Verizon Refuses to Reactivate StarTAC
Feb 21st, 2006 by Alex
Verizon Wireless refuses to reactivate Motorola StarTAC 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 Motorola StarTAC praise 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 E911 mandate 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 familar with the industry, 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. 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 November 2005 E911 status report (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?
“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 eBay. While E911 is potentially useful, shouldn’t it be the choice of the subscriber whether he/she wants the GPS-enabled protection? Supposedly Nextel will activate handsets that aren’t E911-capable, so long as the subscriber signs a waiver stating that they understand the risks involved. Why won’t Verizon Wireless follow suit?
If you’ve had a wireless carrier refuse to activate a StarTAC or other handset due its age or capabilities, please drop me a line. Thanks!
Very interesting stuff about it not being a law. Verizon claims they can be fined if they activate. I was also told that it is not possible to do so anymore as their software will not comply. I recently wanted to swap my startac for the similar but better timeport phone.
Man was I disappointed when I was told they would not do it.
Do you know any carriers that activate in Washington…my star tac is part of my car phone system…is a verizon phone
My wife and I both had StarTac ST7868W phones. When she dropped and broke hers I bought a replacement phone on eBay. I wanted the same model phones so we could both use the same accessories which includes home charger, car charger, and data cables for PC, Palm IIIc and iPaq 3765.
Even though we had a StarTac and were simply replacing it with the same model, Verizon refused to activate the replacement phone. After going to several locations and talking to several managers we gave up and got a Motorola E815. Verizon did give us a one month credit but I would have prefered for them to have activated the StarTac.
We get occasional offers in the mail to “upgrade” to a newer model phone but I plan on using my StarTac for many years.
Loved your comments about the StarTac. I continued to use mine until Verizon “accidentally” deactivated it while swapping another phone on our business account… then flat-out refused to reactivate it because, they claimed, they were prohibited from doing so by a federal law requiring all activations, whether re- or new, to be of e-911 GPS-enabled phones, which the ST is not. So with much kicking and screaming I migrated to the Motorola V60s, which has a couple nice new features but I still don’t like as well. The V60 is another basic “just phone” phone (at least compared to the other crap they sell), which is probably why it, too, has now been discontinued…
I’d love to know how your friend got a StarTac reactivated as I begged, plead, swore, and cajoled to no effect…
I have a drawer full of inactive STs if you or your friends can use them… sadly Verizon says I can’t.
Cheers,
Dan
I read your post regarding providers not activating StarTac’s.
I’m currently with Verizon and I’m having a problem activating my trusty Motorola which I bought from them.
Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
I recently read your article online about the E911 StarTAC issue, and I just wanted to let you know that I tried to activate my StarTAC today (Sep. 28th, 2006) and Verizon said no. Is there anyway around this problem, do other carriers provide activation? I love the StarTAC phones and wish there was a way to solve this issue. Thanks.
The pay as you go cell carriers are OK with non gps phones. I bought a used Mercedes that came with a Startac phone with Mercedes software and Cingular could not activate it. After some research I found several Pay as you go carriers that could activate the Startac. Air Voice is one of the carriers. It cost about $10 every 3 months to keep it activated for emergencies or if I forget my Razr cell phone.
Fred Fournier
I recall the moment my Startac was killed.
I was in Florida as Katrina was heading toward New Orleans and had purchased a used Startac off eBay to replace my falling-apart one– lots of hard knocks on it– and I went online to do the switchover as I had before.
An error message showed up on the new handset and it croaked on the spot.
I tried to reactivate the old one and the same exact thing happened!
After much swearing and railing at Verizon folks, I finally found articles detailing this problem as being commonplace, that Verizon was denying service to non-E911 phones.
I still think they actively killed mine.
I picked up a used E911 phone at a pawn shop for ten bucks and left Verizon soon after, never to return.
I was so excited to find a 3285, new, in original packaging, never used, on ebay. They just don’t make cell phones like this anymore. It was a verizon phone originally and I have verizon service so I bought it. I was shocked Verizon wouldn’t program it due to the E911 tracking chip not being in the phone. They said it was a law. After reading your article I see now that they lied to me! How can they get away with this? This warning should be out there to people buying cell phones on Ebay.
I just picked up a Kyocera 2135 phone off eBay this week, because that is the phone I originally used with Verizon five years ago and I really love it–especially the LOUD buzzer they use for the ringers.
