Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[Roger Austin <raustin3 AT nc.rr.com>]

Childers.Paula AT epamail.epa.gov wrote:
> Brian said:
>
> > At any rate, my primary advice is to pay a visit to your carrier's
> nearest
> > retail store.  You may be able to upgrade the phone for less than the
> cost
> > of a new battery.  (Of course under no circumstances should you buy
> the
> > battery from them...but $20 for a phone upgrade or $20 for a new
> > battery?...)
>
> The catch there, though, is that you almost always have to commit to a
> new two-year service contract in order to get that "free" or "cheap"
> phone. If you for some reason need to break that contract, you become
> liable for their declared "full cost" of the phone (usually much more
> than if you'd just bought the phone from a direct vendor), as well as
> cancellation fees, etc. Maybe I'm alone in this, but I prefer not being
> bound by such a contract. Plus, can't you get excellent unlocked phones
> on ebay for cheap?

 We got the sale's pitch when asking about the battery. I ended up
ordering one for $7 on-line. If it doesn't work, I wasted $7. We
will keep our current plan and phone for as long as we can. I don't
want to get all new attachments. (I also have heard horror stories
about people getting "upgraded" when they re-upped and then the cell
people telling them that the old plan could not be renewed. The folks
didn't know their bill doubled until they got the first one.)

 We are not heavy cell phone users. We just want it to dial and talk
in case of an emergency and to use it for long distance. I have a
$25/mo plan that I don't want to "upgrade" like the salespeople want
me to do. I had a heck of a time convincing the people that I did not
want text messaging at 10cents a piece. I have email on my work phone,
what do I need with text messaging? Duh.

 Now I just need to get those old Bakelite rotary phones working for
my sweetheart. One of them was heavily modified to use a teletype back
in the '80s so I think it is beyond my repair skills. The others
probably would work if I actually wanted them to work.
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