from our friend Pat Jolly's website

Cell Phone Usage
THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW YOUR CELL PHONE COULD DO.

There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies.
Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for
survival. Check out the things that you can do with it:

FIRST Subject: Emergency

The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself
out of the coverage area of your mobile; network and there is an
emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to
establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number
112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.

(DW: Oh that worked!)

SECOND Subject: Have you locked your keys in the car?
Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may co me in handy
someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the
car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell
phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your
car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button,
holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock.
Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no
object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach
someone who has the other "remote" for your car, you can unlock the
doors (or the trunk).

(DW: my car is 20 years old, so someone else will have to try this for me)

THIRD Subject: Hidden Battery Power
Imagine your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys
*3370# your cell will restart with this reserve and the instrument will
show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you
charge your cell next time.

(DW: I will be trying this out soon; always forget my charger when I travel!)


FOURTH How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?
To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits
on your phone: * # 0 6 # A 15 digit code will appear on the screen.
This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it
somewhere safe. When your phone gets stolen, you can phone your service
provider and give them this code.They will then be able to block your
handset so even if the thief changes he SIM card, your phone will be
totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least
you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody
does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.

(DW: this did not work for me.)

And Finally....FIFTH
Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for
411 information calls when they don't have to. Most of us do not carry
a telephone directory in our vehicle, which makes this situation even
more of a problem. When you need to use the 411 information option,
simply dial: (800) FREE 411, or (800) 373-3411 without incurring
any charge at all. Program this into your cell phone now.

(DW: yep, seemed like a free 411 call; will look at next bill to be sure.)

This is the kind of information people don't mind receiving, so pass it
on to your family and friends.