Customer service AND the website refused to activate it. So now I’m stuck with an awesome phone that they won’t activate. As a last-ditch effort to outsmart the bastards I pay around $100 a month to for cell phone service, I’m trying to find software that will let me modify my ESN to match my existing Motorola V70’s configuration and silently get my way in the end. We’ll see what happens.
My old Startac is having problems so I went to Alltel to have a brand new one I have on hand activated and was told that due to government regulations they would not be able to activate it or they would be subject to a fine. I live in Yutan Nebraska and went to the Alltel office in Omaha. I took them at their word until I read your article and now I am going back into the office and ask them for the legislation that will not allow my phone to be activated and see what they have to say. This really makes me mad because I have been using my Startac and like it so much I had a spare and spare batteries, and chargers. Thank you for enlightening me to this scam. Jim
Hi, I just got the same problem, my startac came the car, verizon is refuse to activate it, they say it’s due to FCC law.
Hi
I own a 2001 BMW with integrated hands free phone system which relys on the startac. Recently my phone got fried and will no longer work. I went to a verizon wireless store and they would not repair or replace the phone and suggested a third party (ebay). Then come back to get the phone activated to my current account. Finally got one and called to activate today. I was now told that they are forbidden from activating non e911 phones (even though I was using one until it got fried). After much moaning and groaning on my part they offered a free phone to replace (which doesnt help with the bmw integrated hands free system and emergency services option). They absolutely will not activate the phone for me. I tried calling several times hoping to find a sympathetic rep.
I have conceived several possible scenarios to address this problem.
1. Find a knowledgeable phone hacker who can do this for me without verizons help. Seems difficult to me since it would require information from verizon based on the new ESN.
2. See if a phone expert can repair my old phone using parts from the new phone. If the problem were limited to power supply this might be an easy fix. Or could all the components of the phone be switched out while still maintaining the ESN so verizon would continue to allow me to use the “same” phone.
3. Upgrade my cars phone system to bluetooth and get one of the newer compatible phones. This would be a very expensive option approaching $1500 in parts and labor and new phone.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. Does anyone know any way I might accomplish one of the above or maybe you have another solution which may work for me.
Thank you so much for your time
Rich
1. forget about it
2. buy some old same phones cheap on ebay, swap parts yourself. Might work, might be a waste. Send to Motorola might be 100% fix, but can cost as much as #3
3. 100% solution. Costly, but not a $1500. If you pass on GPS, newer Headunits come around $200 with bluetooth build in. I went with GPS $700 form Pioneer for my Mercedes, you’ll get 1)better sound, 2) Many extras like IPOD and XM, 3) Can use any phone from now on. When you’ll sell your car just put old stereo back and sell your Headunit ( you’ll recover at least half of the money). Still around $1000 installed, but has other benefits.
I was screwed by Verizon too. It is a ripoff no law says they have to make me E911 compatable. I have called 911 for accidents I have seen and the 911 operator DOES NOT know my cell number I have to tell them what it is. It seems Verizon is the hypicrite by not upgrading the network for E911 but making me use only E911 equipment. We have never had a E911 ‘Rescue’ I can ever recall. Even nationally I have heard of a ‘few’ times cell phone GPS has done any good and only after days have passed, cell phone battery has quit, and cell tower ‘pinged’ was miles away leaving 100’s of square miles to search. Even then it would be a decade or so until all the NON- E911 phones would permenently fail and we would all be E911 compatable just by obsolesence. Gov’t aways supports existing equipement in every case of change except this one. Guess we know who gives out the campain contrabutions by the truck load.
It’s not about 911, Phone company does not give a s**t if you live or die. The e911 Compatible phones have GPS reciever in them, so they can collect data on traffic and sell that Information to News channels, radio, XM live traffic, goverment stats. and private companies. So more people have new phones, more accurate thier data is.
has anyone been successful w/ reactivating their startacs?
Mine broke and I have a spare.
I’m hoping Verizon will actitvate the new spare phone?!?
Ideas?
It’s infuriating!! I just tried to reactivate a perfectly functional (but older) Nokia phone for my mom. (Her newer cell phone broke). I got the same story from Verizon — can’t be reactivated as it is “not FCC compliant.” I’m glad I came on the internet and found the truth. It sure is convenient to force her to spend ~$300+ for a phone with features that she will never use, or maybe she can spend less (~$100) and be forced to renew for another 2+ years. GRRRRRRR! I think I will be calling some friends who have fled from Verizon and seeing if they have any newer Verizon phones sitting around.
