[nanahachi]

Hey all,

A friend of mine needs to buy a new cell phone since her's broke (LG 4650), but doesn't have insurance on it. She has Verizon, and went to the Verizon store, and got charged a hell of a lot for a replacement and they made her extend her plan for 2 years (which I think cost her $70 in itself...I'm not privy on all the details). She can return it within 15 days, so she is looking for a replacement phone only but doesn't know where to get one w/o having to sign up for a new plan.

Other than ebay, are there any places, online or in LA, that sell cell phones at decent prices w/o forcing you to start up a new plan?

Thanks from both of us.

 

[grawk]

ebay is really the only option

 

[warubozu]

If it's a GSM phone, do a Google search on "unlocked" model of your GF's phone. Be warned that unlocked phones are expensive but will allow you to use any active GSM simcard from any service provider.

 

[Elec]

I'm not sure if Verizon does pay as you go phones, but it's worth looking into. I have Cingular and my old phone didn't get a strong enough signal to work inside my apartment. So I found a Nokia that's known for better RF performance and offered as a "go phone". Cost me 60 bucks at WalMart - I just moved my "plan" SIM card over to it and never activated the prepaid SIM it came with. No contract, no additional anything.

Be advised that a lot of the prepaid/pay as you go phones are of lower quality than what you can get for say, 50 bucks and a contract at your local provider's store.

 

[rickcr42]

ebay is really the only option

Maybe yes,maybe not.

For whatever reason i let my cell phone lapse and when i went to turn it back on I could not ! The reason is my phone pre-dates the manditory tracking chip which

A-I want no part of and
B-I can not stand these little cutsy phones that I would either break or lose and want my mid size BACK !

But nope.Not gonna happen so i am "phoneless" until i find what I want rather than what they want to sell me even though not a good fit.

 

[Claus1100xx]

ebay is an option, but make sure you don't get burned. I bought a used one and it has scratches all over the place even though the seller claimed it had none. Will try to replace screen this weekend - wish me luck.