I finally got her a phone.  It took about a month and a half but she has a phone.   After buying three phones on ebay  the third one was the charm.  There was about three week where she was using her "OLD PHONE" just so she could communicate with her world. 
I have been buying my cell phones on Ebay which means it takes about a week and a half for the phone to arrive.  Because the price is right I manage to be patient about that part of it.  One thing that you have to watch when buying a cell phone on Ebay is of course scams.  The number one thing to be careful of is the ECN number.  People have been known to sell phone with unreleased ECN number.  This means they may have an outstanding debt with there service provider and decide to sell the phone rather than paying what they owe.  The other potential scam is buying a phone that is stolen which makes for a unusable ECN number & phone.   Having said  this, what I do when bidding on a cell phone on Ebay I always ask the seller for the ECN number.  When I get it I check with my service provider to be sure that the phone is clear.
The first phone I purchased after the dropping/drowning of the original phone I was unable to use because it was associated with QWest service provider.  So I sold it on Ebay for a thirty dollar profit.  The next one I purchased was a Pink Katana I which my daughter considered old because she would not be able to have the latest ring backs on it.  Finally we found a pink Katana II that she liked that had a price that I liked.  Now she is back into her world with texting and Internet access in full force.  She was very grateful to have her phone.