[voiceofreality]

greetings- need some help- my kid is at that age he really needs a cell phone, to call us when he needs a ride home, etc. My wife has a free phone as a perk from work, on AT&T, and can get a 19% corp. discount if we add another. We also have 3 phones we picked up in the past few years from friends, etc. and maybe would like to reactivate one of those. They are:

Blackberry Curve model 8330, new in box with all accessories, bought 2009, set up and never used. Wiped out and given to us by a friend who upgraded. This phone originated from Alltel, and says Alltel on the box. It's in mint condition like new.

LG model CU400, that originated from AT&T. This was my wife's old phone from work, before she upgraded. Apparently made around 2007, very good condition, with charger.

Motorola model W766, that originated from Verizon, made Sept. 2009. Given to us by an acqaintance when they upgraded. In like new condition with charger.

Which one would be the most cost effective and useful to re-activate for my son ?

Looking around on the net, I can get a T-mobile sim card for the LG phone with a basic plan. By what I can find, the Blackberry would be more expensive to activate and use, but my son likes that one because it has a real keyboard on it.

I realize that depending where a phone originated from, other companies may not want to activate it, or may not be compatible. For example the Alltel Blackberry, Alltel was bought out by Verizon since then.

all advice appreciated, thanks

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› See More: want to reactivate Blackberry/Alltel vs LG/AT&T vs Motorola/Verizon

[avenue]

It would probably be cheaper to activate one of the phones on a prepaid plan. T-Mobile does have a basic plan like you mentioned that should work. There are also other cheaper providers if you wanted to give them a try.

The Verizon Wireless phone cannot be activated on AT&T or T-Mobile, it can only be activated on Verizon, or a service that uses Verizon, unless you flash the phone to Sprint.