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Where In the US Can You Get Just a Cell Phone?
arakon writes "I am looking around for a cell phone for my technically challenged mother and all she wants is just a phone, and yet there seem to be no carriers in the US that carry a plain cell phone with good reception and battery life. All of them bundle cameras, PDAs, MP3 players, and a kitchen sink with a battery life of 2 hours, all for the low price of $350 or more... Having looked around, the Motorola F3 is exactly what she wants but it doesn't seem to be available in the US. If we order it online will it work on US carriers? Are there any comparable products out there with a similar feature set and price range available for US networks?"
Don't know anything about them, but check out JitterBug...saw a commercial on TV...have never even ben to the website though, so no guaruntees(sp) http://www.jitterbug.com/
Living With a Nerd
Jitterbug - http://www.jitterbug.com/Phones.aspx
it seems to get good battery life and does not come with any frills, as cameras are not allowed at work.
If you can find one that takes Sim cards it will work with Tmobile in the US and Tmobile only.
Well, back to rejecting software patent applications.
Honestly your best bet is probably to purchase a used GSM phone from eBay. There are quite a few of them out there, so you'll have choices. One that was very popular and manufactured for a while (or that uses a battery that's still in production) would definitely be the best.
Then just take it and get a basic plan at T-Mobile or Cingular (AT&T). Pop in the SIM and go.
What you want isn't a brand-new, basic phone like the Motorola one; what you want is a phone from about three or four years ago. It'll be a lot cheaper, too -- and if something happens to it, no problem, just get a new one.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
http://www.metropcs.com/phones.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_1100
The US uses 850MHz & 1900Mhz for GSM, most of the rest of the world uses 900Mhz & 1800Mhz. The F3 uses the latter 2 frequencies and won't work in the US.
Assuming you are a Cingular/T-Mobile customer, you can just buy an unlocked GSM phone (remember to check to make sure it works with US frequencies) and stick your SIM card in it.
For a cheap, dependable model, may I suggest the Sony Ericsson T637? Yes, it has some of those features you don't want. But you can get one as cheap as the aforementioned F3.
Good luck!
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
Its called a jitterbug google it. Simple phone for old people
Woo Ha Ha! Time to get a jitterbug! I laughed so hard when I saw this phone, but its exactly what your mom may be looking for. No frills, no toys, just POCS (plain ol' cell service) http://www.jitterbug.com./
I guess it was too much search Google for "simple phone":
http://www.jitterbug.com/
$30 phone, pay as you go. Not terribly expensive. I probably spend $10-$12/month on it.
If they have coverage in your area, Alltel has basic phones and pretty good pay-by-the-minute rates if you are an infrequent user ($0.15/minute but no monthly charges, and no minute expiration dates). That's my wife's emergency cell phone. For $80 we got a basic no-frills phone, $20 worth of minutes that never expire (the only service charge is $4 a month if you don't use it ... I call her once a month to make sure that doesn't happen).
I have a prepaid cellphone from Cingular (now AT&T), since I don't actually use it very often. It's simple, easy to use, and best of all, cheap: I pay $25 every three months for it. The phone itself cost $30, but there was a free phone that you could choose with the service as well, if I recall correctly.
http://www.wireless.att.com/myaccount/prepaid
You should get the Motorola SLVR. I have it. It is just a phone. It has no camera. It is sleek, thin and light weight and the interface is decent. People dont call me much but I charge the battery once in 3-4 days.
At least on AT&T, you can put your standard rate plan card in a cheap ($20) prepaid phone and toss the prepaid starter card. I did this after my old phone went for a swim while I was still under contract, waiting for the iPhone. Easy as pie, the phone isn't so great but its a cheap and simple solution.
Q: Where In the US Can You Get Just a Cell Phone?
A: A Cell Phone Store.
Big apple, new Yorik, undig it, something's unrotting in Edenmark.
Virgin Mobile, phones available at Target or Best Buy, starting at around $20 for a phone that doesn't have a camera, mp3 player, or corkscrew. Just a phone.
Prepaid plans, pay-as-you-go, or monthly plans.
I think you can get a phone like what you want at Walgreens or a similar drug store. Just get the prepaid type (the kind that all the criminals use). I'm pretty sure those are bare-bones models.
Most of those pre-paid phones are as plain-jane as they come. http://www.virginmobileusa.com/phones/catalog.do A few of these phones do very little other than make calls, and I know Virgin Mobile isn't the only carrier who sells phones without a contract.
Don't worry, Motorola has no plans to release the F3 in the US, because American consumers want high-resolution color display phones. Which hasn't stopped a dozen of folks I know from attempting to import them from Argentina. (and people wonder why MOT is in the crapper for marketshare.)
I realize this doesn't directly address the question. There are still phones available which are mostly "just a phone" in the Nokia "candybar" form factor at my local Cingular/ATT store, or were a couple weeks ago.
You can get a phone that's just a phone for $20. If you set up 'auto top-up', which charges your credit card every 3 months or whenever you're getting low on credit, it comes out to $5 a month if you don't call much. As long as you keep topping up your accumulated credit doesn't expire. Great if you want a phone for emergencies and such.
What sound do people on rollercoasters make? Hint: it's not Xbox 360.
Their is some legislation by Google and skype to implement the carterphone which allows access to their networks.
Prepaid phones don't allow rollover minutes.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Cell+phones+f or+elderly
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http://cellphones.about.com/od/topcellphones/tp/c
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_3
http://www.engadget.com/2004/07/28/lgs-cellphone-
All phones and leads on phones with exactly what you require. And, no foreign import issues.
"Ocham's Razor essentially states that all things being equal, the simplest explanation is usually correct."
I have a nokia candybar phone i got from metro pcs, which as far as I know is San Fran only. But its a good deal 50 dollars for unlimited everything, no contract. its about 5 dollars cheaper if you dont need unlimited sms. The only way it loses out is it isnt edge or 3g, but since you want "Just a Phone" you wont care.
If that isnt available, you can buy a sim card nokia for about 20 dollars on ebay, and use it with at&t.
Damn the man!
Look how thin the F3 is. Just because it's not a razr doesn't mean it's not too thin to have good battery life.
I have a brand new cheap motorolla flip (don't know the model #). It doesn't have a camera either, but the battery life is shorter than any phone I've had before it. As the phones get smaller the battery life becomes worse and worse.
At my cell phone co, the cheapest phones they have always seem to be nokia. I didn't get the nokia because I needed on that runs the mapquest app.
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.
"This thing does science so hard, you say, 'I've never seen that much science.'" -Sam
Look at tracfone (Prepaid phones), it might be what your are looking for.
http://www.tracfone.com/index.jsp
The cheap phone that comes free with your plan sounds like just the ticket. Tell Ma not to press the 'camera' button, and presto, a phone that doesn't have a camera!
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
Or did you just want to get a post on slashdot? I went to verizonwireless.com and found multiple "just cell phone" phones. The LG VX3400, Verizon Wireless PN-300, Nokia 2366i, and more. That took all of 2 minutes, dont you think you could have done the same thing?
Someone's bound to have pointed this out already, but every cellphone store sells stripped-down phones that are free with contract. Yes, they might have just a few extra features beyond just "phone" (like contacts), but they won't get in the way of "dial a number and press 'send'" operation.
Look on eBay. Gent an an unlocked Nokia 3120b. A simple, small phone. http://www.nokiausa.com/link?cid=EDITORIAL_185052
The buttons are easy to press, even for my sausage finger. It still has a simple "Ring" named ring tone that most new phones are lacking. Great battery life. A simple calendar you can attach notes to. A countdown timer, think parking meters. Easily availble for under forty dollars on eBay. I also picked up a spare.
It is a GSM phone.
Samsung announced one that is plain and simple. They even have one that is just for emergencies.
I can pop down to my local 7-11 and pick up a pay-as-you-go cell phone for under $50. I'll bet Walmart carries them, too.
-- Will program for bandwidth
The 1110i is a confused lump of shit in comparison to the 1100. Nokia have added more features than the phone layout can handle, making it far more complicated to use than the 1100.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
... Or a number of other prepaid companies, but they seem to be solid and have great coverage (generally on the Sprint network I believe, though that may depend on the area)
$20-$50 gets you a basic but solid phone, roughly 10 cents a minute to talk (depending on how you decide to pay), and NO CONTRACTS. Seems perfect for "casual" cell phone needs.
And yes 10 cents a minute seems expensive to those used to 400 "free anytime" minutes a month but consider all the extra charges and hassles you get with a contract. Unless it's your primary phone or you make dozens of calls a day prepaid ends up being much cheaper in most cases.
Virgin Mobile had the best deal I could find. I got a phone for something like $50, no service contract, the service is $7 a month and I pay $.10 a minute for calls. I think my average monthly bill is around $10-$15. The phone actually has text messaging and some "Virgin Connect" thingy that I can't figure out how to disable, but I just ignore that part.
Okay, when you say that you want "just" a phone, with no extra features, you are lying. At the very least, you want a phone book. Probably a clock. Who knows what else? The example you give has quite a few features beyond "just a phone". It can download polyphonic ringtones, it's got multilingual voice prompts, an icon-based user-interface, etc. How many of these features do you want?
When people say they want "just a phone", I've found that what they really mean is "a phone with all the extra features that my very first mobile phone had". So when you ask for "just a phone", people have to guess at what you actually mean. So how about you cut the "just a phone" crap and tell us your actual requirements?
