Know anyone who lost their cell?
 

I lost my cell phone the NIGHT of initiation. We went to Denny's and I checked my voicemail, and when we got back to the house I no longer had it. I checked the car I rode in twice, and called denny's (even went back there to look and talk to the staff) and called again the next morning. My phone is apparently *gone*. I called customer service and had it temporarily frozen. Now all I have to do is file a police report and go buy a new phone. Any idea how much the replacement will be? Have you ever known anyone to lose their cell?

Replacement cost will depend on the company, type of phone, etc. Some companies are better about it than others. You did the right thing in freezing the phone number. When I lost my Sprint phone, they weren't too helpful, but with my Verizon they were. It really depends on who you have.

Did you try calling your cell phone? Just follow the ringing... (I'm sure you thought of that :) )

You can get a pretty decent deal on a cell phone if you're willing to sign a new contract.

I know there's someone on GC who works or used to work selling cell phones...

When my friend lost her cell phone, she had no insurance so she had to buy a new cell at the regular price. What a pain in the neck!

The cell carriers that I used to work for would charge between $100 and $200 extra if you were buying a phone with no contract to accompany it. Your best bet is to get a used phone off of one of your friends.

I still have my contract, it's just frozen now or something...they were kind of vague. I didn't have insurance (stupid I know...that will NOT happen again) and I use verizon. Can they transfer my account to a phone I buy from someone other than them?

Can I use a phone I got somewhere else and have my service switched to it?

Late last year a new law was enacted to allow you to carry your cell phone number to another carrier, but not your contract. There may also be a fee associated with this carry over.

If you purchase a cell phone from someone other than Verizon, be sure it is the same technology as your old one (Verizon is CDMA). You cannot purchase a phone from T-Mobile, say, and use it with Verizon service. This is because T-Mobile is GSM, which Verizon does not provide service for.

I called customer service again and they said i can have my service transfered to any phone (as long as it's a verizon phone) so I bid on an ebay auction of the exact same phone I lost (it's not a great or high priced phone...but i really like it )

Just as long as it's compatible with your carrier.

In most cases, you need to get a phone that was designed for that specific network. If it's a Verizon phone you had, you need to find an old Verizon phone.

I hope you find your phone! My bf's roommate lost his and the people who found it REFUSED to give it back! Even after police became involved! I found a really really nice Sprint phone the other day in a parking lot. Called all the numbers trying to find out who it belonged to, he finally got word (one number was a friend of mine) and it was a really cool older guy. He was waaaaay happy to get it back. :D

I just bought the exact same model off of ebay for way less than the replacement would be..so yay. Well I have my phone on lock and the service cut off it, so at least that's covered...but I'm sure they could just take the battery out or something...ah well.

Careful about the Ebay phones!

Get the ESN from the seller first and make sure that the carrier hasn't blocked that ESN. I know Sprint does that in the event of a delinquent account or stolen phone.

Yeah and I tried calling him but he refuses to pick up.

-Rudey
--And my phone is unlocked to work with any carrier, in and out of this country as long as they're on the same band.

Different cells use differnt technology. Sprint and Verizon, for example, those are CDMA phones. However, with each carrier, the phones use different software to access their respective networks. So they aren't cross compatible.

Your other phones using GSM/GPRS are more likely to work on any network simply by changing the SIM card.

My phone is the same way, I can theoretically go anywhere I want and have no problems.