Yes. It is federal law that all cell phones can call 911 regardless of payment. This is why donating your old unused ones to battered women shelters and the homeless shelters is actually pretty important.
No, wait, if you are in an area where no cell phone call can be made or received – no service area – you can’t make a 911 call. But looking at your tags, I see you mean no service contract.
If there is no signal you cannot make a call, emergency or otherwise. If there is signal available and you have no credit on your phone you will still be able to phone emergency services.
The best number from a mobile phone is actually the International number for all GSM (or mobiles that require a sim card) mobile phones and that is 112… in any country anywhere in the world that will access the local emergency services. Especially handy when going heli-skiing over sees because it’s right about then when your jumping out of the helicopter that you wouldn’t have the faintest idea what the emergency number is for New Zealand. @beautifulbobby193 I agree If there’s signal no need to worry about credit or other typical connection failures