Cingular/ATT carries the Motorola L2 . It is a Candy-bar style phone, and its pretty plain-jane, the only feature beyond making calls, and the standard list of crapola, is Bluetooth, which is pretty much standard. I have had mine for about 9 months, and the kids cannot break it, it has survived several drops, and still works fine.. best of all, the charger port is a mini-usb, so you can load ringtones and wallpaper from your pc.. hell, you can even snag a charge anywhere there is an open USB port, which is handy as hell.. I cannot count the times I used my laptop to power the phone to make a call when the phone was dead... that being said, i get like 3-4 days standby time, and 4 hours talk or so. The phone is Quad-Band GSM, so it will work anywhere, Cingular/ATT or T-Mobile in the US, if unlocked. Not sure if t-mob offers it, but attular does.
The lame commercials for the older generation phone, The Jitterbug!
the LG VX3400 http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/lg-vx3400-veri zon-wireless/4505-6454_7-32070685.html
Per Cnet review "
The good: The LG VX3400 is a basic phone with a bare minimum of features. It has a compact design and a comfortable keypad, and features a speakerphone.
The bad: The external screen of the LG VX3400 is monochrome, and personalization options are limited. There's also no Web browser.
The bottom line: The LG VX3400 is one of the best basic phones we've laid our hands on, with simple and easy-to-use controls and a great compact design.
"
T-Mobile has some basic phones. In fact, I'm pretty sure all of them do. You just have to know where to look.
Just get a cheapo phone with a contract from some provider, and tell your mom if she sees something she doesn't understand on the screen then just tap the red (power) button 2 or 3 times until she gets back to the main menu. Speaking from personal experience, it may be a little easier to do that than to limit yourself to phones that are tougher to find.
I had great luck and very inexpensive bills when I used this phone.
My mom says I'm cool.
Is this article a joke??
I've got a cellphone in my pocket that is 'just a phone'. I needed something cheap, candybar shaped, and more importantly right away since my old cellphone broke.
Where did I go? The damn cellphone store. Where else would I go, a rapidly declining tech blog?
Not true, Cingular (now ATT)'s goPhone PayAsYouGo plan does allow rollover.
There were umpteen millions of StarTACs out there you can probably dig up, and they were great simple phones. I still have one as a backup. Any old Nextel will also do the trick. Man, I do miss the i1000plus. I could go five days without needing to charge it.
My phone has all kinds of crap I never use, but it does calls just fine and lasts a week on pure standby, a few days if I use it regularly. It has lots of power saving features you can turn on before you hand it over to mom, like turning out the blinding backlight after just a few seconds rather than whatever the default is (like laptops, I think the display/backlight chug alot of power). If anything, phones have gotten much longer lasting even while becoming smaller.
I have a Sanyo Katana if you want to look further: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanyo_katana
You can just open and dial if you want. The internet/bluetooth are there, but you can disable them. Camera is there, but doesn't add much bulk (the phone is razr-sized) and doesn't drain battery if you don't use it. The case is a sturdy plastic, and holds up better than the razr it is imitating (in my experience - I know people with razrs and have compared).
I got mine at $20 with contract, but I imagine it would be pretty expensive otherwise (if you could even get it at all without contract in the US - which is a different rant I am sure everyone knows about).
My 2c
Why, yes I have been touched by His noodly appendage. And I plan to sue.
Don't know if this works in US or not (it does in Europe), but Nokia 1100 is the most sturdy GSM phone I have ever seen.
Bay.
Nokia 6030. Small, yet the buttons are easy to work with. Great reception. Great battery life. Simple. Free with a new plan.
Here.
sig: sauer
no no no.
HEre is what you do. Buy one of the prepaid gsm phones from t-mobile (cheap, sometimes as low as 10 bucks). Get a $100 prepaid card with it. This won't expire for a whole year. IF you buy another card it will renew the exisitng expiration date for another year for all minutes. And.. Target has them on sale often and adds 10 to 20% bonus to it as well. This is by far the cheapest way to call if you don't call much but need a cell phone.
I think this article has highlighted a very good point about todays consumer-centric world. It really is hard to get plain old products nowadays.
Another point I notice, is that modern products are not made anywhere near as well as their predecesors. For example, old cars are often a lot more reliable and better built than the latest, of the production line tin cans. And with mobile phones, these modern flip/slide things couldn't take being dropped more than a few times. I used to have an old 'brick' which was run over by a lorry and survived.
Products today just aren't made with the heart, the only thing in the minds of the producers is money money money.
A google search for "cell phones" returns numerous sponsored and non-sponsored links to vendors and providers who all offer cell phones starting at $0.
Hey, wouldn't it be nice if tech nerds had a common website to exchange comments on with other intelligent tech nerds? Yeah, on this new site, we could even allow the intelligent ones to be administrators!
Probably the best phone I ever had. It's several years old now but I found this on eBay though price seems a bit high for such an old device.G SM-Mobile-Phone_W0QQitemZ160139013240QQihZ006QQcat egoryZ64355QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/Unlocked-Nokia-6100-Tri-Band-
I loved that phone and would still use one if I didn't need a Smartphone to keep track of my contacts and schedule (I got tired of carrying two devices around everyplace). The 6100 has the best interface, it's small and reception/voice quality was good. I charged it every night out of force-of-habit so I don't know the battery life. It's a great phone.
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
I don't know much about this company, but their phones and services are geared toward older people who just want a plain phone to make occasional calls.
http://www.jitterbug.com/
I've asked Verizon a few times for advice on buying a new phone that would have better signal reception than my LG9800 AKA "The V", as I can't use it at home. Each time I was told that Verizon does not have such information. The best I can do is randomly buy phones, and if I'm not hapy with then return them in 30 days, randomly buy another one, lather rinse, and repeat until I by chance find a phone that works. So in terms of finding a phone with good reception, Verizon is apparently not able to help anyone. But do avoid the LG9800, as my personal experience with it is that it has both poor reception and poor battery life. The expensive battery upgrade to 2100mAh capacity helps, but the original battery sould still last longer than a day. I assume it does not because of the poor signal and it's always scanning for a tower when I'm at home which burns through the battery. I'd also like to make signal reception and battery life as the two only details in choosing my next phone, and hoepfully another poster will have better info on Verizon phones, as other carriers don't have any service at all for blocks away from my Sister's house and such, part of why we switched to Verizon, but for my own I may say screw it to the free Verizon to Verizon calling and bail out to something that will actually work at all at my own house. My roommates with Tmobile, Cingular, etc. don't seem to have problems like my phone does, so it's either my phone or Verizon's towers at fault...
I have a Samsung sch-A630. It's an incredibly barebones flip phone.
No camera, no games, nothing really fancy about it. The battery life is good, I rarely get calls and I charge it about once a week. Check eBay, you can probably get it for $30 - $30. I have mine through Verizon.
Basic phone, great functionality, awesome battery life (lasts close to 10 days with full charge has 6+ hours talk time), no camera none of the bells and whistles, good reception. T-Mobile to-go phone is the way I acquired it because my motorola was just dying, costs like $30 you will also get a 1 hour talk time i think. Let me know if you need further help.
Last week I bought a T-Mobile pay-as-you-go phone for £10 ($20). No contract, and the call credit doesn't expire (which is good, because I can go a couple of months without making a call). It would even play MP3s if it were Mac-compatible - it isn't, but that's hardly a problem because I also own a thing called an 'iPod'. It's small, so far hasn't needed recharging in five days, and does the job perfectly adequately.
I can't believe that the US - supposedly the land of consumer choice - doesn't offer anything similar. Is the OP not looking hard enough, or are American phone companies really that horrible?
You must think in Russian.
Please don't get motorola. I have had bad experiences with their phones, as have people with whom I have spoken. They emphasize style at the expense of substance. I have found the Razor to be particularly unreliable.
My 67 year old mother has a RAZR. She knows how to store numbers and make calls. She just ignores the other technology... I really dont see what the problem is here. Or by her a child's cell phone.
Great battery life - talk time of 8 hrs or standby time of 2+ weeks. Don't know about the talk time, but I *do* get the specced standby time. Get it for $20 with the cheap ($30/mo) T-Mobile plan, or with their pre-pay plan for $40 (includes a $25 refill card).
Forget eBay, the submitter just wants to be told what to do...
./ for simple, long lasting phones (and I'm sympathetic to the idea myself) but honestly, it isn't hard to find a simple cheap phone.
Even 7-11 and WalMart have pre-paid bare-bones cell phones these days! Did this really have to be asked? I know there's a big movement on
[/rant]
Technology tips and tricks.
I, for one, am extremely grateful that this question has been posted to Slashdot.
The next time someone moans "oh, I just want a phone that does talking and texting - why do no phones do this any more?", I can point them to here and hopefully shut another Slashdot phone whinger up.
Then the rest of us can get back to enjoying our phones with Bluetooth, Java, IM, GPS, camera, web-browsing, calendar, PC synchronisation and MP3 playback.
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
The Motorola C139 is a dual-band GSM phone that will fully utilize the t-mobile and cingular US networks. It can be found new for under $20 unlocked. It's as bargain as phones get and has nice battery life to boot.
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http://www.motorola.com/motoinfo/product/details.
If your mom will only use the phone a few times a month, you can get a Tracfone for about $20 or $30 at Radio Shack or just about any drugstore. Airtime is expensive 20-40 cents a minute (twice that when roaming). Coverage seems good. I've raised a signal in some really remote parts of the Great Basin. Adding time is a royal PITA, (you have to enter code into the phone) but it was easier the last time I tried it than it used to be. You need to add time occasionally to keep the phone active. My cost works out to about $10 a month. I only use it on occasional trips, and it's fine for that.
You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
I'm not sure why you wouldn't get a free phone and sign a contract for 1-2 years? I've always like http://www.wirefly.com/ Matter of fact, I got money back ($50) for signing up for my phone and plan.
