Cellphone newbie with a sprint plan wants to buy a nokia...

Hi all--

I was subscribing to the cheapest sprint plan (the $29.99/month one) and they had given me a samsung A560 phone. Well my toddler got a hold of it and it met an untimely death in the toilet. I tried to rinse it out with distilled water and a new battery but it still wouldn't start. So I wanted to buy a new phone. I found an unlocked phone on amazon that I like, a Nokia 3595 Phone (Unlocked), and wanted to buy it. But i have a bunch of questions.

I read elsewhere unlocked meant that the phone can be used with any provider. However this one says that it doesn't come with a sim card. Here's my question. My old phone didn't have a SIM card in it. Do I need a sim card for this phone to work? and if so, where do I get one? and how much will it cost?

Thanks!

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unfortunately, the nokia 3595 will only work with GSM providers, tmobile and cingular. Sprint uses CDMA, so the nokia 3595 will not be compatible with sprint. Do you have insurance for your samsung phone?, you can try talking to a CSR and ask what sprint will do in a case like yours. Unlocked means you can use the phone is different provider depending if its CDMA or GSM, nextel which uses iDen will not work with any other provider. CDMA(no sim card) providers (Sprint, Verizon etc.) and GSM (uses SIM cards) providers are Tmobile and Cingular (soon to be At&t). I would be better off talking to a CSR or go to the sprint forum and explain your case, youll get useful information there. And if you want to have a sim card, you may have to switch to a different provider which would be GSM, so that would either be Tmobile or Cingular. Hope this helps

You can also buy a phone that is carried by Sprint (only, not by Verizon or other CDMA providers) and have it activated by them.

Thanks for the replies...

I don't have insurance on it. At the time I said..."insurance? why would I ever need such an obvious waste of money..."

I also don't have enough credit for a new phone.

I ended up going on ebay and getting a used sprint PCS nokia 6016i for about $38 including shipping. Not too terrible if it works. I'm a bit nervous about it but I couldn't find a decent deal anywhere but the ebay rates were great.

Ebay caution: There are A LOT of shysters hawking cell phones on Ebay. Know what you want, research phones, protocol compatability and carriers very carefully. A Nokia phone purchased on EBay that is manufactured in Europe or APAC can not, in most cases, be repaired under warranty in the USA!