>I'm not in the US so I could fall well foul of my comments here but:

That's okay! Your comments are welcome! :-)

>A 6 year old 'phone that you've become attached to really should be resigned
>to a recycling centre. Mobiles have changed so much in that time that you
>really will appreciate the benefits of a newer model (Battery life, 'phone
>functions, size). I wouldn't even consider finding a 'phone to re-use
>chargers with; just go for a clean break.

Yes. We've definitely decided that's what we'll be doing.

>You may have to pay more for your monthly/yearly service but may get more
>call benefits to make using your 'phones less "emergency" and more
>"convenience".

Cell phones are definitely not what my mother would call convenient!
:-D (She gets dropped every once in a while, the talking "drops in and
out".) While I understand it, and don't dislike it as much, I do prefer
my landline phone.

>If you prefer/only want pre-pay then perhaps Tracfone is an option though I
>have absolutley no idea what their service is like in Orlando?

There were some truly emergency only that we decided not to go with,
because you couldn't place anything but an emergency call on them. We
both wanted to be able to place a "regular" call on our cell phones, and
do have need to, just not real frequently. I don't remember whether
Tracfone was that kind of phone, but I had ruled it out, for some reason.

>Check out which providers give good service in the areas you normally
>frequent and then do a price comparison on their service lists. You may
>have to pay a bit more than you originally intended but if the existing
>option is no mobile service, then what's the cheapest/best cost of the next
>option?

Although I didn't research quite as much now as I did a few years
ago, ecallplus.com, which was about $6.67 a month, was fine for us. It
will now be about $9.97 a month. That's okay.

Thank you for whatever suggestions you render! Getting ideas from
other people is always a good thing!

Barry
--
Barry L. Bond | http://home.cfl.rr.com/os9barry/
Software Engineer, ITT Corporation | (My personal home web page, last
bbondATcfl.rr.com | updated February 17, 2005)