Refuses to reactivate Motorola handsets on account that they aren’t GPS-enabled, yet there isn’t any law prohibiting them from doing so. Several people have reported that Verizon Wireless is now refusing to activate customer-supplied StarTAC handsets, including the co-worker that I mentioned in my recent piece. Verizon Wireless employees are saying that all cellular handsets have to be GPS-enabled due to recent regulations. This is a lie.
While the FCC’s is responsible for Verizon Wireless not selling handsets that aren’t GPS-enabled, there’s nothing in the mandate that states they aren’t allowed to activate them. According to the FCC: The wireless Enhanced 911 (E911) rules seek to improve the effectiveness and reliability of wireless 911 service by providing 911 dispatchers with additional information on wireless 911 calls. The wireless E911 program is divided into two parts – Phase I and Phase II. Phase I requires carriers, upon valid request by a local Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), to report the telephone number of a wireless 911 caller and the location of the antenna that received the call.
Phase II requires wireless carriers to provide far more precise location information, within 50 to 300 meters in most cases. According to some, the FCC would love to phase out handsets that aren’t GPS-enabled. It would appear that carriers are more than eager to have subscribers upgrade their handset (and their contract) in the process. There doesn’t need to be a law passed, since the carriers benefit from the additional revenue stream from the upgrades and the guaranteed revenue stream from the extended contracts that are required with the upgrades.
Apr 02, 2014 Hello all, One day on YouTube I stumbled upon a video of a gentleman who had discovered you could still successfully activate a CDMA Motorola StarTAC. Jan 15, 2008 Why can't i reactivate my old Motorola starTAC cell phone? And furthermore would be illegal for them to activate the phone, even if it was technically.
Isn’t this a government-sponsored recipe for profit? There are many individuals who aren’t happy with the handsets offered by today’s manufacturers. The days of purchasing a phone-only handset appear to be dwindling (if not long gone). The StarTAC remains one of the few quality handsets that suit that purpose. Privacy advocates aren’t too happy about the wireless providers’ ability to triangulate a subscriber’s relative position, let alone with the precision demanded by the FCC; nevertheless the carriers were required to get their infrastructure in place in order to be able to provide said information. The StarTAC could protect someone in this regard, at the expense of Enhanced 911 services.
As mentioned in a ( PDF) to the FCC, Verizon Wireless expected 93% of its subscribers to use GPS-enabled handsets by the end of 2005; just short of the FCC’s 95% target rate. How many of that 7% are people who refuse to upgrade their handsets? Manual Of Christian Reformed Church Government Elders. “As of December 31, 2003 all of the handset models Verizon Wireless sells are GPS-capable of transmitting location.” In simple terms, after that date any phone that you purchased from Verizon Wireless’ company-owned stores and web-sites would have been AGPS/AFLT-capable. According to Verizon Wireless, “all of Verizon Wireless’ handsets are GPS-capable,” including “Motorola models A840, A850, E815, T300P, V60p, V65p, V276 and V710.” The StarTAC series — despite regaining popularity for a variety of reasons — is notably absent. The StarTAC series is not GPS-enabled, so you can’t purchase one from Verizon Wireless directly or indirectly through 2nd tier resellers. That leaves old phones being reactivated, either obtained from friends, family, or on. While E911 is potentially useful, shouldn’t it be the choice of the subscriber whether he/she wants the GPS-enabled protection?