TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Is Verizon Wireless Sabotaging Older Cell Phones?

Re: Is Verizon Wireless Sabotaging Older Cell Phones?

William Warren (william_warren_nonoise@comcast.net)
Tue, 30 Aug 2005 10:31:21 -0400

Shalom Septimus wrote:

[snip]

> Hypothesis 2, the more paranoid one: Some people have been suggesting
> that Verizon have been deliberately breaking these phones. The reason
> given is that they aren't E911 compliant, and if they were still
> functional, Verizon would have to *give* you another one in order to
> be in compliance with the minimum 85% that the FCC wants. Now that
> it's "broken", they can *sell* you another one, or lock you in to a
> new 2-year contract. (Note that this doesn't necessarily contradict
> the first theory.)

> So: What do y'all think about this? Is there any evidence for one or
> the other scenario?

I just went through some of the same trouble, but for a different
reason: I left my phone behind at my folk's house, which is about an
hour's drive away, and tried to activate a spare Motorola 120C that a
friend gave me a couple of months ago.

Verizon flat-out refused to turn it on, saying that it isn't E911
compliant, and that their system won't activate any phone that doesn't
comply.

FedEx solved the short term problem: I now have my original 120C back
and am able to use it. However, this episode raises lots of questions.

E911 has been simmering for years now, and I don't know what happens
to non-compliant instruments when the deadline is finally here. A
quick web search turned up an FCC date of December 2005, and a
requirement that 95% (not 85%) of phones must comply by the end of
this year. Verizon has chosen, according to the search results, to use
GPS-enabled phones to comply, while other companies are putting the
location hardware in their cell sites.

So, the questions:

1. 95% or 85%?
2. Is December 2005 still the deadline?
3. What happens to those of us on Verizon's network without
GPS-enabled phones (such as, apparently, the Motorola 120C).

William

(Filter noise from my address for direct replies)

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