I have a couple used cell phones, can i use them for a no contract service?

One is a motorola and the other is a sony ericson. Not sure what the deal is with some of the no contract deals i see, and if i can sign up using one of my older cells instead of buying another. Thanks in advance@

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One Response to “I have a couple used cell phones, can i use them for a no contract service?”
  1. Brian F says:
    September 4, 2010 at 1:15 am

    If you mean a pre-pay plan, probably not. Even though a particular pre-pay may be "owned" by a "big" cell company (Sprint owns Boost Mobile, for example) the ESN’s and "internal coding" in the phone is generally not the same for the two networks.

    If you mean you want to "re-activate" one of the used phones on the same carrier that it was originally used, yes, they will usually allow that without a problem. You won’t have to sign a contract with them, since they are not subsidizing the price of a new phone for you. Except with T-Mobile, who has plans where they give you a discount when you bring your own phone to the carrier, your monthly charges for minutes/data/text will be the same as if you had signed a 1 or 2 year contract with them, but you will not have to sign an extended contract with them, and are free to leave at any time, or even sign a contract at a later date to get the upgrade pricing on a new phone if you should desire.

    One note on that however. If the "old phone" you have is REALLY old, you might not be able to use it. I think there are some federal regulations that if your ever had Enhanced Location on a phone for 911, you can NOT "switch" to a phone without E-911 capabilities. Also, if your phone is like 6 or 7 years old, it is *possible*, depending on your carrier, that it was an old "TDMA" (analog) phone and may no longer be able to be used on the newer network, as most areas have no equipment left using some of the "really old" (in technology terms) protocols.

    Just call your carrier and ask, have the phone models handy (or bring them to a store). They should be able to give you an answer in just a couple of minutes.


 
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