It worked fine for a while, but now they wont read my phone. I tried 3 different cables. My original phone cable works fine. I tried changing the charger itself, but still no luck. Any help will be appreciated.
I have had some issues as well with cheap cables and its primarily because you need a better quality cable. When using the cheap cables PROBLEMS I have had were that any devices that require power or CHARGING through them have issues.

I decided to look further into this issue and cut open the outer insulation of the cable between the cheap problem cable and another cable that I had that worked until the END broke and what I found was that the wire thickness of the 4 wires + shield was thicker on the better cable than it was on the cheap cable.

So the devices that require power to function ( external 2.5" HDD's ) or phones / kindles etc do not like the cheap cables because these cables are unable to SATISFY the current draw through the light smaller gauge wires.

Symptoms for a HDD is that the DRIVE tries to spin up and when not enough current it drops out and then tries to power up again when after dropping out the current load changes to make the drive think that there is power again and so the drive will power and unpower and power and unpower over and over again.

Symptoms with a phone or kindle or other device that your attempting to change using a computer USB port is that the device or computer will not register that the device is connected, will show connection but will not charge, or will attempt to charge and then draw too much over the small wires and drop out and then try to charge again after dropping out and voltage rises with lesser current draw and you may hear a connected and unconnected sound through computer speakers over and over again as it is attempting to charge and then the connection is stopped by the device and then restarted over and over again.

Simple solution is to get a better quality cable that can handle the current draw.

Some cables even come with 2 USB connections at one end and micro USB at the other etc, in which the 2 USB connections are connected to a PC to pull more current per USB port to pass over the cable to the device.

Here is a pic of a cable that draws more current per port commonly used for external HDD's, Camera, and other devices, that require power over USB port. https://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=A0LEVvJTDrBU_AEATzgPxQt.;_ylu=X3oDMTBsa3ZzMnBvBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkAw--?p=external+hdd+usb+cable&back=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fyhs%2Fsearch%3Fp%3Dexternal%2Bhdd%2Busb%2Bcable%26hsimp%3Dyhs-001%26hspart%3Dmozilla%26ei%3DUTF-8&w=800&h=800&imgurl=%2Fwww.takabis.com%2Fmedia%2Fcatalog%2Fproduct%2Fcache%2F1%2Fimage%2F800x800%2F9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95%2Fu%2Fs%2Fusb-y-cable-for-external-hard-drive.png&size=401KB&name=usb-y-cable-for-external-hard-drive.png&rcurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.takabis.com%2Fusb-y-cable-for-external-hard-drive.html&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.takabis.com%2Fusb-y-cable-for-external-hard-drive.html&type=&no=1&tt=120&oid=f0ec1f2ed7f5c444a4df6e09fe3a8342&tit=USB+Y+Cable+for+External+Hard+Drive&sigr=1203b411m&sigi=149j5drql&sign=117pdal1b&sigt=103vg5ole&sigb=1327tldts&fr=yhs-mozilla-001&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001

This has to be the most spot on and thorough reply I received on any computer forum! My phone was connecting for a while. Then the on and off charging started. I tried a brand new ihome brand cable. It didn't read at all. Thanks. No problem... I hope a better cable fixes this issue for you as it has for my electronics and others I have helped with same issue.  I cleaned the usb port with a toothpick yesterday. I plugged in 6 different chargers and 5 of them worked. But at times I have to moved the cord up a little for it to stay on charge. It's manageable, but I'm afraid that it might get worse during time. Do you think its the port? If so, do you know what they charge to replace one? As I'm typing, the charger just bleeped off and on without moving the cable..Where is the Port ? ?...if it's a front one it can be replaced...if it's a rear port it's on the MBoard...not worth replacing for a faulty USB port IMHO...Its at the bottom of the phone. The phone is only 10 months old...The phone ? ?
I thought it was the PC's USB connectors...my bad.
The phone even if only 10 months old is likely the issue...phones are fragile.Yeah. It's been charging at 98% for over an hour. That's with the cheap cable. My original cable gives me no problems so far. But it seems like it's charging a bit slower with it also.
Then why the heck aren't you using the cable that does work ? ?

Just curious...