If your mom won't use her cell phone more than 1 to 2 hours per month, she does not need a cell phone plan, she needs a pre-paid cell phone.
I've researched this for some relatives of mine, I decided on T Mobile's pre-paid plan. It's called "T Mobile To Go". T Mobile pre-paid plans don't have any monthly charges and only require 1 purchase per year to retain unused minutes. For those who make seldom use of a cell phone, it offers an aggregated monthly rate of $12 per month or less.
T Mobile always has deals for pre-paid phones. Often you'll be able to get a basic phone and 1 year (1100 minutes) of service for less than $130. You can purchase online or at one of their stores.
http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/prepaid.aspx
Most pre-paid cellular plans charge a monthly fee by burning minutes whether the phone is used or not. T Mobile's pre-plan doesn't do this. And under T Mobile, once a customer has purchased $100 worth of minutes, those minutes won't expire for 1 year. More importantly, after that initial $100 purchase, any future minutes purchased will not expire for a year from the date of last purchase.
So to keep a T Mobile pre-paid account active, one only needs purchase another cheap, $10 card before the year expires. All existing minutes will be carried over. (after having purchased those initial $100 of minutes)
I'm not huge fan of T-Mobile, they have issues just like the rest of the carriers. But their pre-paid plan is superior to any of the others I've researched.
For someone who uses less than 100 minutes per month, the aggregated monthly cost of a pre-paid T Mobile phone can be less than $12 per month, even less after the first year.
I use them as well. As for them being "rebranded", it is irrelevant to me.
As I understand it, on their pay as you go plan, TMobile doesn't allow minutes to roll over and requires a certain number of minutes to be used per month. It ends up costing as much as $30 a month.
Things may have changed, but with VirginMobile, despite the fact their marketing is all geared towards 16 year olds, they really are the best deal for those of us who only use their cell phone for very basic things. I VERY rarely have gone over $10 a month.
Within 30 seconds of reading your whiny post, I specced out $39.99 monthly plan +$35 sign up fee from Verizon Wireless with a basic phone (not even a camera) that is free with a 2 year contract.
Help me take back Slashdot. When did 'News for Nerds' become 'FUD and Conspiracy Theories for Extremist Nutjobs'?
I carry a Plain Old Cell Phone from Sprint, a Sanyo-built Sprint-labeled model, and got one for my tech-challenged mom. I didn't want one with a camera, as I can't carry a camera model into some worksites I visit.
"What you want isn't a brand-new, basic phone like the Motorola one; what you want is a phone from about three or four years ago. It'll be a lot cheaper, too -- and if something happens to it, no problem, just get a new one."
Make certain the carrier supports it. I have a Samsung SPH-i300. The carrier still supports it.
This is a great little phone that's actually just a phone. Supports Bluetooth if you want a headset, and not much else, but it does its job just fine.
Go to Target (or similar) and get a pre-paid phone. They run as cheap as $20, and the cheap ones don't have a camera or anything. This might not work if the cell phone is going to be here primary phone, because the rates would be to high. We bought ours when there was a sale and for about $85 we got a nokia phone & $115 worth of t-mobile minutes @ 10 cents a minute. The minutes expire after a year, but supposedly if you buy a $15 recharge card they will extend them for another year.
Computers don't make mistakes. What they do, they do on purpose.
He owns a SLVR and never noticed the phone or the headphone jack, or read a single sentence of the documentation. He never noticed the TV ads for it as a top of the line cool phone/mp3 player/movie player/camera/video recorder. He bought it, put it in his pocket and never looked at it again.
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.
When you have finished this cup of coffee your adventure will begin again.
Is just a phone (+ SMS, but I don't think that you can get away with). No camera, no MP3 player, no kitchen sink. I have had it go a week on a charge, with about 3-4 hours of talktime used. It is a flip phone. I've dropped mine a few times, and had no issues. It uses a mini-USB plug for the charger. I've liked mine so far.
Inexpensive phone, good reception. Excellent holster. Loud ring.
I paid $29 with AllTel for the phone with their $0.15/min national prepaid plan.
Since you are looking for a non-technical person I would recommend the Jitterbug. My mom and I got my dad one for Christmas last year and it works very well. They preprogram numbers in for you and you can call their operators and have them add or delete numbers without having to navigate the menus on the phone. The phone also has a more holdable shape since it is wide at the bottom and narrow at the top with a bit of an oval to it.
If you are looking for a decent quality general cell phone I'd recommend an LG VX8300. Yes, it has the camera and has bluetooth and a Micro-SD slot and can play music and all that fancy stuff. But I just use mine as a phone and it is the best cell phone I've had in a long time. Call quality is excellent (Verizon). My only gripe is that the ear piece is mounted closer to the top of the phone than on my last phone so for the first couple of weeks I had to remember to hold the phone a little bit lower on my ear to line the speaker up with my ear so I can hear out of it. It also makes balancing the phone on my shoulder somewhat of a challenge but I usually keep a headset (wired, it sounds better) at home. I don't talk for any length of time while driving as I can't concentrate on the conversation so I usually don't bother with a headset in the car since an entire conversation with me driving is less time than it would take to plug the ear piece in.
Prepaid phones don't allow rollover minutes
Most of them don't. I have one. 7-11 stores have a prepaid plan called Speakout Wireless ( http://www.cellguru.net/speakout.htm is a good intro) where any minutes you add to the card are good for a year--and if you add more minutes, even nearly year old ones that otherwise would have expired are brought back to current.
I can only comment on the Cingular-based version of the plan, but I've gotten two of those models with Nokia phones and been very happy. The coverage seems no crappier than what other Cingular subscribers in the area get, it's been basically reliable for me on the east coast (I'm at points from DC to Boston regularly), and I can easily hold my monthly expense to under $10 if I'm only using the phone occasionally.
I'm to replace the phone system at my office. The company wants "basic-basic-basic." The expectation is Nortel. When you ask people what kind of phone system they have and they don't know? 99% of the time it's because they never have a problem with it and because it's a Nortel and to them that's what "office phone" means.
But when I am out shopping for phone systems, I get people exclaiming "feature! feature! function! gadget!" The company I work for does NOT want that. They want to answer the phone when it rings and to press as few buttons as possible when accessing voicemail and on occasion to be able to transfer their call to someone else... and NOTHING ELSE. Instead of a salesman offering what I ask for, they try to shove IPPhones, desktop voicemail and you name-it up my ass. I don't want those things in my ass and I don't want to be able to open my garage door by contacting my voicemail over the internet!
There comes moments when technology simply gets in the way.
I have been fairly pleased with my Samsung SGH-T209. It is a phone. It does have a stopwatch and calculator as well, but for the price (extend our contract with T-mobile) it is nice. I too don't want a Swiss Army knife device, my phone is for emergencies.
I have a Morotola C139 and pay $25 a quarter with rollover minutes.
if you steal from one source, that is plagiarism, if you steal from many, well, that's just research.
Samsung t219. T-mobile used to sell the x495 which is of similar ilk. Mostly just a phone, and nothing that really sucks battery life. Mine goes all week on a single charge.
It's designed for older people with varying limitations - one model has number-pad buttons and yes/no, while the other just has three fat buttons for operator/towtruck/911. They're both a bit clunky, because they're designed for people who care more about making it easy to push the big buttons than about having the phone be really small. I don't know how the battery life is - my mom hasn't had problems with it, so I suspect standby time is pretty good, but she doesn't talk on the phone much. One advantage of a larger phone is that there's room for a larger battery.
It might or might not be the right phone for your mom - does she want a phone that's small, or is clunky ok? Does she want GSM so she can use it anywhere in the world, or is having one US-only carrier ok? Does she want a "simple" phone because it's harder to use fancier phones, or does she really just want a *cheap* phone that works ok and can ignore menu items she doesn't use? There are lots of choices for cheap - getting a used unlocked GSM phone may be a good choice, or getting whatever rate plan is the best price for the amount of calling she'll do and includes a zero-price phone.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Nokia 6030
Their customer service is helpful and friendly. They don't treat me like a lowlife for not subscribing to one of their premium subscriptions. Just a few days ago I called asking if I can have a new number for my recent move (change of area code). Piece of cake.
I love T-Mobile prepaid. I have it, my wife has it, my parents are converted (from Cingular family plan with gobs of unused minutes).
Nokia 2125i has exact same cost and the best part is no stress if i drop it or misplace it.
it comes with a byuilt in LED flashlight which made me laugh but has proved to be very handy.
(checks submitter's name) No, it was somebody else. Which is totally weird, because that's EXACTLY the situation that I'm dealing with -- a technologically challenged mother who wants "JUST a cell phone, not a camera, not an MP3 player, just a cell phone."
The solution I'm in the process of trying is to get an old GSM phone. Actually when I explained the situation, TWO of my co-workers came to me, offering to GIVE me old ones of theirs. One of them had previously been on a Rogers pay-as-you-go plan, and the phone was simply no longer in use. I bought that phone from my co-worker for a "nominal sum", but I haven't arranged to get a new SIM for it yet -- maybe I'll do that tonight. The other one is on a Telus monthly plan, and the co-worker would gladly give me the phone if I took over the plan, so he wouldn't have to pay the cancellation charges.
I do wonder, though, whether there is a market for SIMPLE versions of devices (like cell phones), with no fancy features, yet of reasonably good quality. It's not that my mom wants fewer features in order to shave every last penny off of the price. She presumably wants a phone with good audio quality, good battery life, etc., but without the things that have nothing to do with talking on the phone. Well, actually, there obviously IS a market like that, the question is why there are no manufacturers selling to that market. Maybe it isn't a large enough market?
