In 2025, I experienced an immediately life-threatening medical emergency that should have killed me. I am still alive as I write this article, and I thought about this (as have others that learned about my situation). Should I have one or more cell phones with different carriers in case one goes out?
Most people these days do not have landlines as we did back in the days. I remember way back when a phone was mounted on the wall and I had an extremely long coiled handset cord so I can take calls privately in my room, but of course someone can just hang up the phone since it was not in my room. Fun facts aside, I was able to dial 9-1-1 (albeit even further back, it was a rotary phone) and would quickly connect to a 9-1-1 operator or dispatcher and would be able to state my emergency.
Fast forward to today, without landlines we are highly dependent on cell phones. I used to have multiple cell phones (one for personal use and one for work) on different carriers, but I no longer have that. With AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile all experiencing either multi-hour or multi-day outages of cell service, what happens when you have a medical emergency? Here are some things to consider.
Satellite/Other Carrier Backup
Some, but not all, phones with specific carriers have Satellite backup service as well as another carrier backup. For example, if you have an Apple iPhone 14 or newer have this capability (same with some Android devices like the Samsung S26 series). If your cell service provider goes out or lacks coverage, and the phone shows SOS where it normally states 5G+, 5G, 4G or LTE, it is in backup mode.
What backup mode does:
- First look for available cell service from any other provider. If found, use that to complete the 9-1-1 or emergency call (depending on your country, USA is 9-1-1).
- If no cell service is available, it uses the phone’s satellite mode to find and connect to a satellite to be able to relay the 9-1-1 call.
- Problem occurs if you are incapacitated and indoors. You need to be outside, line of sight to the sky for the satellite call to complete. All this looking for a cell service and/or looking for a satellite can take some time, sometimes more than 10 seconds to find the cell service, and if not, an additional 15-60+ seconds to find and connect to satellite. All of this again, if you are outside.
What happens if I am not outside, can’t go outside since I am incapacitated, and there is no cell service? Well, you may be out of luck unless there is someone else with you who can make the 9-1-1 call. This then prompts the question of should I have one or more phones with different carriers.
Here are the Pros and Cons.
Pros:
- Having one phone with 2 carriers (eSIMs) can be an option if one of the carriers is available. However, if there is no cell coverage in the first place, you are still in the same dire situation as stated above.
- Having two phones with different carriers can be another option if one of the carriers is available. It also buys you the protection of if I am in a situation that one of the phones is damaged and useless, I can use the other, provided the carrier on the working phone is available.
Cons:
- Having one phone with 2 carriers can be costly.
- Having two phones with different carriers will be both costly and maintaining the devices will be time consuming.
So, is it worth it? It can save you seconds which can be a lifesaving situation depending on the emergency. The cost and device maintenance is the only issue. There is a third option which requires you to be outside using a satellite phone. There is a fourth option of having an internet-based landline at home (but that is for emergencies at home).
All these options may be the lifesaving solution necessary in case of an emergency. But there is no single solution that exists for a multitude of scenarios. Just stay healthy and minimize risky events or activities. I have most of these situations in place after my event, but I don’t intend for any of this to be a perfect solution.
Hope this provides some insight.
