A Cost Effective Approach on Replacing a Broken Cell Phone

Many cell phone companies have insurance plans that for a small monthly fee, they will replace your phone if damaged, lost or the battery dies. Some sales people will use a sale's pitch that the cost of the battery is worth just one claim turned in. That may be true if your battery dies out in the first year. Nevertheless, be aware that too many claims - as much as 2 claims within 2 years -could find them dropping you without any recourse. Cell phone insurance needs to be weighed like any insurance - the value of replacement cost to your premium outlays. There is a solution to this problem that gets around the system that I have discovered.

Recently, I needed a new cell phone, but I didn't want to give up my AT&T account because I have a lot of roll over minutes that I wanted to keep. Subsequently, I went into one of their AT&T stores to look at cell phones. The only way you could get a cell phone for under $250 was to purchase a one or two year contract. I'm a talker and I always have something to say when I see something that feels like I'm being ripped off. I went to the salesgirl and asked her if she had any phones out there that I could get for under $100 without a new contract. At first, she said, "No." Then, I went into my spiel of how the cell phone companies seem to have the consumers by the ...er..cahones. She laughed and agreed. Taking me on the side, she took off her sales face and started to level with me.

She said that if I want to get around the system, I could buy a cheap " pay as you go" type phone at Wal Mart or any other store that is compatible with my cell phone company - in this case my cell company is AT&T. Then, I should just take out my SIM card from my old cell phone and put it in the new phone that I purchase. The SIM card is a small device that connects you to your cell phone server. You don't even have to call them to tell them you have a new phone.

So, that's what I did. I bought a Pay as you Go Phone, Motorola C168i with a color screen that you can even text messages, browse on the Internet, and has several ring tones for $12.98. It was on sale. The original price was $19.95. And it works great!

Unless you have a cell phone status image, and you can't live without the latest technology in cell phones, this is the most cost effective way to go without a new contract when replacing your broken cell phone. Such a deal!