by sb
(Virginia)
Q: I still have a Motorola WX345 phone from a past account w/Consumer Cellular. Can I use this phone with a new account?
All I need is a new battery. Will it be worth it? Can it be activated?
My Answer:
Hi,
Thanks for your question. I am not sure what you mean by a new account. If you mean a new Consumer Cellular account, then I'm sure that they would be willing to send you a new SIM card if necessary to re-activate the phone. The BQ50 battery is available for less than $10 from a number of online stores (just Google "WX345 battery").
If you mean a new account on another plan, the answer is maybe. It depends on whether the phone has been locked by Consumer Cellular. If it has been locked, you can try calling up Consumer Cellular and ask them how to unlock it.
While you can get a SIM card from Net10 or Straight Talk and try putting it in your WX345, both plans require you to activate it on one of their monthly unlimited plans which start at $40 per month on Net10 and $45 per month on Straight Talk. You would not be able to activate it on their less expensive pay as you go plans. Tracfone is not an option here either as their BYOP program only applies to Sprint CDMA phones.
Another option may be PTel (formerly PlatinumTel) which also offers a SIM card kit. They do allow you to activate your own phone on their Pay as you Go plan which is a pretty good deal. PTel uses T-Mobile's network (Consumer Cellular uses AT&T). My only experience with them was to re-activate a T-Mobile prepaid phone with a Ptel SIM card, and that worked fine. I have not tried putting their SIM card in a WX345 phone.
(For more info, you can read my PTel review here.
Hope this helps and thanks again for checking out my site.