hiya - is this the current advice regarding fixing a broken usb port?

my usb port broke ages ago (like, years) but i never bothered to fix it... the other weekend i bricked my n900 :'( by doing very stupid things with disk checkers - and i now need my usb port! waah :s

i took it to a guy at the place i work who does soldering as a day job and he tried to solder the usb port back onto the motherboard (it looked like only the large ground pad solder joints had broken) but unfortunately it didn't work - his solder didn't seem to stick onto the solder on the motherboard for some reason.

i'm fretting a bit about how to get it fixed - i don't like my chances of doing it myself - i don't know if those solder joints at the back of the usb port are good or not but they are ridiculously minuscule and there's waaaay too much stuff in the way if they do need fixing.

do you reckon i can find somewhere round here (west mid-lands, uk)? or are there people on here that (still) provide a fix service?

(i really don't care that much if a fix manifests as e.g. an unsecured usb connector attached to a bunch of wires sticking out of where the usb port used to be i just need the usb port once)

i spose i should take some pictures and kindly ask for your opinions!? or maybe i should just by a second hand one?

cheers me dears
fusi