How does buying a cellphone work?

[dephektr]

Ok im new to the whole cellphone buying thing. I have a family plan with i think 1200 minutes and I'm not changing anything about the service. But I want a new cellphone and i want to get a good buy.

Whats the deal with everywhere there being the actual price then the price you pay. Is the actual price the price you would pay when not signing up for a new service. It seems like no one gets a phone without a service plan to go with it but thats probably not the case, right?

Where do i look for a phone if i dont want a service plan to go witit?
does switching sim cards between phones doesnt require any fees or time to activate?

This refurbished sony ericson z500a looks good. is it really only $10 or is it $0 and I just can get it? http://onlinestorez.cingular.com/cell-p...hones/cell-phones.jsp?source=INC230063


anyways thanks for the help

 

[phisrow]

Assuming you have the Cingular GSM plan which, from the mention of SIM cards, you probably do, absolutely any unlocked or cingular locked GSM phone supporting the american bands will work. Ebay has masses of such, albeit largely older used models. Brick and mortar phone shops will also be able to hook you up. As you might imagine though, good prices are usually only available with service plans. Be prepared to pay a fair bit for a new phone without a contract(typically, a contract will, depending on the phase of the moon and other occult factors known only to the marketing guys, take 100-200 dollars off the price of a phone; so you'd better be prepared to pay if you want a nicish one off contract).