Jerico Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 What happened to going into verizon and getting a cheap phone every 2 years? Even a basic flip phone is $50+ Will basic phones be phased out soon anyways? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Why would basic phones be phased out? I have a mega cheap prepaid phone. I think the service plans are outrageously expensive. So that's what is keeping me from buying any of that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 In the past the cost of the cheap or free phones was just hidden in the cost of the contract. You can still do that, but they're upfront about the cost; e.g. you can get one of the $50 phones from Verizon with no upfront cost, but they add $2-3 to your monthly bill for the next 24 months, then you can get another "free" phone and keep paying the additional $2-3/month. Verizon does have a cheaper phone ($30) you can buy upfront, and other providers (like Virgin) have some in the $15-20 range. StraightTalk has refurb'd smart phones as low as $20. My kids have Moto phones with Republic Wireless; they cost about $130 upfront, but we only pay about $12/month for their plans, so if you spread the cost of the phone over two years, it still only comes out to $18/month. I'd much rather do that than get a "free" phone but be locked into a 2-yr contract that basically has me paying for the phone over time. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 What I hate about cell phones is that I can't get any service most of the places I go except from Verizon, but they are twice as expensive as the rest and even their service is up and down. I am paying a lot for rather poor service. That is what I hate. So much. What I like is, I can get a wifi hot spot most places. Sometimes that is really important. And I love love love the maps function. And I guess it is nice to be able to make calls wherever. And I'm taking a lot more pictures now. But I hate paying so much for the poor service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz CA Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 I don't know much about cell phones but it does seem to me that older phones have more trouble now in the world of smartphones. I have an older LG - not even flip phone, and it has trouble when a group text comes through. I am upgrading to Republic Wireless and their most basic smartphone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 I don't know much about cell phones but it does seem to me that older phones have more trouble now in the world of smartphones. I have an older LG - not even flip phone, and it has trouble when a group text comes through. I am upgrading to Republic Wireless and their most basic smartphone. Oh gawd I'd never text on my phone. That would be painfully annoying. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 I don't know much about cell phones but it does seem to me that older phones have more trouble now in the world of smartphones. I have an older LG - not even flip phone, and it has trouble when a group text comes through. I am upgrading to Republic Wireless and their most basic smartphone. lol me too, and heaven forbid someone tries to text me a video!! I use wifi with my tablet at home for almost everything now, including the abundant texting I do with DH and my mom, and I'm strongly considering getting a mobile hotspot for the car. I wouldn't need my cell at all then, except in case of an emergency. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 (edited) I paid $25 for my Nokia Lumina which is a smartphone; prepaid, no plan. Why would I want a dumber phone that costs 50 bucks? And who in their right mind would pay this much if you can buy a simple basic phone on amazon for under $10? Edited December 23, 2015 by regentrude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 There are flip phones at the prepaid phones aisle at Target electronics department. I didn't take a look at Verizon's offerings since I am on AT&T prepaid. Oh gawd I'd never text on my phone. That would be painfully annoying. My kids teachers text or email me because I am usually at the library which means I won't answer the call. My phone also have all my bills reminder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 I paid $25 for my Nokia Lumina which is a smartphone; prepaid, no plan. The Lumia is good as a GPS too using here now offline without needing a SIM card. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerico Posted December 24, 2015 Author Share Posted December 24, 2015 -i guess i never noticed that the "free" option was a few more dollars a month. -i could get a smart phone for super cheap but say it breaks or i need a new one then i end up paying full price for a new smart phone, plus the monthly data. -i'd prefer to not have a phone haha -the cheapest option online at verizon is $50 for a flip open phone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuvToRead Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 Have you looked on Amazon for a phone? I have bought several new unlocked phones from Amazon. I usually spend more than $50, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirstenhill Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 -i guess i never noticed that the "free" option was a few more dollars a month. -i could get a smart phone for super cheap but say it breaks or i need a new one then i end up paying full price for a new smart phone, plus the monthly data. -i'd prefer to not have a phone haha -the cheapest option online at verizon is $50 for a flip open phone. Also check Craigslist. We've had very good luck in the past buying lightly used phones from people who are upgrading or didn't like the phone they purchased and want to try something new. It was much cheaper than buying new! