How often to upgrade/replace your cell phone?

[bsfins]

I'm curious what people feel is normal,and how long you tend to hold on to your cell phone?

There is a couple people in our office,that seems like every 6 months,they have a new cell phone.I get it if you drop it, breaks,etc.

I get it mine is pretty old,I've got the older version of the phone,on top of it being older.I'm fine with that;I've debated to get a newer version,but decided to hold firm for now...

[Phishfan]

I tend to use the same phone for years. I appear to be out of the norm though.

[Thundergod]

I usually replace the phone when the battery stops holding a charge, or it stops charging altogether. So, about 2-3 years I'll replace the phone. I think it's nuts upgrading every few months just to have a newer model... to each their own.

[Dave Gray]

I get a new phone about once every 3 years.

[Buddhagirl]

I upgrade about every 3 or so years.

[Spider-Dan]

Outside of the first cellphone I ever bought, I've never had a phone for less than 3 years.  I'm at 2.5 with the current one (Evo Shift) and there is no phone on the market that I'm even remotely interested in.  They don't make phones with keyboards+dpads any more.

[Brian Fein]

Back when I used to work for Motorola and I had Nextel, I used to build custom phones out of custom parts and change my phone maybe every 2-3 months.  It was easy back then.

Even now, in the past 5 years, I'm on my 6th different phone.  And its considerably harder to get them now.  Its a perk of my job that I don't have to pay for them.  And, for the most part, its not because I have to always have the latest and greatest by choice, rather its because as employees, my company uses us a beta testers to report bugs and improve the software.

I will probably get another new phone before the end of the year, maybe sooner.

[pondwater]

When bar and flip phones were in, I would keep my phone 3-5 years. I'm on my first smart phone and it's still working ok after re-rooting and re-roming it a few times over 2.5 years. I'm thinking about getting another one and just buying it outright since I don't sign contracts. I've seen several that are between $200-250 that seem pretty good. But now what the hell do I do with my old one that still works fine? That's the question.

[TonyB0D]

I have Verizon and am so grandfathered in (unlimited data, texts, etc) that if I buy a phone at the upgrad price I'd lose all that.  Therefore I have to pay full retail for my phones and will use em til they die.  Currently still have my launch day iPhone and it's still going strong.