How Can I Get Numbers Off My Broken Cell Phone?

When a cell phone breaks, people are likely left without any of their contact information. With advancements in technology and increasingly popular cell phone usage, most contact information is stored exclusively in cell phones. If your cell phone breaks there are a few ways to retrieve your contact information, either on your own or with the help of a cellular retailer.

Take your broken phone to a cellular retailer. When you purchase your new phone the sales representative will likely transfer your contact information without having to be asked. If not, request he transfer your contacts. This can be done in a matter of minutes, using the company's computer system. The process will require your old phone to be hooked up to their computer, which retrieves your contact information and makes it available for transfer to a new phone. If your cell phone has too much damage, such as water damage, the retailer may not be able to complete this process. The process costs nothing although minimal fees may apply if you have purchased your new phone elsewhere, such as eBay or from a friend.

Remove the SIM card from your old phone and place it into your new phone, if equipped. According to Tech-FAQ, a user's contact information is stored on the SIM card, comparable to an external hard drive and can easily be used on other SIM card-equipped phones. The only catch is that both phones must be SIM card based to make the switch possible. Certain cellular carriers, such as Verizon Wireless, do not offer any SIM-based phones while other carriers, such as AT&T, offer phones with and without SIM cards.

Sync your new phone to your computer to retrieve any previously saved data. Many smart phones, as well as the iPhone, come equipped with a USB cable which allows a phone to sync, or connect, with a computer. Once you have connected the phone to the computer, all the data such as pictures, notes and contact information is stored. Retrieving your data by syncing your new phone to your computer will only work if you have previously synced your old phone to the computer. All data from the last time the phone was synced will be available. For example, if you performed a sync on your old phone three months ago, any contact information you have stored since then will not be there for you to retrieve.

Manually transferring contacts will work, dependent on the degree of "brokenness" of your phone. If the screen just has a few cracks, this method will still work; however, if the screen is blank when powered on, this method is not an option. The disadvantage to this method is that it can be a long and tedious job. The bright side is that it provides the opportunity for you to "clean out" the contacts you no longer need by not adding certain people or numbers.