Joe_Evaristo you nailed it on your first post here. So my question now is what can I do? Can I take the phone back and say hey it's illegal in NY to use a cell without a hands-free device? or am I up the creek and without a paddle? Very frustrating to pay so much for a phone and not work properly.
I was told that if I'd returned the phone, I would be charged a "restocking fee." You might be lucky and be able to avoid that, perhaps your local stores don't have that policy, but I don't know for certain.
I have read some success stories from people who use BT headsets that do the dialing for you, which includes some car systems as another poster mentioned. Most headsets, like the ones that Verizon was offering for free when you purchased a phone some time ago, don't do anything on their own--they merely activate functions on the phone and let the phone do the work.
Some headsets will allow you to store part of your contact list right to the headset (or car system). These headsets work differently, they handle the work of choosing who to call, and all they do is tell the phone to dial a number. I've read success with these, if you get one compatible with the phone. Unfortunately, I can't find the thread that listed success and failure of different models, but I'll try looking again later.
jmastron said:
This isn't true, in California at least; it is legal to dial a phone manually (see DMV citation below). Note that I don't think it's a good idea to do so; I find it even more distracting than talking handheld, so I don't do it. But it is legal.
Oh, that's interesting. I'd heard otherwise, thanks for clearing that up. Then it's a bit less crazy than it seems.
doogald said:
You can always pull over and park in a safe spot when you need to place a call.
That's not always practical, or safe--it's a good option if you're driving on side streets or local avenues where there may be a parking lot nearby, but it's not necessarily safe on a highway: slowing down to get off the road, and speeding up to get back on is the most hazardous part of highway driving. And if there's a lot of traffic and you're on a strict timeframe (I'm a videographer and that tends to apply to my situation), then good luck getting back on the road...especially here in NJ in the summer.