If what you are referring to as an "E-911 compliant" phone is a GPS-capable
phone, then one of us is operating under an incorrect assumption.

The way I understood it, there is no such regulation forbidding a non-GPS
phone from being activated. What there is, in fact, is a regulation which
mandates the service providers to meet a certain percentage of subscribers
who are using GPS phones, this to be accomplished by a certain date. I'm not
running on all 8 at the moment, but I can't recall if the date has passed or
not.

Verizon's refusal (not arguing this here) to activate a non-GPS phone is
simply one of the ways they've chosen to meet the mandate. For example,
another means would be that all of their currently offered phones meet the
standard. Therefore, the policy of mandating a GPS phone is Verizon company
policy, not Federal regulation.

For some reason, probably because of the miniscule numbers of subscribers
who have purchased pre-paid products through a reseller, Verizon has chosen
to ignore the resellers' practice of activating non-compliant phones. I am
quite sure that the resellers provide a legitimate service to Verizon (as
"scavengers", buying up unused blocks of numbers and airtime), otherwise
Verizon wouldn't do business with them. The result is a happy one for both
the resellers and their customers.

Not to parse words, but you also stated that one has to "have an E911 phone
to USE (caps mine) it on Verizon's network". I know many people with old
phones on old plans on Verizon's network who could demonstrate the error of
that statement. Perhaps you meant "activate it on Verizon's network"???

I certainly may be incorrect in my understanding of the situation, and
hopefully someone here will bring forth the facts.

Dean
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