In Fargo alone, retailers bombard you everyday with ads for younger, slimmer and sexier phones not to mention all the national ads from Verizon or the other companies. But you won’t cave. You are loyal to your wireless wingman.

Still, after 18 months you begin to notice things. Your phone simply doesn’t have the energy it used to. Fondly you recall the all night conversations you had a year ago and how even after those marathon phone calls, your phone had all its bars. Now, after ten minutes, your phone can’t even keep two.

Face it. Your phone is dying.

You don’t want to admit it. At first, you describe your phone as old or dumb. If you’re in Fargo or Moorhead, you may even deem your phone “ghetto.” This is the twilight cellular life cycle. It’s natural.

So why does it all have to end?

Batteries have a life span of 300-500 charges. Each charge can hold three hours of talk time or three days of zero activity. A phone would start to go after 18 months if you spent as little as an hour and a half on it every day. Battery endurance is based on a lot of different factors, like weather or if your phone has been dropped—things like that. The reason most companies, like Verizon and its authorized dealers like Go Wireless, have you sign up for two year plans has more to do with battery death than anything else. We don’t want you to feel unloyal, but we don’t want you to be stranded in a Fargo-sized blizzard with a phone about to croak.

We know it’s not easy to let go. At Go Wireless’ Fargo location, we have an old “Zach Morris” phone from the early 90s enshrined because we too can’t forget our first love.

Think about your upgrade.

You’ve made your decision to move on. Chances are you’ve grown up a little since your last phone and may want some better options. Perhaps you’re texting more now. Then you should try the enV2. Or maybe, you got that first real job and need to be able to check emails or find job sites. A Blackberry or Samsung GLEAM would work perfect for you. As an authorized Version dealer, Go Wireless is the best matchmaker for putting you in touch with the right phone.

New phone. New Plan. New Opportunity.

Once your have your newer, more practical and probably sexier phone, its the right time to upgrade from your old plan. For example, say you bought the enV2 for text messaging, you’re naturally going to want to upgrade to a 1000 or 2500 monthly text message plan. This is a fresh start for you and your new phone—a chance for the two of you to get the most out of each other.

Old Phone Effigies

What to do with your old phone is an interesting and fairly common question. Go Wireless has some answers and options. The first thing you want to do, it take as much of the memory from you old phone as possible. Save that photo of your friend on the couch with a permanent marker mustache and shaved eyebrows. Keep that memory alive—such history! Recycle your battery. Its better for the environment and in a way, it essentially reincarnates your phone.

Bid farewell to your cell phone. That 18 month dance you shared will forever be a part of you. And two years from now, the process will repeat. This is more than flushing fish. this is the life and inevitable end of your friend, companion and pimp tool, the cell phone.