could possibly need to know while we are here......... Including "....for emergencies you can dial 112 from any mobile phone". :)

<i>"....for emergencies you can dial 112 from any mobile phone"</i>

Take that bit of advice with a grain of salt.

I seriously doubt you can successfully dial 112 on a CDMA phone.