Cell phone drama & a blast from the past
Hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend! I went to the beach yesterday and got a little color on my pasty white skin (on my eyelids of all places – probably the only part of my body that didn’t get covered in sunblock!), had some great food, chilled out with some good friends, and even got a little me-time in front of the 3rd X-Men movie on tv this afternoon. All in all, a very nice long weekend. Two things on my mind tonight:
(1) My cell phone is dead, and I’ve realized that I don’t know shit about shit when it comes to cell phone replacement. My old phone recently crapped out and is essentially useless at this point. I went to Sprint to get a new one, and they told me I had two options: (a) buy a new phone, the cheapest of which is $200+ (for the super crappy, low-end phone); or (b) upgrade my cell phone plan to get the crappy low-end phone for free. Don’t want to do either of these things because both seem expensive on my very tight budget. Shopped around and found that my existing cell phone plan is awesomely cheap/convenient and can’t find a better deal, so I want to keep it. Also, my contract is up, and they won’t renew it at the old super-cheap rate. So, what are my options? ANY advice here would be helpful – if you know what you’re talking about and want to help a girl out, speak up, my dears! It seems that I can buy a cheap-o/gently used phone on eBay or something, making sure that it’s compatible with Sprint, and then switch the sim card (?) and call Sprint with the serial number (?) and magically my account is implanted in the new phone? Can I switch the card myself, or do I need Sprint to do it for me? Do I want to buy a phone “without a contract?” What’s “clear ESN?” Geez, this is giving me a headache.
(2) Now that I’m feeling all slim and pretty and my girly bits are all healthy and functional again (thank god!), I found myself casually/cautiously poking around the online dating dumpster just to see what’s out there. All was going well (relatively speaking – it IS the dumpster, after all) until a headshot of The Editor smacked me in the face, HARD, and left me curled up on the floor in the fetal position muttering apologies and hiding my head in shame. Shit shit shit. I SO didn’t need to see that! I had kinda/sorta forgotten the details of his face but was oh-so-blatantly reminded of them when I saw that picture, and I really wish that image hadn’t been so harshly pulled out of my purposefully locked and guarded mental filing cabinet. Ahhhhhh!!! Fucking shit, I hadn’t thought about him in a while, and now I’m going to be dwelling on this all night. God help me.
Anyway, don’t forget to chime in with cell phone advice if you have it, and I hope none of you runs into an old photo of an ex tonight. Be cautious, my dears, they’re lurking everywhere! Avert your eyes!! Abort, abort!!!
Too bad you’re up there in NY, got a nice Toshiba Sprint VM-4050 phone from 2004 collecting dust in my drawer.
The cell phone in-store salesmen aren’t going to be truthful, I would assume you wouldn’t have a problem switching the phones with the right serial number, etc. I’d phone up Sprint to verify, though.
Keep a close eye on your account too, seems such places try to re-up you for two years if you merely sneeze.
July 6th, 2009 at 1:03 amI remember what it’s like to see photo’s of ex’s (shudder).
The secret is not to look at them.
This is why most dumpster’s have a block facility
In the meantime, shag hot marine agin; problem solved.
For my next task I shall tackle world poverty.
July 6th, 2009 at 3:10 amJust last week I sold 2 old cell phones on Craigslist. One or two possible buyers asked about “clear ESN” and I told them I had no idea what that was. Two days after I sold the phones to a guy, a Verizon rep called asking about the phones. The guy was trying to activate them on his plan and the rep wanted to make sure they weren’t stolen. I told her no, I sold him the phones, she thanked me and ended the call. Seems like it was pretty easy for the buyer to activate the phones on his existing plan. Don’t see why you couldn’t to the same with a new plan. Good luck!
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July 6th, 2009 at 7:40 amSprint phones don’t have SIM cards because of the type of service they are (their network is CDMA, like Verizon, as opposed to GSM networks, like AT&T, that DO use SIM cards). Find a Sprint-compatible phone on eBay or Craigslist and go to a Sprint store to have them activate it for you. Unfortunately, you will almost certainly have to re-enter all your numbers and stuff unless the store is able to download the info and reload it (unlikely because you’re going to be switching using older phones).
July 6th, 2009 at 9:59 amOhh, the feeling of having your eyelids sunburnt. That happened to me a couple weeks back. And then the skin on my eyelids started peeling. Adding eyeshadow on top of the peeling skin, not attractive.
I had a dream Saturday night about my ex-boyfriend. It is crazy how you can go so long without thinking of someone, and then they pop up and you can’t get them out of your head! Good luck with that…
July 6th, 2009 at 10:13 amI had recently switched from Verizon (no SIM) to ATT (SIM), and at the store, they were able to transfer all my contacts just fine. So there is hope!
July 6th, 2009 at 7:32 pmWow, thanks for all the cell phone advice! This whole process is a little intimidating (just like buying a car, actually) because I feel like everyone is out to scam you… and I freaking HATE that feeling! Aaaggrrrhhhhhh. Stupid electronics and their stupid contracts and gimmicks. All I want is a working phone and a few bucks in my bank account. Is that too much to ask??? Sigh.
July 6th, 2009 at 10:15 pmDD A clear ESN is important. What that means is that the phone doesnt have a past due bill or any money owed on the original owners account. If you are unsure ask the seller for the serial number on the phone and call Sprint and ask if it is clear. They can tell you yes or no before you buy the phone. If it isnt they wont activate it in your name until it is cleared up (paid)
July 7th, 2009 at 11:26 am