We've always done the 2nd hand phone thing, because I really hate having that contract hanging over me...but just last September, I realized I had been with Sprint for 6+ years, and if I got a contract, I could get a free phone and a cheaper price for a better plan, so I bit.

Prior to that I had been using my usual second hand phone, which still worked fine.

This past week, my DH's phone started to kind of fall apart. Money is tight, so I suggested he give my old phone a try. He called Sprint and was told that "the phone is too old to connect it."

But it wasn't in September!

Fortunately (or not), I've run into this before, and the trick is to find a Customer Service Rep who's been there for a few years, and has connected the older phones before. The instructions to connect the older phones aren't included in the how-to books any more, but the old-timer reps still know how to do it.

Viola, cheap phone....