Need to replace broken T-mob BB

The screen on my 7100 T cracked a quarter of the way across and I would like to replace the phone now...I use it all day everyday...I am 11-12 months into my 12 month contract...T-mobile wants $250 or possibly only $150 to upgrade to a 7105T (if I can still get a rebate)...but why can't I just buy a used 7100T off ebay for $50 and put in my old sim card...will T-mobile charge me or let me do that...how does that work...can i just put the card in and away I go making callls...will it have my phone number on it somehow, I know I can get my contact list and stuff...and I think I know how to program it to recieve my e-mails but ...I know nothing about how this works...and I don't want to waste my time or money if there will be some major hitch in doing it this way. What issues will I have if any...what difficulties or downside is there to doing it this way rather than buying the upgrade from T-mobile.

Thanks for your help.

Julie

Julie, you're absolutely right. You can purchase a blackberry from ebay and pop your sim card right in. As for issues you may experience, I've noticed that the contact info doesn't always transfer over. So you may have your old phone numbers, but not home addresses and email addresses.

Also, you don't know if the blackberry you're getting from ebay is under warranty. You will not be able to get insurance on it either. Only brand new phones purchased from direct or indirect T-Mobile dealers are eligible for insurance within the first 14 days of purchase.

Other than that, you should be able to configure a few things on a different BB and use it without a problem. No charge, just pop in the SIM and adjust the BB to your liking.

If I sync the old one with my computer and then the new one wont that help to transfer all the contract details...or will it NOT recognise them both for all contact details transfer? So I put in the sim card and away I go I don't have to notify T-mobile...how does it know my phone number? From the sim card?

I do not have the insurance now due to a screw up when I bought it which is why I will have to go this route in the first place so not a problem there, and I guess I am out of warrantee almost on this phone so it would be just like getting the screen back but that is it. That is enough I suppose.

Thanks for helping!

Julie

Julie, your phone number is attached to your sim card. As for the sync idea, it makes sense to me but I am not too experienced with syncing info from a computer over to blackberry. I would suggest calling the customer care dept on that one as I don't want to give you a "sort of" answer. I'll continue to try and find the answer to that question for you though.

My husband has the same model so maybe I should just switch our cards to see what would happen before I do this. I did not think of that until now (duh!)...I know that I got all my contacts from my computer in the first place so I am sure it would work again. I really appreciate your help on this!

Thanks, Julie

According to a coworker, you can get all your contacts using Outlook.