I have used both Virgin Mobile and T-Mobile pay-as-you-go phones.
I prefer the Virgin mobile setup - they have better phones (I reccomend the clamshell type so it will not get turned on in-purse) and the cheap ones have few features. I fyou are willing to tie a credit card to the account the service costs as little as $15 every three(!) months, with unused dollars rolling over, not sure how long for. It's $.25 cents the first minute and $.10 thereafter.
T-Mobile is best if you prepay for a year of service, for $100. Then all calls are just $.10, and all additions to funds are $.10 per minute. That $100 does expire at the end of the year. If she makes more calls (even if, or especially if, short ones), the T-Mobile plan might be better because of the flatter per-minute fee.
I personally have an iPhone now and love it, but my partner hardly uses a phone so she has the Virgin Mobile still and that continues to be a good solution for a second phone that's more for occasional use.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
But USB chargers really win, at least if you're a computer person (which the article's author's mom might not be.) I picked up a car charger thats a 12v-to-USB adapter with a USB-to-Nokia cable, so I can use the same cable with my laptop as well as in my car, and if I'm on business travel, I've always got the laptop with me so all I need is the cable.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
I've a little Motorola number. I forget *which* number, but it's the one with speaker-phone and no camera (I paid a good $20 for the lack of camera). It says it's "browser ready" and "mp3 ready" whatever that means, but I've not used it for either. My plan's through T-Mobile, the 400 minute "My Faves" plan, which is a lame way of saying I get free calls to 5 numbers, plus 400 minutes outside that, which is more than I ever use.
In my experience, T-Mobile coverage is either good or nonexistent, so your mileage may very, but I'm quite pleased.
$40 a month, plus the taxes and fees... so your cheap and easy plan costs $45 per month for a retired person just to have an emergency phone.
That is spoken, truly like a man who does not pay the bills. No offense.
The other suggestions are to buy a pay-as-you-go phone which costs $12/month. Explain why your methods is better. Seriously.
You can get one at Wallmart or where ever you can find Go Phones... It's small and cheap, has excellent battery life and no frills... I charge mine every other day and manage 30 minutes of talk time a day on it.
The only thing wrong with mine is the battery meter, it isn't terribly accurate.... but I really don't mind because I know I can go 2-3 days between charges...
It's a good simple phone, and that's all it is. I wish my blackberry worked half as well... lol
Try the Motorola v195s. No camera. Long battery life. T-Mobile [they allow one year contracts and are less inclined to hand over your data to feds].
The Motorola L2 might be close to what you want. No camera, no mp3 player. It does do bluetooth and USB synching to a few simple PDA apps, but you can safely ignore those. And it's cheap; I got mine deeply discounted as part of my Cingular renewal, but I believe the list price was around $150.
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a skull.
Not sure if you can get this in the states but Bell sells them in Canada. It has text messaging, however I do not think its possible to get a phone without it these days.
It works good, doest have music or a phone and the Internet can be disabled.
Since much of the subject here is about importing, is there any luck in using a Japanese-market phone in the US/Canada (I'm in Canada)? I'm up for a contract renewal and a new phone. A friend came back from Japan last year and showed me the phone she used. Its still 2 years ahead on what's in the market here. The battery lasted longer, the camera had awesome res, and LED flashlight and tons of bells.
Someone mentionned GPS/e911 service as one hindrance. Any other pitfalls or reasons I could not use it?
Cheap phones, no contract. I've got no complaints, been using them for a couple years now.
Something to consider if you get just do end up getting just a phone, you'll have a tough time getting just a sim card.
I've been unable to get just a sim card from any phone company in my area. The only solution I've been offered from phone companies in my area is to buy various no-contract phones, pull the card and throw the phone away or sell it. It's a bunch of crap, I know they have stacks of cards back there, they just don't have a "process" in place to sell me one.
My experience is the same as yours. If your mother won't be using it very much, Tracfone is the way to go. You end up paying about $1 a minute ($2/min roaming), less if you buy minutes in bulk, and your minutes don't expire if you don't use them. In fact, even if your plan expires (you have to buy at least 10 units/month) but you have minutes unused, you keep them when you reactivate. My only real complaint is that the phone doesn't warn you when your plan is about to expire. It does show the expiration date on the front, but it doesn't beep at you or anything when that date is coming near. So I've expired twice and had to renew. The last time they told me my phone was no longer supported, but they shipped me a new phone at no charge, and even included a postage-paid envelope to return my old one.
I have been very pleased with the Nokia 1500, which is available at Sam's or Wal-mart. It will run you about $30.00(US). This is for the phone, charger, manual, and includes a 2-month/300 minute credit. Very basic Nokia 1500 phone, with excellent signal strength. It does use a SIM, so you can 'upgrade' to another model.
V for Vendetta: People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.
I got 2 phones last week from http://letstalk.com/. Great company and almost all the phones are free if you get the 2 year service.
So buy your mother a fantastic phone, tell her to live without playing MP3s or taking lots of happy snaps, and problem solved. She really only needs to be able to get back to the root menu and use the handful of features she wants. As for battery life...well I typically get 4-5 days out of a charge of my Nokia N70, but that's with quite light phone use, and the only features I use regularly besides phone and SMS are calendar alarms. Hell I have a demo version of Doom installed and that chews battery, but who wants to play a 10 year old shooter on a tiny screen with tiny unusable keys when you've got porky fingers like mine. Also I own an iPod so why would I want to use the phone to play MP3s (unless it's all I have with me, and when I do I typically don't have a headset with me)?
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
You can find several inexpensive unlocked GSM phones at http://myworldphone.com/
They are a reputable dealer as per a couple of well-known cellphone forums (you might want to poke around the forums a little, and maybe even ask the question there):
http://esato.com/
http://howardforums.com/
As stated in the title, I have no affiliation with any of these sites.
Nothing is inexplicable; only unexplained -Tom Baker, Doctor Who
There is so very much FUD involved in this question. Yes, you might have a problem finding just a plain phone now, but I have a w300i with a camera I never use. I do play mp3's on it, but I don't have to. If I am listening to mp3's at work for eight hours, I still have about 60% battery life. I am sure you can get a cheap phone with a contract that will work just fine as a phone, even if it has a camera you will never use.
If you want a Motorola Motofone in the US, i.e. the CDMA F3c model... as far as I know the only place to get one is www.paketelor.com, costing about US$50 plus postage to the US (not sure how much).
I had one sent to the UK to give as a gift to a US friend. Should arrive 2moro.
I just went to the verizon wireless website and see tons of phones that are $9.99 when you sign up. I don't know if they have a camera or mp3 player on them, but who cares if they do?
Ave Molech Setting
You can buy a pay as you go phone and use it with regular service. These cost under $40. Of course the cell store won't tell you this and won't display these phones other than 'pay as you go'.
It seems to be just about the simplest phone out there - Details here: http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?cc=us&lc=en&ve r=4000&template=pip1&zone=pp&pid=10350 You can get a refurbed one on the Cingular website for $9.99 with one of their pay as you go plans. Don't know how much simpler you can get than that.
I saw a commercial for a cell service called Jitterbug made by Samsung i think. If this cell phone is for your mom it might be just what you need. Try googling it.
What...you want a phone other than what they provide you in the store. This can not be. Have the telco's not TOLD you what kind of phone you want. Repeat after me: In Soviet United States, Telcos tell you what to buy...ummm...wait...I htink I messed that up. Seriously, I hate to admit, but I use Verizon and they had some simple phones. Not nearly as simple as you want, but some without too many options. I needed one without a camera. I am a contracor and many customers limit all phones for liability reason so I needed one without. Walked in and said, I need a phone without a camera. The guy said, you can choose from these 3 and showed me the 3 basic ones in the far side of the case. It still has calendars, and contact lists and a bunch of basic functions. Battery Life is decent and it costs me nothing when I purchased a basic 2 year contract. That is the smallest amount of effort option, go with the simplest and cheapest the store has to offer or you have to make sure it is compatible with your network when you purchase it and the like.
I just saw and add in the AARP new bulletin about a phone called Jitterbug by Greatcall that is really simple to operate and can be used on many cellphone networks. I have never seen one or know of anyone who as used it, but it is worth looking at. If you go to aarp.com and select the current bulletin at the top of the page and look for reference to cellphone in the search box it tells all the info and will lead you to Greatcall.
I am a techie and like the latest and greatest toys, however for my phone I want it simple. All I want to do is make phone calls with it. No cameras, MP3 players, no frills really.
Since I liked the quality of customer and phone service that T-Mobile offered, I looked at their phones. I came across the Motorola V195s.
Simple phone, has a nice color screen, and is very inexpensive. Best of all, it works with a MyFaves plan so the top 5 people I call all the time (mobile or landline) are unlimited talk-times. Since this phone is also a Quad Band phone, it can be used in all four available world-wide frequencies, including the recently released 850MHz band (previously analog, I believe, and in a lot of rural areas). Check out their coverage map and see if your Mom can get one where she lives.Good luck!
if you have a sim card from your provider, go down to Best Buy and get a "Go Phone" (pay as you go). They have a motorola for 20 bucks, that two of my friends got when they lost their expensive razors.
Yes. 20 dollars. A phone you can lose and not care that much about. Finally. It's about time.
read more rants: thunt.net
Jitterbug, "the phone for boomers and beyond", is exactly that. They offer two models, Dumb and Dumber. The Dumb model has a big numeric keypad. They couldn't resist putting in a display, though. The Dumber model has no numeric keys, just three huge buttons: "Operator", "Tow" (or some other preselected legend), and "911". The phone produces a "comforting dial tone".
