Cell phone dilemma - advise?

[Maya Moonstone]

Hi

I have a cell phone dilemma

! My phone broke about a week ago - no dilemma in itself BUT....

1) Phone warranty expired a month ago - how manufacturers know how long to give a warranty is a mystery! My stuff always break just after the warranty expires!
2) I still have a one year contract and NO chance of a free upgrade or a reduced price phone

3) My original contract was with AT&T...now Cingular. If I want a new phone - at full price - I have to get it from Cingular Customer Service, because my blue AT&T sim card won''t go into a cingular phone. And the only phone options Cingular have for previous AT&T customers are not even close to top of the range, or middle of the range for that matter - and I will have to pay in full!

I need to get an UNlocked GSM phone now - that is what hubby says....

Does anybody have a recommendation for a ebay seller or any other electronics seller that sells unlocked phones at a reasonable price? I kinda like the Motorola Razr or the Motorola V330.

Thanks
Maya

 

[tawn]

I "migrated" from AT&T over to Cingular after the merge. My contract was almost up and I had to resign, but got 2 free camera phones. Maybe an option for you?

 

[perry]

Maya:

I feel for you. Not a good situation either. I don''t have a good answer for it either. You are right about the timing of the warranties. By and large, manufactures do know when things will start to fail (in general based on a percentage over a large number of items). They specifically set the warranties to expire before then. In the case of electronics it is even reasonably possible to design in a limited life for the product.

One example of the difference is that I just purchased a small tape recorder - for about $230. It looks on the surface like one that most people get in a local store for about $40. The difference. Rugged case, comercial grade electronic components, and commercial grade record/playback heads. It turns out that there is enough of an active market for tape recorders that can take a beating, work well, and last that several Mfr''s make them (for reporters, military, court recorders, etc).

Best of luck with whatever you decide. I feel that Cell phone contracts are really one sided, and they have changed sustaintailly against the consumer since they first started.

Perry

 

[mingagreen]

I feel for you Maya, I don''t have a lot of advise for you. We just went thru almost the same thing with Nextel merging w/ Sprint. My DD thought my phone needed a bath so I needed a new one, went to our local Nextel dealer and my phone was no longer available. So they said I was responsible for purchasing a new phone and in doing so had to sign up for another 2 years. I was pretty pissed b/c it wasn''t my fault the phone was no longer avail. Anyhow we looked into sprint, b/c they had merged and we ended up getting a much better deal, 2 nice camera phones, more minutes, all for less than what we were paying with Nextel. I do miss Nextel already but it may be an option for you to just get a new plan and free phones!
Good luck, Cell companies can be frustrating to deal with.

 

[AndyRosse]

You can buy an old AT&T cell phone off ebay. Just make SURE that the phone is for AT&T.

Second, you CAN resign with Cingular now. Cingular wants to get all the old AT&T customers over to them, so once the merger was complete, they started allowing any AT&T customer to sign up for a new contract and plan and buy a phone at the discount prices regardless of where they were in the old AT&T contract. So I had signed up with AT&T in May 2004 with a two year contract, but right now, I can go to Cingular and buy a new phone, new plan, and sign a new two year contract and not pay any early termination charges. I personally don''t like Cingular so I haven''t done so, but a couple of my friends have. I think they charge you an activation fee (like $20 or so), but I heard recently that that is waived if you are an AAA member.

Good luck! (And maybe this time you might want to look into buying that extended warranty

hehe)

 

[bar01]

I lost my older black and white AT&T blackberry. My company wanted me to pay over $300 for a new color cingular one. I found a new in box version of my old AT&T blackberry for about $90 on eBay. Works perfectly.

 

[njc]

I didnt read through others responses, so if im saying something someone else has mentioned, i appologize.

I was an AT&T customer that got switched to Cingular. I really needed a new phone, so when i thought my contract was about to be up in June i called to find out the exact date. Cingular told me i was on a month-to-month contract, that i could get out at anytime. Last week (i know, im slow) I went to the store for a new phone, got a Cingular family plan and added DH.

SO... if your contract is still technically an AT&T contract (you never picked a Cingular plan) you could pick a Cingular plan and get the new phone at a discount. I would give customer service a call.

ETA: After reading some responses i see im saying the same thing as Tawn and Stretch

 

[MissAva]

I dont know what to tell you I pay 5$ a year and if anything happens to my phone it gets replaced for free. I had to pay 50$ up front for that but since my phone has been put through the washer, dropped 100 feet in a crowded staduim and had a water bottle explode over it I would now say it is worth it pay for the service. I have verizion and they really are no questions asked. They will send you a new phone in 24hrs via UPS or FedEx. I dont know if AT&T has something similiar but if they do I would look into it when you go to purchase your new phone.
Also I have a camera phone (only one full bluetooth phone available when I bought mine) does anyone ever use their camera phone? I never do.

 

[codex57]

If you go the eBay route, yes, look for an "unlocked" phone. The beauty of GSM phones are that they can all be unlocked and you aren''t locked into one company''s selection. Plus, the phones you get in Europe or Asia are often better than what we get here.

If you have an area with a bunch of asian stores, stop by one of the cell phone stores and see what they can offer. Being in California, we have a ton of asian areas and the cell phone stores always have far, far better deals than a regular Cingular store.