What to do after broken phone? Call forward? Buy new phone somewhere?

**gambit57** · 11-07-2011, 03:45 AM

It's not too relevant, but DD broke my iPhone 4. Specifically, the phone is on, but the screen won't turn on. If you call it, it rings. If you reboot it, you can hear stuff when it turns on, etc. I've tried all sorts of reboots, resets, and restores. Nothing works. So, I'm trying to figure out what to do next.

Temporarily, I switched SIMs and am now using my wife's iPhone 4. She's got a 4S on Sprint so her 4 is actually a backup phone. Eventually, we'll prolly cancel our AT&T accounts and I'll move to Sprint, but that's not til next June. Because of this, I'd also rather not pay to fix the phone as I imagine it'd cost at least $100 and I'd rather just save that for when I buy the iPhone 5 or whatever the next iPhone is gonna be called.

If I suspend service, that just means the account stays active right? I want to keep it going so the contract can expire.

What's AT&T's policy on call forwarding? Thinking about just getting some cheap dumbphone and/or call forward all her calls to this line over to the Sprint phone. Is it free or do they charge for every call?

Can I just buy and use a cheap Go Phone, or does AT&T not allow that? Meaning I've got to get some cheapy phone off of eBay. If I gotta go eBay, any recommendations? I mean, if I'm gonna shell out $30 or whatever for a phone, might as well get a decent one.

Thanks for any suggestions.

**uncreative** · 11-07-2011, 06:10 AM

I'm not sure about the call forwarding, but you can pick up a Go Phone and just plug your sim into it. If you have any of your old phones laying around, you could use them.

**zephxiii** · 11-07-2011, 07:07 AM

I would just pick up a temporary phone and use that, you'll need a microsim adapter. Then call up Apple to see what your options are to get it fixed.

There are A LOT of good options to get good phones on ebay for decent buck, I do it all the time.

**jseah** · 11-07-2011, 07:08 AM

Suspending your service will put your contract on hold, so essentially for every day that the line is suspended your contract is extended a day as well.

**Goelz83** · 11-07-2011, 09:05 AM

Yeah, OP, I wouldn't worry about suspending the line because you are still in posession of the equpiment. Just get a GoPhone or a cheap phone on eBay to use until your contract expires. Forward the calls to another line if you want to.

**clonehappy** · 11-07-2011, 09:13 AM

Why not just use the backup iPhone 4 until your contact is up and get a GoPhone for your wife to use as a backup, since she already has a 4S to use?

**dannyboy888** · 11-07-2011, 11:36 AM

If you switch your phone to a dumb phone, you can remove the data package off of it.

If you know someone with a family plan, you can transfer the line to them and have them pay the remaining months as an Add a Line for $9.99.

The contract states you must keep the line active for 24 months total. Not that you have to pay a certain amount. As part of a family plan, it's definitely the most cost effective as a dead line.

Another option is for you to sell the broken iPhone as is and just use that to pay the remaining ETF.
The ETF is generally going to be less than you paying service for 5 or 6 months...

**gambit57** · 11-07-2011, 12:52 PM

Do you guys know how call forwarding works? I guess she could just carry two phones around, but if there's no extra charges beyond the minutes used, we could just do that. How does the Mobile to Mobile work with that? I'd say the great majority of people who'd call her cell would be other AT&T people. So it'd be AT&T calling to her AT&T but forwarded to a Sprint line. Would that use MTM minutes or anytime?

Thanks for confirming that Go Phones work. I couldn't find any clear info on that. eBay is an option too, but it gets kind of overwhelming with the choices. I don't have any more old phones. Gave em away to a nephew who broke his phone.

It's already on a Family Plan so it's only $10/mo if we take off the data plan. That might be the cheapest way to go about it.

**gambit57** · 11-07-2011, 12:52 PM

Do you guys know how call forwarding works? I guess she could just carry two phones around, but if there's no extra charges beyond the minutes used, we could just do that. How does the Mobile to Mobile work with that? I'd say the great majority of people who'd call her cell would be other AT&T people. So it'd be AT&T calling to her AT&T but forwarded to a Sprint line. Would that use MTM minutes or anytime?

Thanks for confirming that Go Phones work. I couldn't find any clear info on that. eBay is an option too, but it gets kind of overwhelming with the choices. I don't have any more old phones. Gave em away to a nephew who broke his phone.

It's already on a Family Plan so it's only $10/mo if we take off the data plan. That might be the cheapest way to go about it.

**efparri** · 11-07-2011, 02:33 PM

For unlimited minutes such as mobile to mobile and nights and weekends, there is a 750 minute monthly limit on forwarded or conference calls combined. Forwarded AnyTime minutes come out of your allowance. Forwarded minutes might not count as mobile to mobile minutes. When you use forwarding, voicemail does not work on the phone originally called. You would want to set it up as immediate forwarding so that people would not hangup before the call reaches the final destination number and goes to voicemail on that number, if necessary.

CA · 11-07-2011, 03:49 PM

Go Phones start at 15 bucks, just go (pun) with the 10 cent plan. Someone please correct me if i'm wrong. When you're done with it give it to a friend or donate it.

http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-pho...id=XbD0KFLFZAr

**efparri** · 11-07-2011, 06:52 PM

The original poster already has an activated line. He just needs a phone to use on that line after he commandeered his wife's phone to use on his line. He does not need the GoPhone account, just the device.

**gambit57** · 11-07-2011, 06:56 PM

Altho, at $15, if I don't have to activate a new Go Phone line, that's worth considering. So far, eBay looks to cost about $20-30 for a cheapy phone anyways. And at this point, I'm thinking I should stick with a newer phone that has 3G on it instead of some ancient 5 year old flip with a barely color screen.

**Goelz83** · 11-07-2011, 06:59 PM

Originally Posted by gambit57

Would that use MTM minutes or anytime?

When you use call forwarding, AT&T's billing system counts the minutes as Anytime minutes and not mobile-to-mobile.

CA · 11-07-2011, 08:31 PM

Originally Posted by efparri

The original poster already has an activated line. He just needs a phone to use on that line after he commandeered his wife's phone to use on his line. He does not need the GoPhone account, just the device.

My mistake then, I thought you had to have a plan in order to get a prepay phone. But you can select the 10 cent one and throw the SIM out. Wala cheep phone no plan cost.

But you know better, I just thought that they wouldn't sell you just the phone.