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I don't have a smartphone. I can't justify the expense of the hardware or the monthly connectivity cost,

Tracfone. The smartphone itself is very cheap, here's one for $90, another for $40. They're not great top-of-the-line iphone quality, but quite serviceable for basic phone/text/email/web use.

A Tracfone is $20 per 90 days, plus the local E911 fee. Figure $7/month. Not a lot of minutes/texts/data, but I don't use my phone for much besides the occasional "my kid got hurt" phone call or text. The texting is vastly superior to those old clamshell phones, And it's getting to the point where you can't find a payphone anymore. Plus, occasionally, I really need to see the weather radar (is this road flooded out?) or check some detail on my email. One of these cheap phones is a lifesaver...

no, customers do not "demand" locked phones.. they DO however, demand the gimmicky handset giveaways and other promotions, and *that* is what "demands" a locked phone to keep the phone on carrier for the duration of whatever contract requirement the carriers throw at it..

Verizon doesn't lock most of their phones and the ones that they do lock, they will unlock for you without too much of a hassle.

http://www.verizon.com/about/c...

what you SHOULD be saying is that hardware and service should be separated.

Most carriers are allowing customers to have a 0% financing for their phones that are separate from the service. You can pay off the phone and move to another service or you can bring a compatible phone to their service.

hardware should cost what hardware costs.. a couple hundred usd, at minimum, for all but the cheapest devices.. unlocked and not carrier specific. a cdma should work on either cdma provider, a gsm should work on any gsm for voice and any carrier for data,

Most phones support LTE and work with GSM or CDMA. A GSM only LTE phone won't work with a CDMA carrier if it can't get an LTE signal. Then you have an issue with some phones don't support all of the LTE bands.

But CDMA sucks and only used by a few carriers worldwide.

services should cost what service costs... which is, a hell of a lot less than it does now due to it currently subsidizing hardware promos,

Phone carriers in the U.S. have moved away from subsidized plans toward service + (optional) finance plans. You can pay for the phone up front and just pay for service.

"smart phone" mandatory surcharges and data plans HAVE TO GO. ever hear of wifi-only data? no? it's entirely feasible, preferred even by many.. but carriers don't want you to have a smart phone that only does wifi data.

http://get.tracfone.com/smartp...

Plans do come with limited data but it's only $15/month. If you spend most of your time on wifi. There are plenty of free/low cost VOIP apps that include a phone number.

and the software ON the hardware needs to be supported and updated with security and bug fixes for the life of the hardware.. at least 7-10 years or more.. so you can jump off the upgrade train, keep a good device long-term, and do the environment a favor.

7 or 10 years support for phone? These were the top of the line phones in 2006:
http://www.cnet.com/news/best-...

God I miss the days of good cellphones. My Nokia N82 was epic in battery life. Back when Nokia made the absolute best cellphones in the solar system.

I highly doubt it. If you were serious, you'd still have one, since there are still *plenty* of old-style phones available. Would you really trade whatever you have now for one of these?

You can send text messages to e-mail addresses and vice-versa (see here ), then get a cheap phone from Tracfone or something for voice service if she is able to use a phone for talking. I have my wife set up with a phone that gets triple minutes on the family value plan for $10 . She gets 150 minutes, which roll over from month-to-month. She almost never uses all of them, so this works out quite well for us.

But why not have the phone just in case? Plus the cellular data connection is convenient and SMS how most people communicate now.

Yes, that's what my step-son does. He has an iPod Touch, and I just got him a Samsung 404G for Christmas to replace his LG 420G, which his college roommates have dubbed "the drug-dealer phone."

But why not have the phone just in case? Plus the cellular data connection is convenient and SMS how most people communicate now.

Yes, that's what my step-son does. He has an iPod Touch, and I just got him a Samsung 404G for Christmas to replace his LG 420G, which his college roommates have dubbed "the drug-dealer phone."

No carrier... or rather... its all carriers in one... TracFone. They have a deal with all carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon) to carry their traffic.

