Mosey, I had similar telephone requirements: for emergency use - fire, police, ambulance - 911 sort of stuff and ability to make a phone call once in a while but not be an obnoxious loudmouthed mall pacer.
RVers have spearheaded this service. There are phones to buy that will do 911, fire, police, medical, and an operator assisted outgoing phone call B U T have no phone number so you don't receive any calls, or incoming call charges. Of course the operator assisted calls are, by neccessity, more expensive but if you aren't a mall pacer and don't want incoming calls this could be the thing for you.
As someone else said here earlier any phone should do 911(once it has been activated). I was told by a cell phone salesman when I was enquiring that he suggested that I buy the absolutely cheapest phone+service that worked well in my area and when the initial minutes were used up to cancell the plan. Of course you will probably have to buy your own phone to be able to drop out after a month with no penalty. Then you have a phone that can not receive calls but can call 911. Cheap in the long run but limited to emergency calls. The other plan I mentioned may be more attractive to you with its ability to make ANY outgoing call with a moderate operator assist charge.
In my case I'm too rural for 911 only to help since we pay a sir charge for 911 to our "service" provider (if they can be called that) but don't have 911 service. My area has a bad reputation for being a "black hole" as regards cell phone connectivity. Some companies show us on their cute colored maps but the signals don't care about the clever marketing ploys. I would be thrilled to have good cell phone reception, but no luck.
TECH NOTE: For those who have reception that is useable or almost useable but not as good as you like and might like to replace their conventional long distance calling with "cheap" cell minutes, here is a simple, moderately inexpensive fix. Put up an antenna. The difference in reception will be considerable. If you aren't in an electrically shielded structure, you don't even have to put it outside. High in the attic is almost as good as outside and near the ceiling in a closet might be plenty good. You aren't moving around so you don't need an omnidirectional antenna (like on cars). A small directional antenna aimed toward the cell tower you are near should do the trick nicely. If there is any interest I'll post a rough sketch of a DIY antenna suitable for indoor or outdoor use. Pretty cheap, probably under 5 bucks plus the cost of the co-axial cable and connector to mate to your remote antenna capable phone.
Patrick