They couldn't resist including menus, arrow keys, voicemail, a phone book, and a recent call list, either. But not GPS tracking, which might make sense given the target market.
The phone book is preloaded when the phone is ordered. Updating it thereafter can be done by fax (!), live operator assistance, or a web site, but not from the phone itself.
2 years ago I got the cheapest phone that verizon had in their store. it was 20 bucks, yes, just 20 bucks, it's just a flip phone, it has _nothing_ else. I had to get it replaced under warranty (it dropped hard) and they still had them in the store, the price mighta been higher, maybe 40 bucks. Actually now that I think about it, it mighta been 20 bucks without service, but I think I got it free when I signed up for service, so I suggest going into the various carriers' stores and asking what phone you get for free when you sign up for service, more likely than not, that phone will be just a phone.
My folks have one of these phones. It's a compact mini phone capable of handling SMS texts, a phonebook,
speed dialing, voice mail, alarms and ring tones.
The commands are no less complex than any other phone. The manual is still around 14 pages long
(8 pages to one A4 sheet of paper). The only difference is the price/maintenance . Maybe this is due to
the display. Also over here, it's a pay-as-you-go card with a top up card.
I think this phone would benefit with a colour display - being able to choose black on white rather than orange on grey
would be an improvement on readability.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
From http://www.mobiledia.com/phones/lg/vx3400.html: ..."
"The VX3400 showcases useful features including voice memo recorder, personal organizer, EZ Tip calculator,
Doesn't sound like 'just a cell phone' to me.
That search took all of 2 minutes, now you and all the imbeciles who modded you insightful can go take some reading comprehension classes or something.
Um did you even bother to look around or read?
Did you? One of the main issues was battery life, another complexity.
I don't know if they have a camera or mp3 player on them, but who cares if they do?
Someone looking for better battery life and less complexity.
I recently bought one to replace a phone I inadvertantly smashed. My observation is that the "automatic" volume control doesn't work, there's very limited means to control it manually, and the fused-faceplate design of the menu buttons means you're constantly pushing one of the buttons you don't mean to. The chrome is also wearing off rather quickly for a very recent purchase. Couldn't recommend it, wouldn't buy one again unless I was desperate.
Tweet, tweet.
Jitterbug! Looks like just the ticket.
* No camera. I do not want something that takes crappy photos. If I want a camera I will buy a camera. Putting a camera in a phone is about as good an idea as putting a phone in a camera.
* Few buttons. Cell phones have too many buttons.
* Simple. Too many cell phones try to be cool rather than useful.
* Simple menus. My phone has too many menu choices full of crap that I do not use, and figuring out how to do simple things like add a name to the phone list is too hard.
Cell phone makers are cramming crap into phones that is not useful for making calls.
I do remember reading something in the WSJ about Sprint developing a simple phone that they would market to older people; I don't know if this is the result. Older folks aren't the only ones who would like it though. As someone who often sits in front of computers all day I get tired of gadgets that want to make things too complicated.
Penny - plain text accounting
Those are the least intrusive "extras" you'll find on any phone. Seriously, who cares if the phone has a calculator you don't want? If you don't want to use it, then don't use it. You'll soon forget that it's even there. (BTW, that "personal organizer" is just a contact list, and every phone has one.)
It's like looking at a Corolla, one of the most generic cars you can find, and complaining that it has that useless bi-level vent setting and those fancy-pants power windows, and "why is it so hard to find 'just a car' these days?"
Visual IRC: Fast. Powerful. Free.
Japan and South Korea use a CDMA-based system that is incompatible with the rest of the world. I have a nice quad-band GSM phone that will work just about anywhere in the world, but when I go to Japan, I have to rent a phone. Japanese phones are certainly cool (and they seem to have gone beyond the "hey, Bullwinkle, look at how flat *my* phone is" idiocy), but they won't work anywhere else in the world.
We use 2 Tracfones (both GSM, likely run on AT&T (formerly Cingular) network). Quite happy with service, fairly inexpensive for occasional use. Both the phones (supplied for free by Tracfone) are made by Motorola. I also use a Cingular pay-as-you go service, Quite happy with service, fairly inexpensive for occasional use. If I have to use lot more minutes, I may switch from Tracfone to T-Mobile. The phones are cheap enough for me that I don't mind giving it away to guests/visitors, don't fuss if I or family member lose it, generally treat it as a somewhat expensive pen or a wristwatch. In short, it is not valuable.
Pawn me; pawn you; pawn everything!
This site is like CRACK; hooked on the first use!!!
this phone does not work on the north american GSM system, as most people stated already, just look on ebay or craigslist for something simple.
They do have some big phone but you might need to buy them on ebay
Has a few extras on it, but only cost something like $40 from Cingular (now AT&T Wireless, wish they'd make up their mind what they want to be called). You can probably get one on eBay cheap.
I also wanted a simple phone, no camera (since I traveled a bit including into places where they don't allow cameras) or a PDA. I've "graduated" to a smart phone now, but the old phone did what I needed at the time. My needs are different now.
My wife's got an inexpensive LG phone, I'll have to get the model number off of it, but same sort of thing - basic phone, no extras.
Most of the wireless carriers have phones like this, but you have to dig because they want to sell you the feature-laden phones (more profit).
Insanity is a gradual process; don't rush it.
Thats a pure scam. It's not true rollover if there expiration dates.
l l-phone-plans/prepaid-cell-phone-plans.jsp
I should be able to buy some minutes and not have to renew every month.
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/ce
the Motorola L6 is the US version of that UK phone http://www.motorola.com/motoinfo/product/details.j sp?globalObjectId=99
its available ot Cingular/ATT
Freaky Schitt always happens to me... WHY God WHY!!
You don't need a credit card, you don't need a contract, you don't even need an address. The most basic ones are about $20, are just basic phones, and most don't need any payments (unless you use the phone regularly/excessively) for 2-3 months at a time.
Hell, I've got two of them, costs me no more than $30-40 every 90 days, since I just use them for quick calls on the road. One from Virgin Mobile, the other from Tracfone. The tracfone one comes with a couple of otherwise unplayable games, but it functions as a phone perfectly well.
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
They have some cheap and simple phones. Prepaid, no contracts, 10 cents a minute anywhere US. I have one for one year now. Minimum cost is $15 a month for 150 minutes. No roaming, no free nights or weekends.
I meant to click Underrated, not Overrated. Oops.
I too want just a phone, but I don't want something that looks like it was designed by the kids at the local Cerebral Palsy center.
This phone is still available (but rare) in NZ. Fantastic phone, with fantastic battery life, and it was extremely cheap. I am surprised simple phones are so hard to find now, when there is clearly a high demand for them.
Virgin allows them...so long as you put in $20 worth of airtime every 90 days, your unused minutes pile up. Virgin's got one of the cheapest PAYG plans out there, too, 18 cents/minute.
I also got $20 update cards at Target for $15 last December; they're good for a year after purchase, so I go a years worth of service for $60. The phone was $40, but they have cheaper ones, and usually Virgin has a deal for a free phone with a new account online. The ony thing Virgin knows about m,e is the throwaway gmail account I used to sign up.
Not bad.
A used cell from ebay would probably work.
I'm so much happier using TracPhone! I dumped Verizon and haven't regretted it one bit. I've a decent phone, and my wife (also on TracPhone) has an even simpler phone; but I've seen more expensive ones with more options (I think I saw one with a camera @ Wal-Mart).
Pay-as-you go is great...and if you don't want to deal with renewing often, you can buy in bulk (annual plan or massive amount of minutes). I highly recommend it!
Will draft for food...
check out the nokia 6010, i have one from tmobile, its just a phone and works great as that
i also have a voq smartphone that i purchased from tigerdirect for ~85$, im happy with it
http://www.jitterbug.com/
"From of old, there are not lacking things that have attained Oneness." - Lao Tzu
Then again, there's size, weight and battery life. But really, the RAZR and the w810i are both pretty small, and both get pretty good battery life: 7 hours of talk time and more than a week of standby, or something like that. I'm using the RAZR and the w810i just as an example. It just turns out that a camera and an mp3 player don't cost much money, space or battery life.
Of course, if you don't like the complexity, you're about out of luck...
I hereby place the above post in the public domain.
Buy a vergin mobil for about $50 to $75 dollars. 25 cents a minute or $15 every three months if you dont talk much.
A Phone?? are you crazy??? you need a iPhone!!!!
To answer the specific question if a phone bought abroad will work in the U.S.:
A GSM phone capable of the 1900 MHz band will work in most parts of the USA with GSM carriers (Cingular/AT&T, T-Mobile, and Suncom.) In some areas, e.g. upstate NY, you also need coverage of the 850 MHz band. If you get a tri-band phone you may want to check what the low band is (it might be 850 or 900 MHz; 900 MHz is not usable in the USA.) For GSM phones, assuming it was not locked by the vendor you bought it from (check), you can just pop in the SIM card from the carrier and off you go. I used a Vietnamese version of the Nokia 6110 for many years this way.
CDMA phones (Verizon, Sprint) are trickier -- they don't have a SIM card that can be easily popped in and out; you have to get the carrier to program your phone (or get the info from them to program it for you.)
... but maybe you shouldn't take her too literally.
What your mom is probably saying to you is that she's afraid of being confused by her phone if its too complex, and that she doesn't want you to spend extra money to get her a "better" phone than she needs.
She probably doesn't recognize that her request for a cellular equivalent of a standard cordless phone she has in the house isn't as easy to fulfil as it would sound, and there's probably no reason for you to go nuts looking for it.
