best dumbphone?

GeorgeC

GeorgeC

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GeorgeC
I'm vaguely considering going prepaid for my voice service and getting a tablet+data plan for everything else. Do vendors still make bling-free candybar phones?
 
Most stores will carry a few .99 cent phones that do one thing. They arent sexy but get the job done.
 
TracFone et al. won't cut it as they are locked, I'm looking for unlocked gsm quadband.

I'm leaning towards a Nokia C2-01.5 or maybe even a Snapfon.
 
KeithASanford said:
Straight talk at Walmart utilizes the Verizon network. Very dependable.
Click to expand...

Only if you buy a phone labeled CDMA-V. The ones labeled CDMA-S use Sprint, and the GSM phones use AT&T (with T-Mo for voice and text roaming -- no data).

They have some dumb phones, some wanna-be BlackBerry-like phones that (I think) can also do mail and basic Web, and Androids.

-Rich
 
You can probably get an older unlocked Nokia or Motorola razor type phone for dirt cheap on Ebay. Just stick a prepaid card in it.
 
I know it's not exactly a dumbphone, but I ended up with an unlocked Nokia E71 on straight talk for $45/month. Of course, I just learned that ptel has a $25/month plan... anyone use them?
 
Best dumb-phone I had was a Motorola Nextel before they got bought by Sprint. Water and bomb proof, mini-BNC antenna jack, external battery, more of a radio than a phone.
 
GeorgeC said:
I'm vaguely considering going prepaid for my voice service and getting a tablet+data plan for everything else. Do vendors still make bling-free candybar phones?
Click to expand...

T-Mobile does. $30
 
Yep, I got a cheapass GSM phone (ATT currently) sitting around here somewhere. I just wanted AT&T to set me up with another SIM to stick in my GSM Auto preheater switch (since I already have a family text plan). The phone was free anyhow.
 
Anyone need a straight talk mini sim and 1 month of unlimited service? PM me.

GeorgeC said:
I know it's not exactly a dumbphone, but I ended up with an unlocked Nokia E71 on straight talk for $45/month. Of course, I just learned that ptel has a $25/month plan... anyone use them?
Click to expand...
 
I ported my number to ptel before I activated the straight talk service.
 
pirep: I was able to use foreflight on the ipad to pull wx data and file flight plans via joikuspot light. Nice to have in a pinch if there's no fbo wireless.
 
I had a phone on a plan where I didn't pay anything unless I called on or answered the thing. So I didn't answer it. Pretty flaky actually, I finally broke down and got a smartphone. I don't' have a lot of other gadgets, though.
 
ptel.com went tango uniform dot com, but on the bright side, I now have similar unlimited service from http://ultra.me/ for $19/mo.
 
You don't need to downgrade your phone to go pre-paid voice. Just go get a sim card from whichever pre-paid service you want, and activate it. We have 4 iphones (3 from ebay and 1 hand me down from wife's boss) all on pre-paid service with AT&T. Wi-fi is ubiquitous enough we get along fine w/o data, and still have the smartphone capability.
 
Motorola F3, insane battery life, tough as nails (you tube vids of folks dropping them out of windows and running them over), electronic paper display, very loud and good reception, also very light and thin...and about $50 free and clear.


F3_01.bmp


http://www.electronicsforce.com/motorola-motofone-f3-gsm-unlocked-p-55484.html

As for prepaid, I have a iPhone 6S on H2O wireless (GSM LTE off ATTs network) pre paid, great deal, but it does have 3ish Gb data, intl calling and texting, unlimited talk and text, 60mo OTD

They also have some very low prices for just talk and text.
 
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A friend ran over to Consumer Cellular. Practically cut his monthly in half. Mine would be about the same. I would have to find a way to unlock my two Verizon phones first.
 
Coverage for the E71 was getting spotty, so I picked up an unlocked Blackberry Q10. Pretty nice.
 
weilke said:
Best dumb-phone I had was a Motorola Nextel before they got bought by Sprint. Water and bomb proof, mini-BNC antenna jack, external battery, more of a radio than a phone.
Click to expand...
We had a ton of them at the dealership at one time, the radio was great, the phone was so so at best. I had mine for 2 days and gave it to an employee, I hated the phone part.
 
I just went Total Wireless and dumped Verizon. No change in service at all. $120/mo back in my pocket.
 
GeorgeC said:
I'm vaguely considering going prepaid for my voice service and getting a tablet+data plan for everything else. Do vendors still make bling-free candybar phones?
Click to expand...
You can use a smartphone as a dumb phone, that is what I do. I have a voice-only SIM in it and just use wifi for everything else.
 
Gotta love the necrothreads!!

Anyway, I've been on AT&T pre-paid for years. My cost was maybe $200/yr at most. Typically lower. Since I'm out of the US most of the time, I really didn't see the need for paying a monthly fee. AT&T is turning off their 2G network this week, so I finally broke down and bought another phone for $26 on Amazon. Unfortunately, AT&T is probably going to lose my business because of this. I totally understand them turning off old technology. I even understand the countless robo-calls I got from them telling me about this. What really pi$$ed me off was them making me listen to that stupid message every single time I called out.

Think I'm going to buy the iPhone 8 when it comes out and switch to T-Mobile.
 
N747JB said:
We had a ton of them at the dealership at one time, the radio was great, the phone was so so at best. I had mine for 2 days and gave it to an employee, I hated the phone part.
Click to expand...

The IDEN network was on iirc 800mhz. I had good reception 37 miles from their last tower, unfortunately my office was 38 miles from the tower.....
 
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