I’m in the same boat as the rest of you. “FCC rule prohibits reactivating non-gps phone”, a perfectly functional Kyocera 2235. It’d be nice if Jody would report on her ESN software research, but I’m sure she has moved on with her life…
So far it looks like everybody replying here has submitted to Verizon’s and the Feds rules.
Why would anyone want to give Feds more control over healthcare and the economy, when they manage to screw up something that people were perfectly happy with for the sake of extra control and monitoring of the population! Be careful who you elect!
About 2 years ago I actually lodged a formal complaint with the FCC about Verizon’s false stance that an FCC regulation required them to fobid me from swapping a broken a non-E911 phone with an idenditcal functionling unit. After much paperwork and hopefully many thousands of dollars (probably not) of Verizon lawyer time I got an offical letter from the FCC stating that they found I had no legitimate complaint.
I now do what a lot of people with the trusty 7868 Startacs do. When something breaks I take the phone apart and replace the broken parts with pieces from a pile of perfectly good Startacs that Verizon and the FCC have rendered only useful for spare parts. That works fine as long as the broken part is not the main board the logic and hence the ESN. I will keep my $28/month Startac plan with Verizon until that fateful day when the processor board breaks then I’ll switch to T-Mobile and a GSM phone that has all the ID stuff in the SIM card. It’s getting close. Just today I had to actually do a repair to the processor board. I just hope it holds. I really like the Startac 7868. It as thin as anything out there and actually feels like a real phone of olden times that covers your ear so your conversation is yours not the whole room’s.
If you have a broken phone learn how to take it apart and see if you can merge spare parts and leave the ESN intact. It’s not that hard. I do it quite regularly on a Startac 7878 and my son has done a V70 a couple times. If you’re all thumbs take your spare and broken phone to a cell phone, or handheld radio, repair shop and tell them to try it for you. It might be a trick to find a competent repair shop. Nobody fixes anything anymore. The good news is spares are a dime a dozen on E-Bay.
Well, that clinches it for me. Verizon can go to Hell as far as I’m concerned. I have a good StarTAC phone that I had misplaced for a while. I replaced it with a crappy little GPS enabled basic phone before I found my trusty StarTAC. A couple nights ago, the replacement GPS phone was stolen from my car. “Not a problem” I said to myself. “I can reactivate my trusty old StarTAC.” No way. This refusal of Verizon combined with their call plans that don’t fit my usage, and their illegal wire tapping complicity with The Dufus from Crawford, TX, I’m switching carriers. Maybe T-Mobile this time. Adios Verizon! My you rot in Hell!
My sister was in the same boat when she lost her Nokia 3589i, she tried to reactivate my old Kyocera 2235 until she was due for an upgrade, and she was told the same thing. Sad thing is, that for the most part, it is a mandate that cellphone carriers have to have GPS capable phones (or in the case of GSM carriers, GPS based on the towers itself). USCC & Alltel did get fined a couple of years back for not meeting the 95% rule of having their subscribers on GPS capable phones. GSM carriers can meet the rule easier than CDMA can. They have the triangulation built into the towers, and no matter what phone you use, you’re still tracked. CDMA carriers have a similar setup, but they have to have the phone with the GPS chip built into the phone to track you. The CDMA side is a bit more accurate at tracking than GSM is. I just wonder how this will work once we all migrate to LTE.
My aunt had an old startac it kept ticking and still works sortof it has some corrosion but I’m brushing it off right now. It’s a 98 model and my contract for an lg vx8700 runs up in feb. And I really would love to get this relic on my plan. Is there a way? Sorry if someone asked already I didn’t read all the posts. Email me sczahra@gmail.com
I was using a Kyocera 2135 cellular phone. It had a genuine search function that would bring up any contact in my contact list that contained, in any of its fields (name, phone number, address, etc.), any string of characters for which I asked it to search. A Verizon store salesman recently sold me a new phone which he explicitly misrepresented as having the same search capability, subject to my right to return the unit within 30 days and have my old phone reactivated. Upon getting the new unit home and transferring the data from my old phone, I discovered that the new phone did not have a genuine search function, but only had an alphabetic quick scrolling function which did not allow me to find a contact by entering a phone number or any other string except the beginning characters of the contact’s name. Upon returning to the store, I was informed that the salesman had misrepresented the search function on the new phone, that none of the new Verizon phones had a genuine search function, and that my old phone could not be reactivated because it lacked E911. My own research revealed that Verizon did indeed sell new phones that had a genuine search function, but that they were only phone/PDA models, however, the store refused to activate a phone/PDA unit for me unless I agreed to pay an additional $30/month for internet services which I do not need.
