Looking for a cell-phone expert

[Darrell]

OK, I admit that I hate cell-phones, and consider them to be a necessary evil. My old phone is an ancient Kyocera that does everything I want it to do, which isn't much, but it's just about worn out with flakey buttons.  I use my phone infrequently, it's mostly just in case of emergencies, but people I know like to send texts. I use a pay-as-you go plan, and just about always have money left over at the end of the 90-day period I pay for.

So my question is:  What do I need to know before I buy a new phone? What I want to be able to do is just to take the SIM card out of the old one, stick it in the new one, and carry on without drama. Can that be done? My cell-phone carrier, PagePlus, offers some phones on their website, but they're sold through an outside vendor so there isn't much help there. I want as little effort as possible in switching phones and would appreciate informed advice.  Thanks!

[MacGyver]

You’ll have to buy a phone that’s compatible with whatever network they’re riding on.

As such, it’s probably worth buying from their vendor.

Was the Kyocera an old flip phone? If it was, it might be worth checking Amazon or EBay to see if you could just purchase the samE model. 

[No_0ne]

You'll have to activate the phone with PagePlus (this is pretty much true with any carrier where you roll your own phones).  Most of the time this involves using their online activation, which generally is pretty simple, mostly consisting of typing in a bit of information or clicking on some buttons.  Usually, to port (transfer) your existing number over, you'll need your ESN or MEID number, this is like a unique serial number which identifies your phone.  This can be found on the phone, on an Android it's under "settings", typically on a page called "about phone" or something like that.  It's not a complicated process, you can always find somebody to help out as most folks have been through the process before with their own phones ...

[billmeek]

PagePlus is a MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) that uses the Verizon network only.  Any current model and unlocked CDMA phone should work.  As stated above, you will have to go though activation on a new phone. 

[Darrell]

Thanks all.

There's a local cell-phone store that's a PagePlus vendor and I went there and asked for something that would work. The nice young lady at the desk did all the transfer stuff, and the new phone seems to work.