I picked up a "double-minutes for life" TracFone from Walmart for ~$30 a few years ago. Its basically a modified (locked SIM's) Motorola Razr. Every 90 days I must add time to the phone, or else I lose the service and all my stored up minutes. I pick up a $21 time card (adding 120+ minutes due to the double-minutes, an additional 30 minutes when I get a promo-code, which is fairly regular) every 3 months.

I normally only use the phone for communicating information, rather than "chatting", so my calls are normally only a few minutes in length. I'll never use all the minutes I have now (over 800)

Right now I dual-wield. I have a Tracfone & iPod Touch. I don't talk or text a lot. I spend $6 per month for 60 minutes. I got an LG600G, which is pretty plain-vanilla. I'd be willing to pay a few hundred for an iPhone or Android Phone that just let me pre-pay for talk time & texting & web access. There's plenty of prepaid feature phones available, but their rates are ridiculous compared to Tracfone's. I can't imagine buying the phone, pay for a contract with somebody AND having to view ads (even if they're only text).

Also, unlike most other services, with TracFone you don't own your number. You decide to switch carriers and your phone number goes with it. Personally keeping my number is worth quite a bit more than $350. To each his own though.

According to TracFone's FAQ. They will allow you to transfer your number out of TracFone, but your personal information on the TracFone account must match the information on the new carrier's account. Source

That's hardly useful to the vast majority of people who already have a lot of friends, coworkers and family that have their existing phone number.

It a good thing you can keep your number when you sign up.

When my wife calls my tracphone on her tracphone, I pay to send *and* receive, simultaneously, and the rate for minutes in low volume is 33 cents per minute - so it's 66 cents per minute

You're not doing it right. You can get a tracfone for $30 with free double minutes, then sign up for a family value plan. One person gets 50 minutes for $9.99, and each additional person gets 30 minutes for $5.99. With a double minutes phone, you're getting 100 & 60 respectively. Once you're on a family value plan, you can then opt for extra minute bundles (50 minutes for $10), so with double minutes you're getting your calls for $.10 a minute. We pay $28 per month for 4 of us to have phones. If the kids need more minutes, they pay for it themselves.

Except 80% of the time you get an answering machine instead of whoever you were trying to call, so you pay for a full minute (33 cents) to leave a 5 second voicemail.

Sounds like a great reason to use text messaging :-)

All US cell phone companies require a contract.

Stop filling slashdot with crazy.

If I get a pay-as-you-go phone, the minutes cost much more than a monthly plan if I use the phone often.

Not sure how you define "often", but TracFone plans start around $0.20/minute and get below $0.10/minute if you buy an annual plan or use one of their occasional deals. Perfectly fine phones start at $10, making TCO as cheap as any other pre-paid or monthly service. Their game is to make you keep buying minutes, but if you do the math on their plans, the best per minute costs are also the longest expiration times. (And everything rolls over if you add more time before.) Great network coverage, too, as they use the major carriers' systems.

If I get a pay-as-you-go phone, the minutes cost much more than a monthly plan if I use the phone often.

Not sure how you define "often", but TracFone plans start around $0.20/minute and get below $0.10/minute if you buy an annual plan or use one of their occasional deals. Perfectly fine phones start at $10, making TCO as cheap as any other pre-paid or monthly service. Their game is to make you keep buying minutes, but if you do the math on their plans, the best per minute costs are also the longest expiration times. (And everything rolls over if you add more time before.) Great network coverage, too, as they use the major carriers' systems.

It isn't like you have any choice - every company does it.

• TracFone
• VirginMobile

get a barebones basic TracFone...

http://www.tracfone.com/

According to their website, they sell a really simple, reconditioned Nokia 1100 phone for $9.95 and includes 20 minutes of airtime. Also they've cut the monthly renewal fee to $4.95. One example that popped up will sell you a phone (not sure if it's that one or a more expensive one, but if it isn't the rate might even be less), a year's service and 800 minutes of airtime for $140.00 (might actually be $139.99), which comes out to about 19c a minute and if they use their phone about an hour a month this should be more than enough. Figure out that if you include the phone, it comes out to $11.67 a month. I hope this information may be useful for you. In fact, I think I'm going to go buy one and see if I can transfer my number over since I am moving and have to get my own phone now separate from the one that is on my family plan.

