That sounds like a genuinely brilliant idea! I wonder if there is a Celltradecanada...

i feel bad for you canadians lately it looks like you guys are getting the short end of the stick when it comes to cell plan deals.. i remember 10 years ago though can-tel was the first to offer 39.99 and FREE nights and weekends..even though i lived in detroit it was one of my first cell phone plans becasue the local area went into detroit.. although no one would call me for 1.99 a min becasue i had a 519 area code !

Is the Motorola Q THAT bad?

Yes, the Q is THAT bad. I manage our company's wireless devices and was looking for something that could handle Exchange email but was cheaper than a Treo 700w. Verizon gave me a Q to use for a 2 week demo. It was awful. We are sticking with the Treo's for now.

As for transfering contracts, they actually do make it simple. I process a lot of assumption of liability requests when people leave our company but want to keep their cell number. We just fill out a simple 1 page form and Verizon moves the contact from us over to them. As long as they get their monthly payments, why would they care who cuts the check?

I used CellTrade to buy out someone's contract and get their Sidekick on the cheap. It worked very, very well for that and all the TMobile people were extremely helpful about transferring ownership of the contract. The hard part was getting out of my Cingular contract and keeping my number, which turned out to be impossible. What wound up happening is that the guy who took over my contract ended up with a new contract with a no-longer-offered rate plan (which is why he wanted my contract) and my fee got waived because the retention rep was very nice. Do not use CellTrade to get out of your contract if you want to take your number with you, period. It's really not an easy thing, and not even a guaranteed thing. At least, not with Cingular.

If you want to take your number with you, see link below: This company can cancel your current contract AND sign you up with the carrier of your choice!!! NO ETF's!

http://wirecracker.vflyer.com/1/index.html

I just axed my T-Mobile account (I had no contract left) and they begged me to give my account to someone else. The huge incentive? No "line activation fee", which runs like 35 dollars. And a free phone of course.

Thinkthis...

What was your experience with t-Mo? Just curious since I just signed up with them. So Far so good.

Note that wirecracker can't get you out of cingular contracts. What's up with that?

What if I just want a thin phone with a full Qwerty keyboard for texting and basic calls and something that plays basic media files and some games.

Is there something better than the Q size and money wise?

I just ordered one through Verizon's online deal and switched from Sprint.

I have 15 days from the day of activation to dump it with no penalties.

How is Verizon's service? I am going with them because they seem to have the coolest hardware coming down the pipeline. I really want that Samsung flip phone that flips up and to the side to reveal a qwerty.

So, will the Q handle that functionality for me at least?

I was thinking about getting a Q later this month. Can you go into specifics about what makes it a bad choice? I need the inside scoop before I pony up for two more years.

I also noticed a similar service called Cellswapper (http://www.cellswapper.com - they look a lot more professional and hopefully reliable.

the Q is pretty good for texting and it can run emulators, so it should have all the games you could ever want.

Only downside I can think of is the fact that the Q is a data hog. If you don't buy a unlimited data plan I can see the monthly cost sky-rocketing. If text-messaging and games are your priority, I would get a sidekick and a ds lite. I think it would be cheaper in the long run because the t-mo monthly will be much lower than verizon's

I didn't even like it as a phone.

Sound quality was good, but I found it uncomfortable to use as a phone. Too wide and too thin, just not a good shape to hold like while talking on the phone. Plus dialing on those tiny keys was a royal pain.

Not sure what else is out there that would be a better choice.

--appologies if this is a double post my browser hung up. (Why won't my work let me use firefox?)--
I didn't even like it as a phone.

Sound quality was good, but I found it uncomfortable to use as a phone. Too wide and too thin, just not a good shape to hold like while talking on the phone. Plus dialing on those tiny keys was a royal pain.

Not sure what else is out there that would be a better choice.

It's a shame they don't have something like this for spouses you've gotten tired of....$19.95 is a lot cheaper than a divorce....