Bill D -

So far as I know, it is a requirement that any cell phone (in the US) must be able to reach "911."

A number of charitable organizations collect old phones for distribution to persons with "special needs" on the premise that they'll be able to call for emergency assistance without the need for an "activation" or an active phone account. They're especially in demand by those counseling "battered spouses" (who sometimes are husbands as well as wives).

Phones manufactured and sold recently (a couple of years?) must also provide a GPS position (to 911 operators) that at least gives an approximate caller location, and so far as I've heard this feature is supposed to also work without an active account, although reports of the "accuracy" of the locations vary greatly, apparently depending on the equipment that the emergency service has installed.

If you don't want to keep an old phone for "emergency use" it would certainly be in order to look up one of the agencies that can put it to use.

John