Instead, you should make sure to get a phone with a pretty intuitive interface. My mom has had luck with Sanyos and Samsungs. I heard Kyoceras are also very simple to navigate. My coworker showed me some Sony phone he had once and I didn't even know how to use it, so your mom probably wouldn't either. But there are plenty of intuitive, simple to use phones out there. In fact, I think the majority of them are.
Your mom may not end up using all the features of the phone but then again you'll be surprised. My mom didn't want a camera in her phone but I got her one with a decent (1.3 megapix) camera and she's been snapping some amazing photos with it when she's out and about. You never know what tech your mom might use until you make it available to her.
Remember that millions of people use cellphones every day, and most of them aren't kernel hackers. Almost all phones that you're going to get from a carrier are designed towards a normal non-technical user exactly like your mom, so chances are anything you'll get her is fine. If this is her first phone, forget picking it. Find her the service provider first, and then take whatever phone they give for free. Nothing more to it.
And for what it's worth, I recomend Sprint.
Hope this helps...
http://ed.markovich.googlepages.com
The phone will work in the US if you get the US version (GSM 850 1900).
The Luddites descend. Just when phones were getting usable enough that I'd actually want one, the masses begin to bitcheth and bellyacheth that they are too difficult to use, they don't "just work", that now they have to read a manual to figure them out. I can't wait to perfect space colonization and get the hell out of here and leave the rest of you technophobes to return to your stone knives and bear skins. We'll all be happier, then.
It can't be simpler than this And battery life is great.
you can get a sony ericcson z300a on Cingular "the new at&t" for a reasonable price.
and with rollover minutes.
I have a Motorola C139 through Tracfone which I use as just a phone. I talk about 15 minutes per month and it works fine for me. The face plates of the M3 and the C139 look similar. HTH, Dennis Myhand
UNIX is truth, the Console is life. Use Evolution to send e-mail and not virii.
read other replies for why
Two weeks ago, I walked into an AT&T Store and bought a flip phone for $59.99. Doesn't have much in the way of features but it has address book, makes and receives phone calls and you don't need a plan. I paid $25 for 100 minutes, good for 3 months. So I pay about $8.33 a month for the service. The phone was for my daughter when she's taking classes. They have a cheaper candy bar model for $39.99. And a more expensive model with camera for $100. We have two more of these phones. One for me and one for our son. Just what we need for short communications and calling for pizza.
Verizon sells it, $150 retail or free with a contract. I can't comment on quality myself. Also they've had some basic Nokia candybar phones such as the 3589i in the recent past, which may be available on Ebay now.
I think I've seen other basic phones offered for prepay plans from other companies, and I agree with those saying that this is sort of a pointless thread.
T-Mobile franchise stores in NYC sell unlocked phones (used unlocked phones, I have one, $40), and also the sim cards to make 'em work. Don't know about the rest of the planet.
O lord, bless this thy holy hand grenade, that with it thou mayest blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.
Might i suggest finding a provider in the states that uses sim cards, then you can just buy any cheap triband phone in Europe (unlock it) pop in the sim card and use it happily, and when your mum is done with the phone just pop the sim card out and pop it in a new phone, so wonderful and easy it could never be in the usa.
On a side note to find out just ho much your being screwed by cell phone companies take a look at 02.co.uk or orange.co.uk for how easy it is to get a cheap pay as you go (that doesn't expire) and switch to what ever phone you like.
My phone can weld and create life! I think it's the greatest thing since Slashdot!
In last month's issue (May/June '07) of the Sierra Club magainze there is an ad on page 20 for
Jitterbug from firstSTREET 1-866-540-0299
Plain cell phones for $10 a month, promo code 32988
http://www.jitterbug.com/
I don't own a cell phone, and have no intention of getting one anytime soon, but the phones and
fess don't look to bad.
Were that I say, pancakes?
Anyone know if there is a way to use the Motorola F3 in the United States? I know its not sold here, but if it were imported would it only take an active SIM card to enable it?
I picked a Motorola Motofone F3 up here in Australia on Ebay locally.
It is locked for a local network (Optus) but otherwise works fine and fit the bill for the mate of mine who wanted it.
The battery life is excellent due to the completely basic nature of the device and the eInk display.
Speaking of the display it's very large (unfortunately it appears to be a fixed character size) display makes it easy for elderly users to make out the text in all lighting conditions.
I can happily recommend this phone for those who just want to make calls with a maximum of battery life.
--- I've completed diagnosis of your problem and can classify it as a YOYO...You're On Your Own
I browsed through a few comments quickly, and many people seem to be pointing towards Motorola. I would personally highly recommend a "low end" Nokia model.
l l-phone-details/?device=Nokia+2610&q_sku=sku980158
I worked for Cingular a few years ago, and I never got any complaints from older folks asking for the exact same phone features as your mother. I'm not sure what carrier you're planning to go with, but if you're looking at Cingular, this seems to be the phone closest to what you're mother wants:
The Nokia 2610 -- http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/ce
In my experience with Motorola, they never hold up as well, or for as long, nor are they as durable or easy to use. However, if you want an older Motorola to compare to, which you could probably pick up on EBay, check out the Motorola V180. If memory serves (and it does), that phone will also fit your mothers needs quite nicely. Picking up an older phone could also keep your mom from signing any kind of contract with a carrier, as she could simply use whatever they call their version of "pre-pay" now.
However, if you are considering the EBay route, the phone I would recommend over most others would be the old Nokia 1100. It is exactly what your mother is looking for. Durable, and believe me, other than a rudimentary flashlight, zero other features. Great battery life though. Buy five of them, and when/if one fails, just swap out the SIM card. Show her how to do it, it's very easy on the 1100. But, for whatever carrier you decide to go with, make CERTAIN the phone is either from that carrier, or it at least compatible (unlocked). For Cingular and T-Mobile, they use GSM technology, hence SIM cards. They have to be unlocked.
As for price plans, you're on your own. Good luck!
cingular go phone- motorolla somthing or other its small, black and works on the cingular network as well as the cingular go network just buy the phone for 20$ at a radio-shack and go to a atnt/cingular store and ask to set up a sim card account/ monthly plan.. bingo there you go a contractless 20$ phone. also the phone has 11hours talk time and 18days standby WOW!
Free your mind.
Get her a phone with a pre-paid plan, t-mobile has some no-frills phones available for that even at Target. The cost is .10/min if you get 1000minutes, and they last one year with rollover.
Hard to guess what is actually usable in her area.
e r?item=phoneFirst&action=viewPhoneDetail&selectedP honeId=2506 ... though in their listing of models they also have this similar one:
e r?item=phoneFirst&action=viewPhoneDetail&selectedP honeId=2687 ... but that's for Verizon, if you're not even in their service area then that doesn't help.
I have a phone something like this one:
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controll
http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controll
Those features require a more powerful processor, more RAM, a higher resolution display in the case of the camera, physical space inside the case for the camera and lens that can't be used for the battery, and so on. Even if you don't use the features, they still cost you in battery life.
And all the complexity is still there if you don't use it as well.
The only way to get a simple phone with long battery life is to build a phone designed for simplicity and minimal features. There's no other way.
I have an LG-LX150. I too didn't want a camera mp3 pda when I had to get a phone for work, so I hunted. And hunted. And I found this one. I do need text messaging (unlimited, for system monitoring alerts), which it handles quite well. The LX150 also has bluetooth, calendar, ringtones, web browsing and some other stuff, but I have that stuff disabled or just ignore it. I went with Sprint, but the phone might be available on other providers.
1) You can buy them in Mexico for ~ 45 USD.
2) The Mexican version WILL work on the US network.
3) No one has figured out a way to unlock the Mexican version, and it is possible that it can NEVER be unlocked.
4) Motorola wants you to buy the American version that will be loaded wtih a bunch of crap and cost 10x.
i know exactly that are you looking for..z oom/
a ction/211677a/
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/7830/
look how she would look:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/7830/
Net 10 works great everywhere. $15.00 a month on average. Maybe not the best choice for those whose cells are permanently attached to their heads, but it is best cellphone experience I've ever had.
I've got one of these. It is by far the best phone I've had. Reliable, long-life battery and indestructable.
POKE 36879,8
Should have thought to put this in the ORignal post,
A. She already has a plan, options involving getting a new plan to get another crappy free phone like she already has is not an option.
B. She is replacing a POS sony Ericcson flip-phone that has horrible reception, sometimes it never rings then it will buzz telling her she has voice-mail...
C. She uses the phone for work, she's in the medical field and is on call a lot, so the phone does get regular use. No they didn't give her a phone from work that isn't the question. Just need a good GSM phone that doesn't cost 300+ dollars to buy unlocked and is ready to use.
No I'd never heard of any services called jitterbug or anything like that. I do not live in the US, my mom does. I've noticed that a lot of google searches tend to come back with results based on your region you are searching from...
But I'm sure this will be ignored and the flamers will continue...
"If I were bound by all laws everywhere I'm sure I would have committed a capital crime somewhere."
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.
You can get them with Virgin Mobile, USA. Their payment plans, largely prepaid, would probably fit your mother better anyway as they don't lock you into any sort of contract what-so-ever.
Otherwise, any carrier will give you a barebones phone, but they won't advertise it. You have to specifically ask and let them know you aren't willing to be a customer with a complicated phone.
Have a very basic Kyocera and it's perfect: simple and cheap to buy and use unless you're clocking a lot of minutes per month.
I recently got a no-frills pay by the minute nokia from verizon.
just an answer to your question. add $40 a month( top up cards widely available( radio shack, walgreens, etc) and get 300/1000 plan. simple phone, works over the sprint network, so its reliable, battery life is very good, warns you when you are running low on minutes and when you are in need of adding money.
be resolute, fear no sacrifice, surmount every difficulty to gain final victory ! mao tse tung, (lrb)
Checked out Freecycle lately? I managed to score a couple of old T-Mobile phones - a Samsung R225 and a Nokia 3390 - last year on this, and these phones are pretty simple: they only do SMS, and the Samsung has an LED that can change colors.
