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When discarded cell phones are not recycled, most eventually end up in municipal solid waste facilities. Although there are cell phone collection and recycling programs,
mobile phone recycling

This article is a goldmine of information. Our StarTac has a damaged housing. I want to switch the RF board from one working StarTac ST7868W to another (spare) working ST7868W so I can continue to use the current Verizon service and number.

I'm following your photos.

I have the antenna off and the antenna end of the housing's back cover is free but the other end (where the photo shows you prying with a screwdriver) is not. In your photo caption you mention your discovering the two holes in the end of the housing and that you found them important to the cover's removal. I see the holes but I haven't discovered how to use them in releasing the back cover.

I'm hoping you can clarify this and would appreciate any suggestions.

(As an alternative, I could just remove the top halves of each phone containing the speaker and the battery by disassembling the hinge and try to thread the yellow ribbon cable through the hinge as you did. I could then swap the top halves then but I notice you ran into problems with this (ribbon cable broke). Any tips? What are my chances of doing this successfully?)

03-14-2009:
I took the option of switching the flip tops and things worked out well.

My trusty, and much-loved, StarTac 7868 suffered damage recently when it was accidentally knocked out of my pocket - and promptly run over by a car. Astoundingly, the only damage sustained was a dead display (and a minor crack in the battery case).

I was exceedingly fortunate to have come across a superb mobile phone repair outfit in Salem, OR, on a cross-country trip a few months ago. When contacted, they said that they could indeed repair it, and sure enough, today I received a totally reconditioned instrument which looks just as it did out-of-the-box six and a half years ago (and performs flawlessly).

Should anyone have a phone that needs attention (of whatever make) I cannot recommend them too highly:

3G Mobile Inc.
2416 13th ST, SE
Salem, OR 97302-2546

503-370-9708
3GMobile@comcast.net

Even today, one truly can get what they paid for!