Ugh, cellphones, argh, grrr!

October 1, 2006 11:40 AM

Why is it so hard to find a cheap cell phone not under contract?

My cell phone died, my contract runs out in May, and I would like to find an affordable (less than $150, preferably a LOT less) new or used GSM phone that does not require me to sign a new contract. I feel like I've looked everywhere online (ebay, craigslist, howard forums, a couple other stores that have been mentioned on previous AskMe threads, etc.), but I cannot for the life of me find a good affordable GSM phone. I don't understand how cell phone companies are practically GIVING away phones to new users, but I can't find any cheap phones available on the aftermarket (not even used ones!). Can someone please explain this to me?

And hey, bonus points, if you can find me a good, cheap phone that'll work on Cingular :-)

posted by echo0720 to shopping (16 comments total)

I think you are underestimating just how much money mobile phone networks make off of you.

I'm still surprised you can't find a cheap used one on EBay. How are you searching?
posted by grouse at 11:47 AM on October 1, 2006

I've tried searching by category, by brand, by keyword (cingular, gsm, etc.), by model number for some of the ones that are going for free at the cingular store...please feel free to give me suggestions on other ways to do it. I'm most definitely not an ebay power user, I've only ever bought text books, and I've actually sold a few old cell phones for less than $50.

And believe me, I'm not underestimating how much money they make off of me, it's just that they often give away the phones to entice us to pay more for service and add-ons, so I don't understand where those free phones are now...did they all die like mine?
posted by echo0720 at 11:53 AM on October 1, 2006

The contract is worth around 300$ to the cellphone company. As I understand it, the contracts makes their revenu base less volatile, and so they can command cheaper interest rate when they borrow money to deploy the next new technology.

The contract cancellation charges also makes you less likely to switch to another provider, which is also valuable to the phone company.

So the "free" phones are actually around 300$ worth of electronics.

You can find many previous generation cellphones for cheap on ebay, though. I am about to sell my old Samsung SCH-a670 (non-gsm) on ebay. I expect it to go for around 70$.

Where do the free phones go? People still use them of course! If you already have a cellphone, you can just subscribe to the service, without signing a contract.
posted by gmarceau at 12:02 PM on October 1, 2006

If you are prepared to pay a bit more on postage, take a look on UK eBay.

There are currently 24000 odd mobile phones on there, and pretty much all of them will be dual-band (ie. will work on GSM). I don't know how the mobile phone industry works in the US but in the UK they seem almost disposable.
posted by 999 at 1:13 PM on October 1, 2006

If you are prepared to pay a bit more on postage, take a look on UK eBay.

There are currently 24000 odd mobile phones on there, and pretty much all of them will be dual-band (ie. will work on GSM).

They may be GSM but dual band phones from Europe will not work in the US. There, they use 900/1800 Mhz. In the US and Canada, they use 850/1900 Mhz. You need at least a triband phone.
posted by Neiltupper at 1:46 PM on October 1, 2006

Go to cingular.com and buy one of their GoPhone prepaid phones for $30. Swap in your SIM card, and voila.

For bonus points, sign up at dealking.com first, use their referral link, and get $20 cash back (don't forget to activate the included sim card in that case).
posted by alexei at 1:50 PM on October 1, 2006

I don't know a lot about this, but would one of the Virgin Mobile (prepaid) phones work for what you want? And could I buy one, then use it with a different network if I wanted?
posted by amtho at 4:47 PM on October 1, 2006

I just checked, and they have several phones under $30. I'd be surprised if they support the protocol you want, but it's still interesting. the phones.
posted by amtho at 5:06 PM on October 1, 2006

Unfortunately I think the Virgin Mobile phones wouldn't work on Cingular (they're locked or something), but maybe if I could figure out the "unlock code"? And alexei -- I wouldn't run into that problem with the go phones??
posted by echo0720 at 5:29 PM on October 1, 2006

I think that the Go Phones are locked to Cingular, which means that your Cingular SIM should work just fine. Unless the pre-paid division has a different ID than the contract division, it should work just fine.
posted by Netzapper at 5:33 PM on October 1, 2006

Unfortunately I think the Virgin Mobile phones wouldn't work on Cingular (they're locked or something)

Yes, they're locked. Also, they're not GSM, which is the bigger issue.
posted by kindall at 5:59 PM on October 1, 2006

My phone was only $100 brand new from the store without contract (my old phone spontaneously died). What features do you need?
posted by dagnyscott at 6:28 PM on October 1, 2006

Search for "unlocked gsm phone" and restrict the price to < $40, to phones and to buy it now. i just did that and there were over 200 phones available.br>
Once you get it, take out the SIM card from your old phone and stick it into the new, unlocked phone. I've done this several times, it works great.
posted by todbot at 8:13 PM on October 1, 2006

You can use the GoPhone without unlocking-- of this I am almost certain. If you are worried, get the Nokia, as it is very easy to unlock.
posted by alexei at 9:39 PM on October 1, 2006

Pretty much any old unlocked GSM nokia on eBay should work. You can easily get one of those for under $80 if you want. Also, look for the GSM Motorola V60 - that was a pretty solid phone too.
posted by cebailey at 6:38 AM on October 2, 2006

I asked this question earlier and got a good response. The Nokia 6030 is still available online at Cingular.com although you should note that the phone is refurbed, even though it's not stated as such.
posted by hindmost at 5:42 PM on October 3, 2006