This sig no verb.
...before?
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/ 30/1618208
http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/29/21 31203
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/03/ 20/0320249
The more things change... ;)
geek. lawyer.
If you can find it, the Motorola Startac. it was a phone...and that's it. analog support only though so, so be warned....its not gonna work much longer
No, T Mobile To Go does not have a monthly charge.
I only mentioned a "monthly" aggregated rate as a comparison figure to traditional cell phone plans. I just took the amount of the initial payment and divided by 12.
T Mobile doesn't have the same policies in the US as they do in Europe. For instance, the expiration period here in the US is longer than you have. And unlike Europe, US carriers charge the same for incoming and outgoing calls. (yes, we are charged for received calls) This plan is not the most cost effective for those who make frequent use of a cell phone. (but it's not terribly expensive either). You have to consider that a lot of people don't use their cell phones very often. I know quite a number of people who use less than 2 hours of cell phone minutes per month. I know some who use much, much less. For anyone who doesn't use their phone a lot but still wants a cell phone, my research indicates that this is the best and cheapest product available.
Here in the US, the purchase of $100 worth of minutes gives a customer "Gold Status". Once a customer has achieved Gold Status, their minutes will not expire for one year (and they receive something like a 15% minute bonus on all purchases). One of the best features is that the purchase of any more minutes moves the expiration clock 1 year forward.
For those who rarely use their cell phone, the optimal practice is to purchase a $100 card at the time of activation. This gives the customer 1150 minutes. (1000 minutes + the 15% Gold Reward bonus). If the customer does not use 1150 minutes within the first year, they need only purchase a $10 card before the end of their 1st year. Their clock will be extended by one year and all their unused minutes will be carried over.
After two years, a customer's aggregated monthly rate could be as little as $6 per month. (Once again, this "monthly rate" is just an example for comparison purposes, there is no actual monthly fee).
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
Carpe Scrotum - The only way to deal with your competition.
Motorola F3 is a budget phone without extra features, monochromatic display, thin and easy to use (no, no camera, no mp3, no colors, no mms). I haven't used it, I just had it in my hands for while at a shop and put my eye on it closer. The design is nice and the phone is really thin. It's also cheap and thus suitable for people who can't afford all those all-in-one multimedia phones or for older people who don't need such features. I saw ads on this phone here, too (here = Slovak Rep.). Make a trip to Europe (vacation or something :) or get a friend to buy this phone for you and send it to U.S.
PS: But your dilemma makes me really happy I'm not in U.S. and still have no problems to buy such things or a computer without operating system.
PPS: Can't wait for OpenMoko
When in doubt ask About.
Basically 3 places Jitterbug, Wirefly, and Net10.
Jitterbug I've seen and it's large numbers (buttons and screen) make it ideal for stiff fingers and bi-focal eyes.
I'm sorry, I'm to tired to be witty at the moment so this message will have to do.
From Motorola's site: "Bands/Modes: GSM 850/1900MHz; 900/1800MHz" Yes, it will work. The first bit is the US system, the second bit is the european one. Go nuts.
I have spoken'eth.
Nokia 1600 is my recommendation. Small, lightweight, and has a great battery life. I have been very pleased with it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_1600
(Oh, and that wikipedia article is the first place I see it's "designed for prepaid mobile service", so it hardly requires one.)
This is a an app question today. My Girl friend just today ordered a new phone from sprite. She was using her Qualcomm that she got back in 2000. She was looking online and they listed all these Upgrades. All she wanted was a phone. she called customer service and they helped her find just a phone, for free. She had to get a new 2 year contract but she was not planning to change carriers.
In the UK, we change our phones often. If you're on contract, you can get the latest and greatest as a free upgrade every year. Prices for calls on such a contract are not worse than pricing for pay-as-you-go calls. Sure, the subsidised ones are usually locked, but unlocking a GSM phone's trivial - a lot you can do yourself with a bit of googling, others you pay the price of a slice of pizza to someone over the phone or internet and they unlock it for you.
Their low-end phone is $20 and it's just a phone. No camera, no MP3, no contract. The buttons are raised and tactile, unlike many more expensive phones. Reception is not great, but what do you want for $20?
Mine went through the washer and I just bought another for $20 and transferred the number.
That's
I'd rather have a free bottle in front of me than a pre-frontal lobotomy.
Lemmings are silly; dinosaurs are extinct.
I will *NOT* buy a cell phone that is *not* a flip phone.
a) I don't want my keys to dial Moldavia in the FSSU;
b) No, I do *not* want to remember and punch in an unlocking code, when I
just heard the damn thing ring, and
c) I want a microphone near my mouth; I do *not* care to "impress" everyone
within 30 feet with my Important or K00l conversation.
On the other hand, what *MORON* 23-yr-old marketdroid (like Stefe from userfriendly) wants to read email or surf the Web on a 1.5"x2" screen?
mark "a plane vanilla flip phone, please. And Mr. Scot, please beam
us up - there's NO intellegent life here."
mark
Ever since the screen on my cell phone died, I'm basically carrying around a portable rotary phone. No call display, no SMS messaging, no address book.
Why haven't I replaced it yet? Waiting on Roger's and Apple to make love and bring the iPhone to Canada.
When I get my replacement, you can have mine.
"Evil will always triumph over good, because good is dumb." - Dark Helmet (Spaceballs)
It was tested on the Cingular/AT&T network, but was not added to the list of phones carried.
-D
I have an LG LX3300 from Verizon that is a phone, it does absolutely nothing else (and I hate it for that. Gettin' a Treo next week! YAAY!). Battery life for the first year was pretty good (I'm always on it for work and generally got 3-4 days on each charge). It's been going downhill for the last couple of months and I only get about two days usage on a charge, but that's still not too bad. You might be able to get one through their refurb program. If not, pretty much all of the phones that are given away for free from every providers aren't much better than normal phones. If she knows how to dial a phone, she'll be fine. She just won't go into the menu or anything, so she won't see the "extra" complexity.
Which is more painful? Going to work or gouging your eye out with a spoon? Find out!
http://www.workorspoon.com
If you want featureless then go with Nextel, I hate motorola at the best of times but their free phones don't even do what my last motorola phone did years ago.
You buy the phone for $30 and its yours to keep. The phone has no camera, or MP3. You prepay for minutes 10 cents per minute. Only buy what you need. No contracts at all. All you minutes roll over too. It's the cell phone for people who don't want a cell phone.
Please ! I'm a heavy cell user, and have to suffer with Verizon's crappy in house software. Who in god's name designed the caller ID on the outside screen in tiny type and black on deep maroon ? I have good vision and this is a rookie error. worse is that there is no better screen availabe. Oh, and it defaults to the menu to buy stuff, like tv (I don't have time to watch TV on a cell phone, thanks), or take pictures which I can download for .25 each, or RENT Pac Man for $5 per month ( $60 /yr to rent a phone game ??).
Let us not forget that this phone won't talk to an in Car Bluetooth system, because the relevant profiles are disabled by Verizon so you can't work around their media plans. Never Mind that you have removed a huge safety feature and really neat modern convenience.
No, but I get tons of glossy brochures every month encouraging me to down load lame pop music for $2.00 per song !!!!!!!!
Meanwhile, I have an iPod, a real digital camera, and a TV. I would like the phone to pay more attention to MY needs than to be a constant sales pitch for trash outside the mission of business calling.
On the other hand,I did get a Verizon phone for my in-laws, with none of this crap and a big clear black and white display. the sales person said it was "the old persons's phone" and "we get a lot of requests for this". It looked like my regular cell phone from 2 gen ago in cheaper plastic. I'd have bought it for ME except it didn't do Bluetooth headset. I always love how options are parcelled out by corporate america.
I can't ditch Verizon, as they began setting up cells as Bell Tel, and the coverage in my area is way better than anyone else....
Not sure if it's already been posted, neither do I know if it's available in the US, but I just saw this on the BBC News website and thought it might be of interest: Firms snub 'mobile for elderly'
The Motorola C139 is a as bare-bones phone as you can get, pretty close to the Motorola F3 in your link.
l l-phone-details/?device=Motorola+C139+-+GoPhone%C2 %AE+(Pay+As+You+Go)+&q_sku=sku40012
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/ce
This phone is only $20 after $20 mail-in rebate (att wireless online only instant discount of $100 also) if you buy it online. Also it can be used with a standard gsm plan if you wanted to convert from gophone.
The old SAE gross HP rating was taken at the flywheel, but with no accessories driven by the engine, and with n optimized exhaust system. This meant that things like the water pump were driven by a separate electric motor - there was no alternator, power steering pump, or a/c compressor on the engine during the test. The optimized exhaust system was usually a set of aftermarket headers designed to wring out far more power than you'd get with the stock exhaust actually used on the car.
The SAE net HP rating is taken at the flywheel with all of the accessories installed, and with the same exhaust system in place as would be used if the engine was installed in the car.
The difference between the two ways of rating the HP yielded vastly different numbers - with the old SAE gross HP rating basically being a lie, and the SAE net HP being much more similar to the HP you could expect from the actual engine in the car.
Putting moderation advice in your
I'd say odds are that her phone just sucks and has little to do with service area.
