How do I buy a replacement cell phone without getting stuck with a new plan?

I just want an inexpensive rugged phone for keeping in the car in case of emergencies and also for making a very few calls (less than 30 min/week). I already have a Sprint PCS plan but my old (10 yrs) phone is failing badly. I don’t want a camera or even color display, just a simple (cheap) phone.

Answer by cran
Check eBay.com for used phones that work with your carrier. That way you don’t have to buy a new phone and sign up for a new contract.

Answer by PsychProf
Sprint or authorized Spring stores will sell you a replacement phone, although it might not be too cheap. A good place to look is a third party store that sells phones and plans for a variety of cell phone providers and see what they have to offer you. We got a replacement phone for an Alltel plan midway through the plan (the phone crapped out) and we didn’t get it free, but we got it at a reduced price from retail.

There are those “pay as you go” phones if you want to use them. You buy phone time on cards and only pay for what you use. Everyone sells the phones–from Walmart to 7-11, and you can often find the phones on sale. Look into them, too; VirginMobile, for example, offers a phone for as little as $ 20.
http://www.virginmobileusa.com/home.do;jsessionid=D5d2lDHjyn5n79gg28Jv7cpR2hnyvHLXcWCbYFX4mK1qbst8WTvD!-861858563!-839915353!7501!7502

Answer by craptacular wonderment
You can manipulate most plans, or even transfer your current plan to your new phone if you want. One for our business phones was stolen, I was able to get a much cheaper phone to replace and the services downgraded and even cancelled all added services ie: bikini and horoscope texts that had been added by the person that took it without being charged for them. And I was able to keep my number.

Answer by Maxine
You can get a free phone with the purchase of a $ 10 prepaid card at Beyond Wireless here: http://www.gobeyondwireless.com/catalog/default.php?cPath=5

$ 10 card gives you 80 minutes (12.5 cents/min) and their rates run as low as 10 cents/min. Minutes never expire as long as you make 1 call every 60 days. It’s the best plan I’ve ever found for emergency use. The phones run on the Cingular/AT&T network, and they are not locked so you can use it on any network if you decide to switch.

What do you think? Answer below!

Stagecoach driver taking a break to speak on his cell phone at Tombstone, AZ – tombstone03x


Image by mlhradio
Stagecoach driver taking a break on his cell phone in downtown historic district at Tombstone, Arizona. Normally packed with tourists, but fairly quiet on New Year’s Eve.

Tombstone, Arizona – The ‘town too tough to die’, and perhaps one of the most famous of the wild western ‘ghost’ towns. Founded in 1879 near several very lucrative mines, Tombstone grew rapidly from dozens of people in 1879, to thousands in 1880, peaking at close to 15,000 in 1881. Located in the rugged far southeast corner of the Arizona Territory, Tombstone was a wild and lawless city, and home of Wyatt Earp and the Shootout at the OK Corral. But by the mid-1880′s, the mines were largely played out, and became flooded with water, and Tombstone began to fade away.

But it never really died off. Despite the closures of the mines and devastating fires, several hundred people remained, and Tombstone remained the county seat and center of activity for the region for many decades. As the mystique and allure of the ‘Old West’ grew in popular culture grew, Tombstone seized on the opportunity and turned the town into somewhat of an amusement park, and now draws close to half a million visitors per year.

The downtown district has been restored into a ‘wild west’ main street, with dozens of tourist shops and trinket stores. There are several restaurants and saloons and dinner theaters, and on the edge of town you can tour the mines. Actors dressed up in costume roaming the streets, and hold reenactments and shootouts several times a day. All pure tourist kitsch, of course – the type of place where you can get your ‘old time’ black and white portrait taken in period dress, then head over to buy fudge and hot dogs and little shot glasses with Tombstone etched in the side. Don’t get me wrong – it’s fun for the whole family with an entire day’s worth of entertainment, but don’t go expecting some authentic western experience.

I passed through on New Year’s Eve 2007, with a limited amount of time available because I was driving to California that day, so it was just a quick visit and a taste of what was available. Furthermore, I was coming down with a particularly nasty case of the flu, starting out the day in okay shape but heading downhill rapidly, so I wasn’t in the mood for big-crowd-type of events.

Here’s what I did do in Tombstone: I perused the downtown historic district for a while, then headed over to the former county courthouse (which serves as a museum). On a bend in the highway out of town is an abandoned tourist trap called ‘Wyatt Earp’s Old Tombstone’ – a mini-reproduction western town now faded and falling to pieces. And finally, on the outskirts of town is the famous Boot Hill, one of the most notorious cemeteries in the West.

If I had more time, there were plenty more attractions to visit. But with the effects of the flu dragging me down and many miles of road ahead of me, I left Tombstone early, and headed west to a stop at nearby Fairbank, a REAL abandoned ghost town just a few miles away.

Picture taken December 31, 2007. To see more pictures of my visit to Tombstone, please visit my Tombstone, Arizona photoset.

For more information about Tombstone:
– Tombstone Wikipedia entry.
– Official Tombstone Website.
– www.ghosttowns.com/states/az/tombstone.html.

This photograph is free for use on the internet under the ‘Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial’ license. You are free to copy, distribute, transmit and/or adapt this photograph without seeking permission first, as long as you provide attribution to the photograph (preferably by linking to this web page, or including the phrase ‘Copyright Matthew Lee High’), and as long as the the photo is not used for commercial purposes. For more information about Creative Commons licenses, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/deed.en.

I’m in need of a new cell phone. I currently have a Nokia 5140 that has bit the dust. What liked about it was that it was rugged and with a durable rubbery casing, and had features like a built in flashlight, compass, and converter applications. The 5500 seems like it might be a good choice, but I can’t find where to purchase one. Does anyone know where to locate this phone? I’m in California, does it even work with the AT&T network? I have a sim card.

Answer by mzbusinesswoman
Hello ShyGirl,
Here is where you can purchase a new cell phone http://www.tmicell.com/?aid=30920
On the left, you will see a list of choices.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
Norwood Police Department dispatch log for Friday, March 25 through Monday, March 28
Norwood Police Department dispatch log for Friday, March 25 through Monday, March 28
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Video Rating: 4 / 5