Reminder: When Donating A Mobile Phone, Turn Off Service

from the public-service-announcement dept

Charities that ask for mobile phone donations are very popular these days. The phones are often resold or recycled and shipped to other countries that can use them. One particularly popular use of old mobile phones is to give them to the elderly. Federal law requires that even if a phone has no service, it has to be able to dial 911 (assuming the battery is charged) - so some groups give out these old phones to senior citizens to carry around in case of emergency. Engadget points us to the story of one man who donated two phones for just this purpose, but figured the charity would turn the Verizon Wireless service off for him. phone bills over $1,000 proved him to be wrong. Even worse, the charity in question doesn't know who they gave the phone to, so no one knows who's making these calls. Verizon Wireless is looking into the matter, but makes no promises, saying it was the guy's responsibility to turn off service.

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