When you inevitably get a new cell phone and after you have transferred all the data from your old device to your new one, have you ever thought about what to do with the old one? While the obvious answer may be to recycle it, why not donate it to a cause such as Cell Phones For Soldiers (who will recycle it anyway).

You can read about how the program works, but basically your phones are sent to a recycle center who pays Cell Phones For Soldiers a small fee and this small fee is turned into calling cards which are sent overseas.

The phones are sent to ReCellular, which pays Cell Phones for Soldiers for each donated phone – enough to provide an hour of talk time to soldiers abroad.

You can donate your phone for free and the process couldn’t be easier.

So when it comes time to get a new cell phone, consider putting your old to good use.

Most of us have a trail of old cell phones, computers and other gadgets in our nerd wake. Personally, I have several old cell phones that I personally have no use for any longer. And I just added another one to the list now that I switched to the Iphone 3G.

What do we do with these things? My closet is full of old hardware I have no use for.

Continued

One of the “in” things to do online these days is lifestreaming. Lifestreaming is where you have an online record of your daily activities. You might use Twitter to share random thoughts throughout the day. You might snap photos or take videos and put them online. You’ll write blog posts. You’ll update your statuses in social networks like Facebook.

In a way, I do this. I blog regularly both here at PCMech and on DavidRisley.com. I am a regular user of Twitter and have been known to send in “tweets” even while using my cell phone when I am not in the office. I use FriendFeed and love the site because it aggregates all of these various activities into a single feed. Continued

I make it no secret that I’m very anti-cell phone. The main reason is because I do remember when the phone companies were literally screwing us blind in phone charges for land-line telecommunications back in the late 80s and early 90s.

Today’s wireless plans are essentially just as bad cost-wise.. and unfortunately no one sees this, but I digress.

I use a wireless phone not because I want to but because I have to, therefore I go cheap. With that said, here’s the lowest cost post-paid plans (meaning contractual agreements and not “pay as you go” pre-paid methods):

Verizon, AT&T, Alltel

Lowest possible price: $39.99 monthly, 2-year contract

You basically get the same features no matter which carrier you choose in this price range. All of them have free mobile-to-mobile (meaning same-carrier) minutes. AT&T is the only one that does NOT offer unlimited nights and weekends. All have 450 “anytime” minutes with the exception of Alltel that has 500.

The best deal in this price range is Alltel, no question. You get 50 more minutes plus the ability to add 1 “My Circle” number that doesn’t count against your 450.

Sprint, T-Mobile

Lowest possible price: $29.99 monthly, 2-year contract

T-Mobile offers 300 “anytime” minutes while Sprint only offers 200 monthly.

Does Sprint sound crappy? Not really when you consider their plan has unlimited nights and weekends while T-Mobile DOES NOT. T-Mobile only offers unlimited weekends but not weeknights and that’s a huge drawback.

Both carriers have the same perks so-to-speak as the higher-cost plans such as voicemail and so on.

. . .

So there you have it. Five major carriers in the USA with 2 of them on the low-low end of the price spectrum.

If you’re the type (like I am) that uses a wireless phone for basic and/or emergencies only, now you know how much it costs.