How can I get Verizon to activate non-gps phone

[wingryder]

I have a very basic "grandfathered" account with Verizon. I have also always liked the Motorola Startac phones. I even picked up some spares along the way for the day when my current phone died. Since my old Startac was looking tired.. I programmed one of my newer examples and tried to activate it over the internet. No go. So off to Verizon's local office. No go with them either. No gps capability was the story being told there.
Anything I can do besides putting my working "old" phone in a new case?

And second question.. salesman at Verizon told me next June my non-gps phone would quit working altogether. Now.. that really sounded like a story.

wingryder

[jones]

agreed, this is what my friend was told too.
That phone will make a great Paperweight.

[strunke]

Originally Posted by wingryder

I have a very basic "grandfathered" account with Verizon. I have also always liked the Motorola Startac phones. I even picked up some spares along the way for the day when my current phone died. Since my old Startac was looking tired.. I programmed one of my newer examples and tried to activate it over the internet. No go. So off to Verizon's local office. No go with them either. No gps capability was the story being told there.
Anything I can do besides putting my working "old" phone in a new case?

And second question.. salesman at Verizon told me next June my non-gps phone would quit working altogether. Now.. that really sounded like a story.

wingryder

Yeah I don't think they can activate any phones without E911 capabilities. I might be wrong though.

[Fathead]

They will not knowingly activate a non-gps phone. The fcc has a % of customer base on gps phones and they are aggressively working toward that.

And while I've not heard of any hard date for non-gps phones, it's entirely possible they will cut them off at a foreseeable date.

[WirelessBeachBum]

They can tell based on the esn, that the phone is not e911 capable, it takes an act of congress to get a non gps capable phone turned on, and then it has to have a valid business case. (example a large utility that needs a specific type of equipment to funtion....etc.)

In other words...it's time to buy a new phone...you may like the new moto v325...not too fancy, but just enough bells and whistles...

[twopiece]

Originally Posted by Fathead

And while I've not heard of any hard date for non-gps phones, it's entirely possible they will cut them off at a foreseeable date.

I'm not sure VZW can do that. My thinking on that is to avoid a lot of pi$$ed off customers and potential lawsuits, they'll just wait it out for people's phones to die so they can upgrade then.

Bet they're counting down in my case.

[Fathead]

They are more than capable. It just depends on how they do it.

Take Directv for example. They are constantly fighting piracy. They have on more than one occassion forced their entire customer base to replace access cards (the smart card that decodes the signal). If you didn't replace it by a certain date, your service got cut off.

The upside was that directv replaced them for free. Verizon would have to offer something similiar to avoid a terrible backlash. But they could do it.

[wingryder]

Thanks to all for comments and suggestions.
I looked at the 325 as suggested.. still too fancy for me.
All I want is

1. Motorola
2. Flip style
3. Tri Mode
4. The outside display would be nice but not mandatory.
5. Extendable antenna woiuld be a plus.

Everything else including camera not needed. What would you suggest?
Of interest so far is the V260 and the V60 models.

thanks

wingryder

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by wingryder

Thanks to all for comments and suggestions.
I looked at the 325 as suggested.. still too fancy for me.
All I want is

1. Motorola
2. Flip style
3. Tri Mode
4. The outside display would be nice but not mandatory.

Everything else including camera not needed. What would you suggest?
Of interest so far is the V260 (not sure if its Verizon) and the V60 models.

thanks

wingryder

You can probably get a Motorola V60S pretty cheap on Ebay, and I think it fits all of your requirements. The V60's are nice, durable little phones. They are also E911 compliant so you don't have to fight your carrier to get it activated.

-Jay

[wingryder]

Thanks Jay. My mouse and I will go shopping..

wingryder

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by wingryder

Thanks Jay. My mouse and I will go shopping..

wingryder

Happy Hunting! Let us know how you make out.

-Jay

[jones]

Originally Posted by wingryder

I have a very basic "grandfathered" account with Verizon. I have also always liked the Motorola Startac phones. I even picked up some spares along the way for the day when my current phone died. Since my old Startac was looking tired.. I programmed one of my newer examples and tried to activate it over the internet. No go. So off to Verizon's local office. No go with them either. No gps capability was the story being told there.
Anything I can do besides putting my working "old" phone in a new case?

And second question.. salesman at Verizon told me next June my non-gps phone would quit working altogether. Now.. that really sounded like a story.

wingryder

This is the portion of CDMA which is Dying.

[wingryder]

Ok so I know I am way behind the curve on this model but that is ok with me.
I bought a ebay v60s so while I am waiting for it.. thought I would read the manual on line. After looking over fourty-eleven pages. (which covers everything from the bland to the really dont care) it says
something like.. "to learn how to store speed dial numbers in your new phone, see the "MORE HERE" reference guide.

Are you kidding me.. "how to store speed dial numbers" is not in the manual??

Motorola"s "wow meter" just dropped like a rock.

wingryder

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by wingryder

Ok so I know I am way behind the curve on this model but that is ok with me.
I bought a ebay v60s so while I am waiting for it.. thought I would read the manual on line. After looking over fourty-eleven pages. (which covers everything from the bland to the really dont care) it says
something like.. "to learn how to store speed dial numbers in your new phone, see the "MORE HERE" reference guide.

Are you kidding me.. "how to store speed dial numbers" is not in the manual??

Motorola"s "wow meter" just dropped like a rock.

wingryder

It isn't that hard, really self-explanatory. I used to have a V60 and it was quite simple. As to why it wasn't in the manual I don't know.

[BillRadio]

Originally Posted by wingryder

Thanks Jay. My mouse and I will go shopping..

There is another product around, the v65. It is a v60s, but without the PTT function and its weighty circuitry, and e-911 compliant.

http://www.howardforums.com/showthre...&highlight=v65

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by BillRadio

There is another product around, the v65. It is a v60s, but without the PTT function and its weighty circuitry, and e-911 compliant.

http://www.howardforums.com/showthre...&highlight=v65

I wasn't aware of that. Thanks for sharing that info!

-Jay

[pacemaker]

I have the same problem. I use an old startac with a Airpal (box that gives dail tone to a mobile merchant machine, trans420) The Airpal connects to the trans380 & to the startac. The airpal forces the Startac to stay on Analog. When I swap a credit card startac dails the merchant processing number so the transactions are processed. The best thing about the setup is the airtime is charged to my digital plan. I have used this setup for years.

The other option which I will be force to at some point is to purchase a new mobil terminal that has a deicated imbeded radio modem or gps-cell phone. The cost goes up, data gateway fees plus others.

I did some research on the subject and was told that the FCC ruling requies the Phone Makers to make only GPS-type Phones after a certain date. They siezed the opportunity to interpret the ruling as not to activate non-gps phones. Many people had new spares which they would have acivated given notice. But most as I didn't forsee the activation problem.

I believe the decision to refuse to actitvate the old style phones was a business decision using the FCC ruling as a reason. If you have an old star tac that still works and is activated, don't download updates. The updates will prevent the phone from working in analog mode.