As odd as it sounds a "pay as you go" phone like TracFone might be just what you're looking for. (http://www.tracfone.com/) Its a prepaid wireless phone you can find in stores like Target. The coverage is average but the cell life is great. I needed a phone but didn't want any long term contracts and didn't want/need all the rest of the fud. There are several models, but I got the Motorola V170. Works great and since I don't use it that much, (hardly ever) the 120 minutes I bought with the phone lasted almost four months. Mostly its a way for my wife to reach me when I'm not home (leash) or in case of emergency. Check it out. It might solve the problem for you. -Goran

Tracfone http://tracfone.com/ has a phone that looks strikingly like that - the Motorola C139 for around $15. Net10 http://www.net10.com/ also has this phone, but watch the reviews of service. Both are available at Walmart and Target.

Try the tracfones. My mother has the Motorola C139 which is only $15 and doesn't do any fancy things. It's a simple phone with voicemail, caller ID, text messages, and call waiting. If your mother isn't going to use the cell phone much, this option will cost cheaper even though minute-wise it is more expensive. Also, I don't know when this started, but apparently you can refill your minutes straight from the phone, so in addition to not having to deal with bills and contracts, you don't even need to visit their website.

Pay as you go and they offer just cell phones without the gadgets. The cheapest come in at $10 with 8 hours talk time.

http://www.tracfone.com/index.jsp

Look at tracfone (Prepaid phones), it might be what your are looking for.

http://www.tracfone.com/index.jsp

Depending on how much use you anticipate for the phone, check out TracFone (http://www.tracfone.com/). It's a prepaid plan, but they have pretty simple phones available. Mine is just a phone, no camera or anything. One disclaimer, though: I almost never use my phone, so I end up paying less than $100 per year and am quite satisfied. YMMV.

At the bottom of http://www.tracfone.com/, I see this:

© 2007 TRACFONE® is a registered trademark of TracFone Wireless, Inc., a subsidiary of América Móvil.

América Móvil appears to be a publicly-traded Brazillian company. It's a different company (Although AT&T might own stock-- I didn't check). And a number of independent cell phone companies resell service from AT&T, Sprint, etc.

My friends who use Tracfone have never been required to give out their SSN.

Hi, you were the first among many /. recommendations for tracphone. Verizon wireless phones are the only ones that get any signal where I live, can you tell me if tracphone works with the verizon network?

I tried to email them via their website http://www.tracfone.com/contact.jsp?task=contact but clicking on send results in a server error on their side.

thanks in advance.

Also, if there is a referal bonus, I'd hook you up.

That said, I wanted a cheap phone so on the occasions I did need to make a call, I'd have one. I went with TracFone (at the time, I found it on Amazon). According to their web site, they are offering a phone and 450 minutes that last a year for $99 (which is ~$8/month). When you renew, any unused minutes roll over (I just renewed for 2 years and an extra 250 minutes for $149).

If you don't use your cell phone much (like me), this is a cheap solution. However, these are rock-bottom phones. If you need anything much beyond a phone (it does have voice mail), or if you need more minutes (the minutes are relatively expensive), it won't work.

I live in the SF Bay Area, if that matters in the slightest.

Some areas can get really cheap pre-paid old-tech these days. But without a location, I'll assume you want something that could be just about anyplace in the U.S.

If you need the best national coverage, it will end up costing you at least $8/month to keep alive a plan from. (That's CDMA or TDMA... Tracfone has a newer setup using GSM, but that will cost more money and much worse coverage.) Get a referral from someone before activating, you'll get free minutes and so will they. Starter kit with phone and a few minutes will cost you $20 on up. That's about the cheapest way to get started, but beware that you have to use their phone, and their phones only work with tracfone.

The cheapest national option I've found is if t-mobile has prepaid coverage where you need it (most metro areas, interstate highways, etc). The coverage map on is really good, but do not confuse the prepaid map with the post-paid contract map. Buy a starter kit for about $30-40 (walmart or after rebate, better if you watch slickdeals or fatwallet) or more depending on what phone you want (any t-mobile or unlocked GSM phone with U.S. frequency bands will work if you just buy a prepaid sim on e.g. e-bay), and buy a $100 refill (1000 minutes, use a coupon at e.g. staples or online discount reseller and get it for $80). Those minutes will last for a year, so under $9/month (plus the phone) for 1000 minutes total. It's a HUGE win in year two IFF you don't need minutes. A $10 card will keep your minutes alive for another year, or under $0.10 per month.

