Wet/dead cell phone

[jennyf2]

Hello

I went & got a pedicure last week & my phone fell in the pedi bowl & of course now it does not work... I was planning on getting a new phone in the near future. We currently have Sprint & when our contract is up in October I was going to switch to Verizon. I do not have a SIM card but I want to get a cheap Sprint phone from ebay or a friend. My question is how do I activate it without adding time to my current contract...

Any info would be great!

Thanks!

 

[PartyFromSaturn]

I didn't think Sprint made you add time to your contract just for activating a new (or used) phone. I thought adding time to your contract was just for getting the discounted rate on phone purchase from their store. It has been a while since I switched away from Sprint though. You might just want to give them a call and see what they suggest.

I wanted to tell you that if it ever happens again, throw your phone in a baggie of rice asap and leave it for a day. I did this and my phone worked fine afterward. The only problem was that the charger outlet was damaged, so I have to wiggle it to get it to recognize when it's on the charger. I'm sure it doesn't work in every case, but I know of others who have done it too!

 

[Kitzka]

Like the OP i dropped my work blackberry into a tub of water getting a pedicure. I left it alone and when i got home put it in a bag of rice.

about 48 hours later i turned it back on and it has worked perfectly ever since (about 3 months). i know there is a grain or two of rice stuck in there but it hasn't effected how the phone works

lara

 

[rbork]

Mine was actually flushed Thank God it did not fit down the pipe. Can't imagine that call to the plumber to snake the cell from the house pipes.
I did take it apart dry out the sim card and used it on another phone.

On another note... I actually ran a flash drive through my washer recently... heard the klinking and discovered it through the washer window going round and round. Dried it out for 2 weeks and recovered all the files! AMAZING!

 

[Cindyrellablue]

As long as you don't make any changes to your Sprint plan for usage or data, the activation of the new phone to an existing number shouldn't make a difference.

 

[ENSOCK]

With AT&T you can just purchase a sim card for around $10 bucks. My DS11 broke his samsung rubgy (the unbreakable cell phone) and when I called the girl from AT&T told me to just purchase a go phone for my carrier and just put in his sim. Saved me a ton since we do not have another upgrade until next summer.

 

[Dizneydaz]

I was going to tell you about the rice trick as well. This really does work. Take the battery out of the phone and submerge both the phone and battery in rice for a day or more. It should work after this.

I once washed my SD card from my dig. cam. and thought all was lost. Nope, once it dried out it worked just fine and the photos were still there.

 

[bdoyledimou]

Rice trick also works for flushed iPhones.....

 

[disneydreamersx4]

rice trick didn't work for my phone that took a dip inthe pool

and I also learned that I should have saved all my contacts to the sim card not the phone.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

I didn't think Sprint made you add time to your contract just for activating a new (or used) phone. I thought adding time to your contract was just for getting the discounted rate on phone purchase from their store. It has been a while since I switched away from Sprint though. You might just want to give them a call and see what they suggest.

I wanted to tell you that if it ever happens again, throw your phone in a baggie of rice asap and leave it for a day. I did this and my phone worked fine afterward. The only problem was that the charger outlet was damaged, so I have to wiggle it to get it to recognize when it's on the charger. I'm sure it doesn't work in every case, but I know of others who have done it too!

even if I active a used phone, they add time onto my account. I too thought like you until I tried it..

 

[A Mickeyfan]

I know of several people, DH & DS included who have dropped their phones into water. After about 2 weeks of drying out, back opened with battery out, the phones began to work again. In the case of my DS, he even blow dried the back of it as soon as it happened.

 

[JB2K]

To break it down...

If your phone is AT&T or T-Mobile, and your handset is damaged beyond repair or rice, simply remove the SIM card and insert it in a working handset.

Sprint and Verizon work this a little differently - you need to call either carrier's customer service and request what is called an "ESN Swap", which will transfer your phone number to a working handset.

And, in either case, you will not have to commit to a new service contract.

As equipment goes, you can buy new AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon handsets at most major retailers (they are marketed as prepaid phones, but in cases like this, they make having a backup handset inexpensive and painless).

If you are with Sprint, you will have to find another way to procure a backup handset as they don't directly sell prepaid phones.

NOTE TO OP: If you are buying from eBay, insist on getting the handset's ESN prior to completing the sale, then call Sprint Customer Service to verify the ESN is "clear" (to make sure the handset wasn't misappropriated/stolen).

 

[kydisneyfans]

The rice trick has worked for both my wife's and son's phones. My wife dropped hers in a pool and my son left his outside overnight in the rain.

 

[nettekay]

I currently have sprint and my DS had his phone dropped in my glass of iced tea by DGS last week. all you have to do is get any other sprint phone then log onto your account and select the option to activate a new phone. (you can also do this by calling sprint but it takes longer) They do not add time to your contract. I have changed phones for my other DS and his wife 3 times in the last 2 months!! They are had on phones and get bored as well! LOL
Make sure that if you activate it on line you get the code to reprogram the phone. If it has been used before a code must be entered to remove the old phone # and put in yours. It will be on the confirmation page.

Good luck!!!

 

[bdoyledimou]

They only add time if you get a subsidized phone. If you buy a new phone for full price, then they don't add contract time.

 

[lila]

Rice. For sure.

 

[rock_doctor]

Call around to some of your friends and see if any have sprint. If so see if they would part with an old phone. You should be able to swap the phone online in you "my sprint" webpage. It will not cost you anything to swap the phone. if you decided to stay with sprint then a great phone is the touch pro 2 by htc. I just got one and love it. It is a cdma phone that also does GSM plus can be unlocked to work in the US on all of the GSM networks (software costs about $15). It is GSM unlocked for use outside the US right out of the box (it comes with a sprint SIM card but you can just swap it with a local SIM card when in Europe) but you do have to unlock it for GSM use inside the US. If you get it from ebay you will pay a little more but will not have a contract (make sure it says it is new and unopened. It will likely ship directly from Sprint). Try to dry it out you current phone, i have heard the rice thing does work if it was clean water. Good luck

 

[seashoreCM]

I would say give it at least five days to dry out before trying to use it.