cellphone question- emergency calls only ?

[rfuerst911sc]

I work at a defense contractor in an old building. Recently I have been getting error messages on my cellphone when trying to make a call. The message states " emergency calls only " and the only option when this message pops up is to hit " ok ". But nothing happens when you hit ok. Not sure if IT at work is making changes or not. Anyone else get messages like this ? Anything that can be done to correct ?

[Rick V]

I get those when I have no service, or when my sim card went tits up

[gtc]

Sounds like a sim card error i was having on my HTC 8X when i first bought it. I guess the sim tray wasn't holding the card in place well enough. I just made sure the sim was really clean, and jammed it in there so it made good contact. All better now.

[masraum]

Yep, that's usually an indication that you don't have a connection to your cell provider, but you may have a connection to another providers network that will let you male emergency calls or you're cell provider doesn't recognize your phone as being authorized on the network.

[rfuerst911sc]

I'm only guessing but if it was SIM card wouldn't I get that message all the time ? Outside of work I don't recall ever getting the message. Thanks for the replies.

[lendaddy]

You likely buttdialed 911. Many cell phones lock on 911 only once it's been dialed. You need to pull the battery to reset. There likely is a menu that turns it off as well, but pulling the battery works. I work in the 911 industry and we get dozens of these a week.

[cashflyer]

Maybe the defense contractor has cell jammers installed in the building?

[JAR0023]

I'll vote SIM card. I once had a POS Samsung on the POS AT&T network and I had the same error intermittently until the third new SIM card finally did the trick. Just for the record AT&T may be great in your neck of the woods but there coverage is worthless in my AO. -J


ETA - You should be able to stop by a local store and have them swap in a new SIM card FOC. They may want to test it first but no reason a new SIM should cost you anything by time.

[rfuerst911sc]

I seem to only have the issue when at work I have not been able to duplicate the error outside of work. For now I'll let it go but thanks for the tips on the SIM card.