<p>And, it appears, never to be seen again, like textbooks, socks, and reusable lunchbox containers. No insurance on the phone.</p>
<p>We’re with AT&T; we have three lines, one of which is my tall child’s (he-of-the-missing-phone). I don’t want to extend the service for another two years (we’re one year into the two-year contract) and I don’t want to spend wads of money. What are the opinions here for replacing his phone inexpensively? I seek enlightment!</p>
<p>We have T-Mobile, and d lost two within a six month period. I think she’s on her fifth now, she’s a serial phone abuser. We were able to get a remanufactured replacement phone for a fairly small fee ($50? $75, I can’t recall) without extending the contract. Policy would depend on the carrier.</p>
<p>Who’s the service co? Some of the major suppliers sell their phones at Target or Walmart for $20, you can get the phone co (like AT&T) to make you a new sim card that will work with their branded phone. We did this when D lost hers in the snow… talk to AT&T store, get sim card, buy cheap phone at Wal-Mart, D inserts new card into $20 phone.</p>
<p>And, if you have an old phone at home, ask if you can get his number put on a sim card for that old phone.
Lose the cell, put up with an old one.
In this case “old” being like so 2007…</p>
<p>Go to the ATT store, buy a GOphone and have them activate it with his number, pretty cheap and they can do a new sim chip- they may try to charge you for the sim you lost, or they may be able to upgrade the sim for free</p>
<p>my dad lost the one brother bought parents. He bought a go phone at target that was compatible. It was less than $50. Wish I knew this when son lost his. Brother did have to spend time on phone getting it activated, first 2 people didn’t know how to do it.</p>
<p>When the dog ate my phone, I went to the ATT store at the mall. They sold me a $50 phone to tide me over till the next upgrade cycle. Who knows–maybe I’ll just keep the cheap phone. Who needs a camera and an mp3 player?</p>
<p>Check ebay. There are gently used phones for sale all the time.</p>
<p>Who would have thought this would be such and interesting thread? You guys are too funny.
“she’s a serial phone abuser.”</p>
<p>“When the dog ate my phone…”</p>
<p>Thanks, all; I appreciate it!</p>
<p>I see phones offered quite a bit on Freecycle.</p>
<p>Buying a Go Phone at Target is the way to go; sometimes they are on sale. You get a replacement right away without all the bells and whistles. Go to AT&T and get a replacement SIM card; there is not a charge for this. Put his SIM card in the GO phone and you are back in business.</p>
<p>Ebay is also a good idea if you don’t mind waiting for the phone to arrive.</p>
<p>When my husband lost his cell phone (okay, he accidentally left it in the bathroom at the airport) he used my daughter’s friend’s old cell phone for a few weeks. (It was at our house because daughter had been using it for a while, had put her sim card in it for a few weeks when her cell phone was broken.) I swear it lit up in pink whenever it rang.</p>
<p>But this is our family’s general solution to a broken or lost cell phone - use a functioning old phone, one of ours or a friend’s. I like the $20 Walmart phone idea, too.</p>
<p>Check with friends, family, and co-workers to see if they have any ‘old’ AT&T cell phones they replaced on upgrades. A lot of people have them tucked away in drawers taking up space and they might be happy to give it to you to get rid of it.</p>
<p>Otherwise - eBay.</p>
<p>I like the suggestions above - either a GO phone, ebay, craigslist, or hand me down from a friend.</p>
<p>If you can, buy one that matches the other accessories you might have - e.g. car charger, wall charger etc. Those seem to get lost nearly as often as the phones themselves so it is nice to have a backup.</p>
<p>One other suggestion - keep an eye on all of your plans and when it is time to renew, do so promptly, picking up the new phone (and hanging onto the old one). If you wait until your phone dies before going in to get a new one, then you won’t have any spares for this type of situation. We have 4 AT&T phones in the family and have found that making sure you have a spare makes life much easier.</p>
<p>After doing the ebay thing a few times we how buy the Go phone at Radio Shack. If the phone is just broken we switch out the sim card. If the phone is lost go to ATT and replace the sim card and then go buy a cheap go phone. At our house if you break or lose a phone you get the cheapest GO phone sold. My son is surprised that he is actually quite happy with his 20 dollar Motorola phone. No fancy bells or whistles. It texts and makes phone calls. Which is really all he needs.</p>
<p>Suggestion: If the phone is truly lost at his father’s house, you could have a friend with a cell phone or if there’s a landline at the house, simply dial your son’s cell phone and listen for the ring tone.</p>
<p>I have 2 old phones in the file cabinet for just such an emergency. I pay for one fancy phone per renewal cycle, if the kids lose it, they can make do with an “old-fashioned” one. So far neither has lost their phones, although we just had D’s replaced under the warrantee because all the keys were cracked in half. I guess 4000 texts/month in the summer will do that. Which also explains how the phone is never lost, it NEVER leaves her hand.</p>
<p>If you buy one on ebay, make sure it’s “unlocked.”</p>
<p>It doesn’t have to be “unlocked” if it is for your carrier.</p>
<p>Well…mean parent here…When DD’s cell phone needed to be replaced, SHE went to the ATT store and spent her own money to replace it. We bought the first one…no replacements on our dime. I’m guessing she will be very careful with this replacement.</p>