Can cell phones from one network connect on others?

[Red_Arrow]

The recent outage of ATT caused a myriad of problems from banking transactions to 911 calls. Isn't there a provision to be able to use another network when the one you subscribe to goes down?

[matchrestore]

Depends on the phone. Most (but not all) phones that are purchased through your carrier are locked down to that carrier unless the phone has been "jailbroken." Most unlocked phones can connect to most other networks now with the switch of a sim card since most carriers are now using the same transmission technologies, but there's still some outliers that are not compatible.

[jshm2]

You're confused.

If you have a dual sim phone then you can switch between networks.

Also, if even 911 calls went down, then that means infrastructure issue which would affect everyone else too. I would be like closing the road.

[electromagnetic]

Maybe you can be the one to invent that. Usually big companies by how smaller companies and use that one network. For Canada, it’s Rogers and Bell as the giants and they have smaller companies like Fido, virgin mobile, and Koodoo.

[laly520]

yes

through a technology called cellular network

[Red_Arrow]

AT&T is a cellular network, but when it went down it disabled most of the AT&T cell phones in the United States.

[Nik1hil]

Well you can select a mobile Network if your hardware and OS Allows it!..

Not sure about IOS.. But my Android is capable of it letting me Manually set the Access Point..

[NathanDavis]

my internet went down yesterday... then I just shouted to my neighbor for her to share her phone data... works every time

[Astarlessnightsky]

Usually only for emergency numbers.

However some companies use the same network. The same Frequencies.