Published: July 22, 2008 07:13 am      

Old cell phones may work in some cases

You’ve got your new iPhone, but what do you do with your old cell phone?

You already canceled your service plan, so it doesn’t work anymore. Right?

Not necessarily.

“Any phone with a charged battery can dial 9-1-1 if it can find a signal,” said Justin Brewster, network operation supervisor for Pioneer Cellular.

“If the technology is current and working with our system, then we allow the call to go through regardless if it is a paid customer or not,” said Cindy Gore, public relations specialist for Pioneer Cellular.

However, it all depends on the service provider and the age of the technology, Brewster said.

Phones that are strictly analog no longer work at all, he said, but noted that strictly analog cell phones have not been produced within the last 10 to 12 years.

Since that time cell phones have progressed to use a combination of digital and analog technologies or strictly digital technology, he said.

There is no way to tell what type of technology a phone uses by simply looking at it, Brewster said. However, he said as a general rule the newer the phone, the newer the technology, which means that phones that are eight-years-old or newer are probably still compatible with today’s digital technology.

Since these phones can still dial 9-1-1, they can either be recycled or reused, Brewster said, noting that Pioneer Cellular accepts old pagers and PDAs as well as old cell phones as part of an internal recycling program within the company.

However, there are some charitable organizations that will also accept old cell phones, which the organization will then either hand them out for clients to reuse or sell back to cell phone companies to raise funds for their organization.

Northwest Domestic Crisis Services in Woodward does both.

“If it’s new enough, we will take it in so it can be reused,” said Paul Fockler, director of the Northwest Domestic Crisis Services. “But it has to be fairly new, no more than five-years-old.”

If the phone can’t be reused, then it will be sold to put money into a client fund to help clients of the crisis center, said Brandi Kowing, a counselor with Northwest Domestic Crisis Services.

“Either way it helps us,” Fockler said.

To donate your phone to Northwest Domestic Crisis Services, simply drop it by the crisis center located at 1323 Kansas Ave. in Woodward anytime during business hours Monday through Friday.

For more information, contact the center at 256-1215.