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How does that saying go? "Fool me once,..." I am rebuilding a cell phone address book for the third time in the same number of years. Two of the phones have just plain died, leaving no way to retrieve numbers from them. And recently, when my son was borrowing my phone, he forgot that he put it in his bathing suit pocket, then went for a swim. (He realized his error right away, and we tried lots of drying-out techniques that often work, but, alas, did not this time.)

So, I have a new phone, and I am slowly adding the contact numbers for the people in my life into the address book, one by one. I know I am not alone. So many people have commiserated with me over the past few days, telling their own sad stories of phones gone bad and long, long lists of contacts gone missing. I also know there are ways to avoid this, and that it's time to take stock of some of the options so this doesn't happen a fourth time. If you, too, have been thinking about backup options for your cell phone contacts, here's the lowdown:

Backup services: Most of the wireless carriers now offer backup services that store as many as 2,000 contacts on their servers and can be edited and accessed via the web. The services typically cost between $2 and $5 a month, and are available for most handsets. But you do need to check individual carrier web sites to see which phones are included in the backup plans.

Separate devices: There are a few hardware products that store phone numbers on them the same way a thumb drive saves data on your computer. The $40 CellStik from Spark Technology plugs into most phones on one end and a PC on the other. With a simple push of a button it saves all of your contacts, and through an accompanying software program you can add or edit contacts then sync the changes with your phone from your PC. To transfer numbers and address info to another phone, you'll probably need to buy another CellStik to fit the new phone and transfer the data from your PC onto it and then onto the phone.

Syncing services: You could also use syncing software, such as Susteen's DataPilot, which allows you to enter, edit, and sync contacts between a phone and a PC via a USB cable ($80). Or a web service such as AirSet Mobile, which costs $6.50 a month via Verizon, to sync and back up phone contacts. If Yahoo! Go works on your phone, you may be able to sync contacts in your Yahoo! Mail address book with your phone, too. Or you could consider an online phone book/social network like Zyb, which allows you store your cell phone contacts online and transfer them to any of 400 phones that work with the free service.

While I'm in no rush to add to my monthly mobile bill, I'll probably go with the $2-a-month Verizon backup service once I build my contact list up again. Do you have a good cell phone contacts backup plan, or do you hope against hope you won't ever have a need for one?

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