General

For many years, I've been happy with a nice reliable Nokia on the Sprint PCS network in the Northern Virginia area. Alas, my phone appears to have become possessed and I'm forced to get a new phone and carrier.

I've finally figured out that I'm best served by an AT&T local calling plan, so now it's just the phone selection that's making my head spin. I pretty much use the phone only for basic calls in the Northern VA area, with occasional forays to Maryland/DC and New England, and really could not care less about all the bells and whistles like camera, games, colored screens, email, etc. Most of my life is spent carpooling kids around, so I need a reliable phone to be able to use when I'm running late, in an emergency, etc.

So I think I'm down to two issues that I need help with.
1) GPS for E-911 purposes. I like the feature where if you call 911 they can tell where you are. But I'm not sure if that's a phone feature, or a network feature--it appears to be a phone feature that is available with GSM, but not TDMA (am I right?). Is this a technology that is in its infancy and will be more widely available going forward than it appears to be now? IF I decide that this is a "must have" feature, do I have to go with GSM?

2) GSM v. TDMA. My husband has a Nokia phone with an AT&T TDMA plan, and he's pleased with the reception and coverage in our area. But I thought TDMA was on it's way out, so it would seem more prudent for me to go with GSM. I don't know anyone with a GSM plan to be able to borrow their phone and check out the coverage, or ask them about their experience, but I'm just outside of Washington DC, so I'm thinking it should be ok. I suppose I could get a hybrid (GSM/TDMA) phone (although there is pretty much just one decent one that AT&T offers) to keep my bases covered, but there's no GPS feature available on it. Thoughts?

Thanks for any help you can give me.