Bought cell for emergencies. Almost never used and lost money twice and even needed a new number because old # was given away. So I put in $100 so I don't lose the money from lack of use. Turns out that I can only hear
About every other word from the people I call. I asked for my money back. They said no.
Must I buy a new phone?
Can't I transfer the $100 to another service?

AT&T makes the rules. If they said you can't, then you can't.

Yes, it appears you need to buy a new phone.

Did you buy this phone directly from AT&T?

Take the phone to any Radio Shack, Walmart, KMart, etc. The people who work there will know ALL about phones. Your phone is probably old, cheap, and weak. The minutes expire with age, not use. Your best bet is to buy the fewest number of minutes every 60 days for $20. You can get ANY brand of minutes for a Trac Phone and maybe yours too.
You may also live in a weak reception area, as I do. Signals are weak here in the slightest rain, snow, or wind. We had no coverage at all until recently. It may not be the phone.

Don't know about weak signals. I live in NYC. Cheap phone, no. I paid almost $100 for no phone. Re minutes,
I have over $90 left to use. But thank you taking the time to reply.

I meant to say "go phone" not no phone