Moral of the story...don't buy a stolen phone.

thats not exactly fair.. you have to think about how much technology is in a cell phone. Its not that they are outrageously priced, it is that they offer huge discounts for essentially contract sign on bonus' and contract renewal bonus'

They don't structure their pricing to be reasonable if you aren't setting up a new contract.

I needed a new phone and went Ebay as well. New for new..the Ebay phone was about half to a third lower in cost.

The phones cost A LOT of money to manufacture. Imagine what your cell phone is capable of, compare it to similar items of the quality and size.

The high price is actually a relatively decent price for the phone, and they offer DISCOUNTS for contracts not mark ups for existing customers.

And yes, phones are cheap on ebay because most people do not pay full retail price for phones, and therefore will sell the used for much cheaper

I dropped a crappy old phone in the lake a few years ago. I figured I was screwed, so I went to Verizon and bought a new one that same day. But, I did recover the old phone. They wouldn't take it as a trade in or anything (they obviously thought it was a done deal as well). So, a couple of weeks later, I decided to finally get rid of the old phone, hit the power button out of curiosity, and she came on, found a signal, and everything.

You might be without a phone for a few days, but it'll probably be fine once it dries out.

When my phone was dropped...into the toilet...it never recovered. Hopefully you didn't make the mistake of trying to turn it on right away, that'* why they said mine didn't stand a chance (shorted it). A couple things I did learn, you might be able to get your info off of it if you find a really nice cellphone store. They pulled my numbers and were able to print them off. Also, if you do have to buy a new phone, I know some offer a nice selection of referbished phones which vary from store to store (meaning, check around if your provider has differing stores). I got a 400 dollar phone for half off....which was sweet. I normally hate referb things but it had a warrenty and has been a good phone. Just some thoughts, good luck with this.

Edit. If you can't live without a phone, my provider gave me a week to return my "new" phone for free. So I had a week to try whatever to get my old one working (and I did try everything), but I still had a phone. So check into that.

Ok heres the update.....and some more reminder info....

The phone was WASHED with DETERGENT, in a WASHING MACHINE, submerdged for like 30 mins.

So it has dried out alot...and it has turned on and I tested it and I CAN recieve a call on it, so I know its not THAT bad....the only problem right now is that...the buttons will not work.....

But I think that if i disassemble it and dry it out totally, i can get it to work. I don't really have alot to lose....so yeah.

I went to walmart to see if they have the special bit which is like a phillips but its a tri bladed bit instead of a quad blade like a phillips. SO walmart didn't have it. so the phone went back in its bowl of rice....

tomorrow I am heading over to the hardware store and gonna see if they have what I need. if she ends up not working, well then thats the verdict. If so, well then i saved a crapload of money.

We'll see. Thanks all of you for the advice so far, I really appreciate it.

Does the phone support voice activated dialing?

OH heck yes it does, I LIKE HOW YOU THINK!!!!