Since my old phone could still be used if it hadn’t been deactivated, and since it had been deactivated by Verizon erroneously (due to the salesman’s ignorance), it seems that Verizon should either get a waiver from the FCC to reactivate my old phone or else provide me with whatever phone they can that has a search function, at their expense. They have refused to do either.
Verizon claims they are prohibited from reactivating my old phone (despite the fact that they effectively deactivated it without my permission to do so) and that it is impossible to get a waiver from the FCC. Is that the truth?
I’ve just read all the swell comments about the StarTac + GPs rules. Has anyone figured out how to fix our ST to make them E911 capable.
We have an old Startac ST7868W. It has been my wife’s for >10 years and she wants to keep it. Unfortunately the earpiece part of the housing got damaged and so I bought another used Startac ST7868W for parts. Both Startacs work but I think the best bet might be swapping her RF board into the used Startac that I bought.
So far I have been unable however to figure out how to open the cases (housings) and disassemble a ST7868W without damaging it. I’m hoping someone will be able to steer me to some information about this.
Does anyone know the actual FCC regulation that has been referred to here regarding the e911 capable phones? BTW, my Startac is still activated. As someone stated, if you can change out the mother board into another shell you are ok. I have another Startac that when I unplugg it from the charger it vibrates. Any ideas on that is appreciated.
Thanks,
Jonathan
The Startac I’ve been using on Verizon for several years I activated myself after being told by Verizon that they wouldn’t do it due to the E911 rule. My phone boots up with splash screen for a carrier other than Verizon. I don’t remember the procedure I used, and I suspect that it will no longer work. I still love this phone and have found that I get reception where other people with brand new phones do not, battery life is better than in the phones with the color screens and internet access, and the cost of replacement batteries on eBay makes people with new phones gag ($7 for the last one I bought). The problem now is that my phone is now dropping about 2/3 of my incoming calls before I even pick up. I don’t believe that this is because my phone is bad but because of a change in the Verizon system here in San Diego. I’ve seen a similar complaint on another forum. I’ll talk to Verizon, but I suspect that my time is finally up with a Startac. Sucks!
(Note, I know I’m replying to a 3-year-old article, but the thread’s still live so what the heck..)
As for GPS, I don’t know if there’s a federal statue, but in fact the FCC did say (around 2002) that companies had to have 95% compatible phones by Dec. 31, 2005, and they did fine Sprint/Nextel millions for not being close enough to meeting it (I think due to the Nextel side of it rather than Sprint.) I’m pretty sure they cranked that up to 99% for a later date (which was several years ago.)
It’s BS that the FCC didn’t just let nature take it’s course (these older phones will quit working eventually) but it wasn’t the phone company’s fault, for once.
I have read all the replies here …and none say how to get the startac 7868 back working on any network ….. you would think a simple solution should be available to fix this problem …..i mean it is 2009
cant we just up load new firmware into it and make it work
Had no idea the old Star Tac was so beloved. I saw one being used by my friend who married a Japanese woman. He came back and because Japan phones can’t roam (at least his carrier couldn’t), he was borrowing his granddad’s big old Star Tac. I guess they still work if you don’t cancel it.
I also have a Kyocera 2135 which can’t be used with Verizon.
But there IS a solution. And it can save you money. It is called Page Plus Cellular. They are a Verizon network reseller/Mvno. They have the same coverage of Verizon prepaid wireless does and will activate most Verizon phones, INCLUDING ONES WITH NO E911/GPS. Try them out, plus their prices are much better for talk/texting the Verizon prepaid.
I have a intergraded phone system in my BMW for 8 years . This phone
was serviced all of these years by verizon. My service was interupted
and after reinstating it verizon refuses to activate my car phone. Demanding I upgrade because of E911 Fcc rule. This is totally unfair and
munipulation to make more money. Most of all they did not disclose they would not restore service until they took my money.
Regarding all of the above… I have a 2001 BMW 750iL which originally came with a Star Tac built into the Nav system, with its hands-free steering wheel capibility; Like everyone else in this forum (particularilly referring to #13 (Rich), and his similar problem (Verizon would not re-activate), I found the solution at the following link to use my existing system, and it’s Bluetooth as well.
http://www.bimmernav.com/bmw_e38_blu…_retrofit.html