Blog Indiana 2008

Lost Cell Phone hack

I lost my cell phone a week ago. It hadn’t turned up, so I officially declared it lost. In dire need of a replacement, I headed to the Cingular store in the mall to get a new one. Unfortunately, I was only 10 months into a 24 month contract; I was ineligable for an upgraded phone. The woman who helped me, obviously driven by a commission, started pointing out the various phones and their $200+ price tags. Depressed, I left the store vowing to ransack the house a few more times before laying down that kind of green.

My phone didn’t turn up.

With boys in tow I headed back to the mall. After an endless wait (during which my youngest learned how to make paper airplanes and the older used every cell in the store to call and leave a message at home), I finally got my turn to talk to the only guy working the store. His suggestion was this: Buy a Cingular pay-as-you-go phone from Walmart, bring it in and they would put in a new SIMM card. It would be just like new.

The new phone cost me $30 and Cingular put in the SIMM for free. At $3.99 a month for phone insurance, I’ve already saved myself $10 over the life of this contract. Sure I have a crappy phone with no features, but who needs a fancy phone with a lousy camera, anyway?

Posted on July 25, 2006 in GTD and Lifehacks, Uncategorized.    

4 Comments

  1. Dan said:

    Argh! You’re a lot more patient than I would have been in that situation. That sucks, but it is true — there is absolutely no need for fancy features on a cell-phone outside of impressing people once in a movie theatre while waiting for the flick to start.

    August 1st, 2006 at 8:22 am
  2. y0mbo said:

    The essentials:
    * Customizable menus - I only had one phone that let me do that… I hate having to click past menu options I never use.
    * Speakerphone - sometimes you have to put the phone down.
    * A way to display the clock without having to open the phone or access a menu.

    This junker has none of those. Oh well.

    August 1st, 2006 at 8:27 am
  3. Dan said:

    Doh - that sucks. The SoHo seems good for that from U.S. Cellular. Has all those features, great coverage, and a decent price of $45/mo. for a lot of minutes.

    Out of curiosity, have you tried calling your lost phone to see if there is someone you can send me to beat up for ya?

    August 2nd, 2006 at 10:54 am
  4. y0mbo said:

    I have called in numerous times to try and find it. Unfortunately, I usually keep my cell on “vibrate” which makes it impossible to answer unless its on my person.

    August 2nd, 2006 at 12:28 pm
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