I visit family in a suburb of your city occasionally and I am always struck by the sheer number of planes that can be seen in the sky there at any one time. It must really be strange to be used to that and have the skies empty.<br><br>You can't test the cell phone's 911 capability without actually calling 911, which, of course, should be minimized. It is considered ok to test dial 911 if you do this responsibly. You should state the purpose of your call (testing) and keep the call very short. Do not just hang up when they answer.<br><br>Better yet, just dial any other number, such as your home phone number, and press "send". You will hear a recorded message asking how you would like to pay for the call. Hang up if you do not want to complete the call. This should satisfy you that you actually can make a call with the phone. BTW, no, you should not expect to hear a dial tone when using a cell phone.<br><br>