Years ago,I had an old Audiovox phone. It worked great, and I could pick up a tower and make/receive calls from inside my house (located in a remote rural area). After the Audiovox became unusable due to a broken charger connector, I was forced to "upgeade" to a Motorola phone with all the kiddy bubble-gum-and-trendy-athletic-shoes "features." I then had to go outside in the yard to make/receive calls. Sometime later, I was forced to make another phone "upgrade." I now have to drive two miles down the road to a hilltop to make/receive calls.
Location has less to do with function than does the phone itself--which with each "improvement" gets worse at doing what a phone is supposed to do: make and receive calls.
Ignorance is curable, stupid is forever.
You can buy them from Carmen Sandiego.
--
Are Your friends Dr.'s from the Middle East?
There's usually a free low-end phone on the Virgin Mobile website, so you save even more. As for the rates, the lowest (retail) contract plans in the US are usually something like 450/minutes for $39.99. Even at 18 cents/min, that's 222 minutes a month, which for a person that just wants to talk, is probably more than enough. The biggest limitation to the pre-paid phones is that their reception drops off rapidly as you leave metro areas.
Take a look at Trac Phone. It about as simple as you can get. Walmart carries them.
I had an old Nokia PCS phone, and now a GSM Nokia 3220, both bars. ...it does have a web browser, but it uses WAP, which is like a kick in the face even on a full sized screen.
a) I lock my keys and they've never come unlocked in a decade.
b) The unlock code on both is "[Enter], #". When it rings, I just press the answer or enter buttons though.
c) Impress? It takes some getting used to, but you just pretend there's a mic there and speak normally, and it works fine - even with a quiet voice. Somehow they don't pick up much ambient noise.
My first cel phone was a Motorola StarTAC flip phone and while it got burning hot while using it due to its silly thinness, I have to say it wasn't as flimsy as it felt - the cables in the hinge never wore out after years of use, and I even dropped it from a moving bicycle and it just bounced.
Whichever you pick is fine either way, but I'm afraid those three sticking points don't really apply, at least on Nokias...
I'm using STI Mobile, Plan #1. Its 10 cents a minute 24/7, no long distance or roaming charges. Uses the Sprint back bone. It only costs $3.00 a month. Minutes don't expire as long as you use the phone once every 60 days. The phone I'm using is the LG 5225 (They also have other phones). They have other plans and options but this one suites me just fine. I get by on about $12 a month. Vin
If you live near Chicago youcan go on DEVON street (Nort side of Chicago) Devon & Western, there are many small indain stores that sell unlocked quad band phones. I did by few phones from there and I use them without any problem inEurope with prepaid SIM cards. When I am in the USA (most of the time) I am a T-Mobile customer, I simply use the SIM card provided from them, but not the phone. I am on month to month, because my contract with them expired. I can confirm that SIM card from T-Moblie will work in a adecuate(with the frequency for USA) phone.
Simple phone with bluetooth, good reception and decent battery life. Really cheap too. Offered by Sprint.
I have one and I love it. I was really wary about replacing my 5 year-old Touchpoint 1100, but after the hinge broke, I was forced to. I tried out the LX 150, and was really impressed with the responsiveness of the interface and the reception.
Check out the reviews here.
Man is the animal that laughs.
And occasionally whores for Karma.
on a verizon network - phone only - roughly 4 hours talk time from full charge
He wants JUST a Cell Phone. They have stuff other than phones at ALL the Cell Phone Stores around here, the greedy corporate bastards.
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
.... because they don't have GPS. I tried to swap my LG-VX1 for an LG-VX10 I got from my mother, and they wouldn't let me because it doesn't have e-911/GPS (where your phone can give its location to a 911 operator).
diary here - iirc, it was earlier that summer (2005) that the ruling came down from the FCC.
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
www.teslabox.com
I got this for free with my T-Mobile contract. It's just a phone. No cameras, no bluetooth, no web browsing. Just a phone.
I have the basic handset from http://www.betterworldwireless.com/ , a pay as you go cell phone company. Whenever folks are showing off their new super slim fancy all-in-one camera-phone-tv-music-sink phones, I pull this sucker out and smile as they recoil in horror. It's about 6" long and an 1" thick and 1.5" wide approximately (a small brick), isn't too heavy, has good battery life, a green and black primitive screen that just does text and a few small icons. It looks like it's from 1984 too. It's a good one for tech-challenged rents, or people who need a phone that can take a beating from farm animals.
My 2nd Razr broke and I needed a phone in a pinch, without having to affect my contract or buying a new phone for a few hundred.
The C139 is a $30 "Go phone". My sim chip came out of my AT&T/Cingular phone and went right into the C139.
It's featureless, lacking camera, internet, speakerphone or bluetooth. But the call quality is very good, fits in my hand well and the very long battery life makes it worthwhile. I am surprised to say that I actually like this thing a lot!
I'm going to stick with this one for a while. Here's a tip: To "lock" the keypad, I had to search pretty hard in the manual. You press the menu-key once (key in the middle of the arrow keys) and then "*", in the lower left-hand corner. This will prevent pocket-dialing.
get a $99 Go Phone from AT&T (cingluar) FFS. OK it might have a little crappy camera in it, but you CAN ignore it.
Sorry, but I'm too lazy to search through four pages of answers to check if this one has been said.
Work gave me a Motorola W315 from Alltel. No camera, clamshell, functional speaker phone, fairly basic. Don't turn on SMS or internet access in the plan, and it really just makes calls. In my area, it has never dropped or missed a call, and the reception has always been excellent. $135 on their website. $0.99 with a 2-year contract.
Probably has a few more buttons than you'd care for, but it doesn't make you use them. I also lock the outside buttons because I got tired of accidentally setting it to vibrate. They also fill up the first 6-ish slots of your contacts with Alltel #'s.
This sig was generated randomly by one million monkeys with Speak 'n Spells. . .
Target? WalMart?
Virgin Mobile has several phones that are just phones, no internet, camera, or mp3 player.
Mine costs me a little over $5/mo.
I'm suprised no one has mentioned this yet, but try Consumer Cellular http://www.consumercellular.com/. They give you a free phone (with $30 activation) with no contracts. I have been using their Emergency ("No-minutes") plan for years now. It costs $10 a month and any minutes you do use are 25c per minute anywhere in the US. Perfect for those who want just a phone and don't use it a lot.
Such as the Nokia 6030, which is what I carry.
UNLESS, easy readability, in which case I don't know what to tell you, probably a basic flip (I've seen larger text there).
But the phone that I carry is the 6030, and it does calls and that's about it. Of course, every phone has an address book, clock, and dayplanner capabilities (or I haven't seen one that doesn't that has been built in the past three years), so those are there, but I really only use mine for the alarm clock other than for making telephone calls.
Here's a Nokia link http://www.nokiausa.com/link?cid=EDITORIAL_185113
It does work on GSM/GPRS 850/1900 MHz so that should be sufficient to get you on most major networks, no?
Best of luck!
2^3 * 31 * 647
You need a few cents to make a pay phone call to activate it. They ask for a landline phone number, but you can just make something up. (The phone number of the pay phone in front of you will do nicely.) They also ask for a zip code, which is to assign an area code. If you want a phone number in a certain city, just look up a zip code there.
I use Net-10 a lot ($40 for the phone and 300 minutes of service; $0.10/minute after that), but I don't imagine the others are terribly different. Mostly the phones are a few dollars cheaper and they ding you harder when you buy airtime in small increments.
The instructions say that you should charge it for a few hours before activating it, but I've always found that the battery has enough to activate it immediately.
You can get a just-a-phone phone at Walmart for $20... It's the Motorola C139 (or something like that) branded as a Cingular "Go Phone". Buy the phone, then go into a Cingular store and sign up for your preferred service plan. Take the free phone that they give you, and then move the SIM into the C139. Give the C139 to whomever wants just a phone, and keep the Free phone for yourself!
Tmobile does similar things too... although it won't work with CDMA carriers like Verizon and Sprint.
-jX
Don't you just love politics? It's like a comedy of errors.
"I would gladly give up the MP3 and radio and camera if they would just let me make the font 12 pts instead of 8."
So you want the braille phone?
My problem is that I want a phone carrier that doesn't suck. I've had Sprint, Nextel, Verizon, Cingular (now the new AT&T), Alltel, T-Mobile, and some little local companies and they've all pretty much sucked. I worked for Cingular long enough to learn that it wasn't my imagination that they sucked. And now Vonage won't let me re-subscribe, with my same $200 phone or other $100 phone, after unsubscribing for six months - meaning that Vonage is very close to going on my hate list now.
:(
Is there such a thing as an honest carrier that doesn't try to unfairly lock you in, screw with your bills, give you the run-around, or over charge you? Sadly, I think not.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
Remember those guys who were pulled over in a van in Michigan with 50-something non-activated prepaid cell phones in the back and were arrested under suspicion of being terrorists, etc.? They were Tracphones, one article mentioned, and that they are popular with terrorists because you don't need to identify yourself in order to buy or activate one. I went right out and paid $20 cash for one a couple days later at Target, and it's true!
Nobody at Tracphone or Target knows or cares who I am or where I live. I've added time and minutes since then the same way; the cards are for sale at CVS. For a frequent cell phone user, it would be a more expensive way to go, but for someone who loves privacy, hates being on mailing lists, and uses a cell phone infrequently, it works out just fine. The annual cost is definitely much less than any $39.99/mo plan.
Of course, if you buy the phone on their site, they will have your name, credit card, and shipping address!
Actually, I went to their website, looked it up and found the rates are even better than I thought they were.
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.
The lessons of history teach us - if they teach us anything - that nobody learns the lessons that history teaches us.
Just go to net10.com. The are 10 cents a minute w/o any renewal fee.
It's the original, no need to train her, she will know exactly how it works but it's a cell phone to! http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php? products_id=287