Check out the best prepaid plan comparison I've seen.

sdb

P.S. Wife and I have t-mobile prepaid. Several members of my extended family have tracfone. I hate that t-mobile started charging for incoming SMS/MMS messages, but haven't found anything better enough to be worth switching or even to recommend instead.

TracFone has good rates, and allows you to roll over your minutes from one card to the next. Unlike some other carriers, a $20 card gives you 60 minutes and 60 days of service; if you've not used all the minutes by that time and buy more activation, the minutes roll over with no trouble. BTW, I am not associated with them in any way except as a customer.

Hell, here in the US you have to get a credit check, and we're not in the midst of a civil war.

Where have you been? I can walk into a store and buy a Tracfone with cash, activate it on their site or with the phone itself (I think), and buy prepaid minutes at any on the billions of 7-11s that are all over the place (4 within walking distance of my house).

This model is only $19.99 and comes with 60 minutes.

Tracfone has to be the biggest rip-off out there at a best rate of $0.325/minute ($129.99 for a 400 minute card). Virgin Mobile is a little better, but it's complicated: $0.25/minute for the first 10 minutes and then $0.10/minute thereafter in a single day.

I like my plan even though it is $50/month -- I get a 1000 minutes though I typically only use about 4-500, some months up to 6-700, so I get anywhere from 0.125 to 0.07 per minute. I bought the phone 4 years ago so it's just a phone, nice and solid, big enough to not slip through my fingers and it has speakerphone that actually works well. Forget lousy low-res cameras and simple boring games -- a speakerphone is actually useful.

Check out the Nokia 1221 from tracfone (site generally only loads well in ie, imho - don't let your pride get in the way of cheap cellular telephone service)

Combine an old school phone that does ONLY phone stuff (I suppose it techincally has games - I've never played them. the interface is clean and phone centric) with modern batteries and you have one very useful piece of tech.

The display is nice easy to read text.

It's great! Tracfone uses the cingular network so you should have good coverage.

This costs me far less than any other cell phone "plan."

--Just a User - I am not reembursed for this blatant promo - just trying to help out a /. poster

http://www.tracfone.com/

In fact, Tracfone does support Number Portability.

And so does Virgin Mobile.

Pre-paid from the major carriers is a rip. Use Tracfone (link currently down) for very light-duty use (the phone is pretty basic), or Virgin Mobile for more moderate use (better phones available, 10 to 25c a minute).

The pay-as-you-go business in the USA is about 3 years behind Europe. Expiry of minutes and minimum top-up fees in the USA mean that effectively most so-called pay-as-you-go plans still require a minimum monthly payment.

This is finally changing. Virgin just launched the first truly open-ended pay-as-you-go service in the USA. $100 to buy the phone, 25c for the first 3 minutes each day and 10c/minute thereafter. Minutes never expire, and there are no long distance or roaming charges. Virgin is using Sprint's PCS network.

The only other service that has come close to this so far in the USA is Tracfone, which offers 365 days of continuous service including 150 minutes of airtime for $100 or so. Great for emergency use, but the price of additional minutes is high.

The trend in Europe has been ubiquitous ownership of pay-as-you-go phones, used modestly. The trend in the USA has been to bundle huge amounts of night/weekend minutes into monthly plans to encourage heavy use. It will be interesting to watch the collision between these business models.

My wife and I have ditched our previous cell phones for Tracfones. This year, I've spent ~$200 for 400 minutes of airtime - around $0.50/min (my usage pattern with my cell phone makes that a better deal than paying $420/year for unlimited minutes). So in that respect, it's comparable to the Hop-On.

On the other hand, unlike the Hop-On, my Tracfone is a real, honest-to-goodness, rechargeable Nokia (and a fairly nice one at that.) So you have to wonder at the Hop-On buisness model... provide less value than an established competitor, for the same price? I thought the dot-com era demonstrated exactly where this type of thinking would take you.