Help getting a new cell-phone!

My Motorola C332 bought in May (which I bought before my new “buy quality” policy) is dead, so I need a new phone. I’m new to the whole cell-phone culture so I don’t know how easy this will be. If I buy another T-mobile phone of any brand, can I just slip my old SIM card in and go about business as usual, or are there other hurdles? Also, what’s a consistently good cellphone brand?

I’m wondering the same thing. I was going to wait until after the 24th, when keeping your phone number becomes an option if you switch from land line to cell, I think, to see if rates change for the better.

I believe that with T-Mobile, its as simple as a SIM card switch assuming you buy another T-Mobile phone. Otherwise there is the business of unlocking your phone first.

I don’t know about the SIM card, since the Motorola 712 or whatever the model is, that I got last month is the first SIM card phone I’ve had.

It sounds to me like you got a lemon phone; motorola has a good reputation among my friends. Nokia is also generally good. OTOH, I had an Audiovox for the last year and it was mechanically fine (ugly, poor battery life, and crappy sound quality tho).

Nokia are a consistently good brand, in my opinion. I’ve had four different Nokia handsets in the last four years - I get a discounted annual upgrade - and all have been excellent.

As for SIM cards, that may depend upon your provider. At my last upgrade I had to swap to a new SIM card that had greater capacity for stored numbers and messages. In the UK the high street phone stores generally offer a free number transfer service. Nokia handsets also come with PC software allowing you to manage and backup all numbers and settings via infrared.