According to the Clean Up Australia’s Clean Up Mobile Phones Campaign, there are over 21 million mobile phones in Australia. Compare that to Australia’s population of over 23 million people. That meansnearly everyone in Australia owns a mobile phone. With mobile phone manufacturers bombarding us every year about the latest and greatest mobile phone on the market, it would be tempting for people to buy a new phone every year. If most of these people upgraded their phones every time a new model comes out, can you imagine the number of old mobile phones that would be retired prematurely even though they are still in good working order? As a result, some of these old mobile phones would either end up forgotten in cupboards and drawers of homes and offices, or dumped in landfills. In the former option, it would mean more clutter and less storage space in homes and offices.
The latter option would be worse because it would mean that our landfills would contain old mobile phones with components that can leach toxic chemicals (such as arsenic, lead, mercury, lithium, copper, cadmium and zinc) into groundwater; thereby contaminating soil and the food we eat, which is a serious threat to the environment and human health. Instead of these two options, the Clean Up Mobile Phones Campaign recommends that we re-use our old mobile phones and if they cannot be re-used, we should recycle them to recover the toxic components from the phones so as to prevent them from ending up in landfills. To make old phones good enough to be re-used, manufacturers or mobile phone repairers simply refurbish them. In other words, these old phones are fixed or reset to their original specifications, making them almost as good as a new phone. There are many unlocked refurbished mobile phones to consider the next time we want to buy a mobile phone.
Why Buy Unlocked Refurbished Mobile Phones?
- It is cheaper than a new phone and is a good way to get a mobile phone with the latest technology.
- It is a good way to get a favourite model of mobile phone that may no longer be manufactured. This is particularly good for people who are accustomed to their old phone and prefer not to learn how to use a newer model.
- It is good for the environment and human health because it prevents the toxic substances from mobile phones ending up in landfills. Another reason using refurbished mobile phones is good for the environment is because it means manufacturers won’t have to produce more new mobile phones to meet customer demand. This means less natural resources and energy will be consumed in production, resulting in less damage to the environment because there would be less greenhouse gasses released into the atmosphere.
However, not all refurbished mobile phones are the same. Some important things to look for with refurbished mobile phones are: i) why was the phone refurbished?; ii) was the phone refurbished by a reputable company?; iii) does it come with a warranty?; iv) is it a locked or unlocked mobile phone? “Unlocked” simply means the phone is not tied to one service provider like “locked” phones. An unlocked phone gives the user the freedom to choose any service provider without being tied down to a contract for two or so years. Though a locked mobile phone may be cheaper to acquire upfront, it usually works out to be move expensive in the long run when you factor in the service provider’s charges and termination fee to cancel the contract prematurely.
A good place to find refurbished mobile phones is from electronics stores, mobile phone service providers or stores that specialize in refurbished devices.Often, a customer’s budget determines how much they can spend on a mobile phone and therefore, what sort of phone to go for. If money is not an obstacle, then opting for the latest, brand new model might be okay. But if like most of us who have to live within our means, a refurbished mobile phone might be a wiser and better option. After all, a refurbish mobile phone still does the job of a brand new model. If still in doubt about whether to buy a brand new mobile phone or a refurbished one, there are salespeoplefrom reputable electronics stores that would be able to answer any queries.