Read This Before You Recycle Your Old Cell Phone

This post originally ran on August 29th, 2008.

Recycling your old cell phone is a great idea and many charities accept used phones that they can either turned into cash or give to clients in need. But before you drop your phone in a collection box remember it's filled with personal data. You should remove personal information before you dispose of your phone. Permanent deletion usually requires several steps.

First, if you use a memory or subscriber identity module (SIM) card remember to remove it from the phone.

You'll also want to remove the following: contacts, any lists of calls (received and made), voicemails, sent and received email and text messages, organizer folders, Web search history and photos.

But manually deleting this information may not permanently erase the data--only the references to the data storage. The actual information is lodged deep within the phone's operating system.

The simplest way to completely erase the data is to take it to your provider. When you upgrade your phone take the old phone with you. Most providers will transfer the data to the new phone. But remember to ask them to wipe out the old phone. And you must ask for this because it's not part of their routine. The service is usually free as long as your upgrading. Some providers have a written policy that without an upgrade they will charge a fee to transfer and remove data. Still it's usually a nominal amount and well worth your peace of mind.

If you are the do it yourself type you'll find instructions on how to permanently remove all data in your phone's user manual. Your service provider may also list instructions on their website. But you better know what you're doing because I don't want you dropping my name and phone number into some data collection box and neither does anyone else.

Join the campaign to Take Back the Beep

New York Times writer, David Pogue, is mad and thinks you should be too. He’s really ticked off about the 15 seconds of his money and his life that are being stolen every time he leaves a cell phone voice mail message.

Says Pogue, “Suppose you call my cell to leave me a message. First you hear my own voice: "Hi, it's David Pogue. Leave a message, and I'll get back to you"--and THEN you hear a 15-second canned carrier message…These messages are outrageous for two reasons. First, they waste your time. Good heavens: it's 2009. WE KNOW WHAT TO DO AT THE BEEP.”

Pogue figures that although it may just be 15 seconds, if Verizon's 70 million customers leave or check messages twice a weekday Verizon makes about $620 million a year or takes three hours of your time a year.

So he’s on a crusade to Take Back the Beep and here’s what he wants us all to do:

We're going to descend, en masse, on our carriers. Send them a complaint, politely but firmly. Together, we'll send them a LOT of complaints.

If enough of us make our unhappiness known, I'll bet they'll change.

I've told each of the four major carriers that they'll be hearing from us. They've told us where to send the messages:
* Verizon: Post a complaint here: http://bit.ly/FJncH.
* AT&T: Send e-mail to Mark Siegel, executive director of media relations: MS8460@att.com.
* Sprint: Post a complaint here: http://bit.ly/9CmrZ
* T-Mobile: Post a complaint here: http://bit.ly/2rKy0u

Join the Take Back the Beep campaign. It will take more than 15 seconds of your time to voice your complaint, but you’ll be gaining much more.

Cell Phone Scam Alert

Recently another Colorado credit union reported that its members were receiving fraudulent calls to their cell phones. It works a lot like phishing. The recipient gets a call to their cell phone. Upon answering they will hear a recorded message such as, "This is a message from your bank, XYZ Credit Union, announcing that your Visa Debit Card has been temporarily suspended. Please dial 0 to reactivate your card." As you might have guessed, if someone presses 0, they are then asked to enter the debit card number, the expiration date and the security number.

Please don't fall for this. If you should receive a call like this be sure to capture the incoming phone number. Then contact the credit union or any other named financial institution and follow up by contact the Anti-Phishing Working Group.

Wow, that sure would be some fancy technology if your credit union could reactivate your card in this manner. But rest assured even if they could, they wouldn't. Remember, not your credit union nor any other financial institution would never ask you for ANY personal information such as account numbers, social security or PIN via the telephone or email.

Shopping Wireless Carriers

Right on cue my LG phone is slowly dying. I've got a little less than six months on my Verizon contract and the phone is holding less charge everyday. This leads me to look at my wireless bill, which is equally painful. Plus, I'm a bit suspicious of all the special offers Verizon has been sending me for free upgrades if I'll sign a new 2-year contract early.



So I've decided to start my research now for a new phone and possible new service. I clicked over to BillShrink.com to compare wireless plans.



Here's what I found (click to see larger)

Tmobile looks good, but it seems to me that I've heard murmurs of poor service. I am however, impressed with BillShrink's speed. It gives a good estimate to start from and would be nice to save over $700/year. The site doesn't include Qwest. So I my next step is to take a look at Qwest and possibly make the dreaded customer service call.

Who's your favorite wireless provider?

Read This Before You Recycle Your Old Cell Phone

Recycling your old cell phone is a great idea and many charities accept used phones that they can be either turned into cash or given to clients in need. But before you drop your phone in a collection box remember it's filled with personal data. You should remove personal information before you dispose of your phone. Permanent deletion usually requires several steps.

First, if you use a memory or subscriber identity module (SIM) card remember to remove it from the phone.

You'll also want to remove the following: contacts, any lists of calls (received and made), voicemails, sent and received email and text messages, organizer folders, Web search history and photos.

But manually deleting this information may not permanently erase the data--only the references to the data storage. The actual information is lodged deep within the phone's operating system.

The simplest way to completely erase the data is to take it to your provider. When you upgrade your phone take the old phone with you. Most providers will transfer the data to the new phone. But remember to ask them to wipe out the old phone. And you must ask for this because it's not part of their routine. The service is usually free as long as your upgrading. Some providers state have a written policy that without an upgrade they will charge a fee to transfer and remove data. Still it's usually a nominal amount and well worth your peace of mind.

If you are the do it yourself type you'll find instructions on how to permanently remove all data in your phone's user manual. Your service provider may also list instructions on their website. But you better know what you're doing because I don't want you dropping my name and phone number into some data collection box and neither does anyone else.