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjzimmer1 Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 What I hate about cell phones is that I can't get any service most of the places I go except from Verizon, but they are twice as expensive as the rest and even their service is up and down. I am paying a lot for rather poor service. That is what I hate. So much. What I like is, I can get a wifi hot spot most places. Sometimes that is really important. And I love love love the maps function. And I guess it is nice to be able to make calls wherever. And I'm taking a lot more pictures now. But I hate paying so much for the poor service. I would look into a prepaid seller that uses verizon lines. I use page plus but there are a few others. You get the coverage of verizon without paying verizon prices. We actually just bought a NET10 phone for $20 at Walmart and activated it on Page Plus Cellular. So we have a smartphone for $20 with a monthly fee of 50 cents and then we only pay for what we use each month. (We don't have a data plan but with free wi-fi we have not found a need to pay for that service) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 I paid $25 for my Nokia Lumina which is a smartphone; prepaid, no plan. Why would I want a dumber phone that costs 50 bucks? And who in their right mind would pay this much if you can buy a simple basic phone on amazon for under $10? Yep. Mine was $10. It really is zero frills, but I use the phone maybe 2x a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlsdMama Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 What happened to going into verizon and getting a cheap phone every 2 years? Even a basic flip phone is $50+ Will basic phones be phased out soon anyways? Dumb phones are more expensive at ATT than smart phones, except instore. You can pick one up for $15 (no contract) but they take some adjustment - like they feel like a toy and you have to talk DIRECTLY into the phone or no one can hear you. OTOH, often with a 2 year contract, the phones are totally free. US Cellular has the LG G4 and the iPhone 5s for $0.01 this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 I have a phone that is pretty dumb now, it is a Nokia Asha 302 Messaging device. It has WiFi and Bluetooth and other things I don't use. Before that, I had totally dumb phones. My wife and I went into the office of the largest provider here, about 3 or 4 weeks ago. She was interested in a Huawei Smart phone, because she and DD had been with a friend in Bogota and the friend used her Huawei Smart phone as a WiFi hot spot and provided Internet access to the laptop my wife and DD had taken on the trip. We would really like to have alternate access to the Internet, if our ADSL goes down, but no other provider has infrastructure in our huge rural subdivision at this time... When we got the information on the "Unlimited" plans, they were very Limited, with regard to "Data". So, my wife doesn't have a new Huawei or Samsung Smart phone and she is using a dumb phone, and a Samsung SMART phone that she installed "WhatsApp" on 12 months ago and it stopped working as a phone at that time. It works for everything except voice calls and SMS messages now... The IMEI number was changed, when she installed "WhatsApp" We had "Post Paid" plans for many years, with the 2nd largest provider here. So, yes, we got new phones inexpensively or free, but we paid through the nose for that. Every year, they increased the amount of minutes we could use (we used a tiny fraction of that) and they increased our monthly fees accordingly. Then, my Sony Ericcson Walkman got the "White Screen of Death". I took it to their office, where they'd always had service technicians on the 2nd floor, and they told me there wasn't service anywhere in the city of Cali and that they had to send it to Bogota for service. Fine. Then, they told me it could not be fixed. During that time, I'd read up about the "White Screen of Death" and knew it was a very common issue. I paid for the service, got my phone back, and I got new Firmware for it on the web for about USD$8, and it worked for a number of years after that, without any issues... Since my contract was going to expire, in another month, I cancelled my contract. When I tried to cancel, that was the ONLY time they had interest in me... There was severe pressure not to cancel the contract. When my wife's contract expired, we cancelled her contract and again got that pressure not to cancel. We have saved a huge amount of money, since switching to prepaid cell phone service. DD has a Samsung Android and all 3 of us are Prepaid users now. If you get an "Unblocked" GSM phone, you can switch carriers, as long as the new carrier uses the same GSM bands that are in the phone. Another reason I would like to have a "Data" plan is that the Used laptop I received 7 days ago has a WWAN card (Cellular Broadband) in it. But, again, the "Data" plans here are extremely expensive, or very limited in the amount of data one can transfer. The 2nd largest provider here has a tower about one block (via air) from our house (our Homeowners Association voted to approve a contract permitting them to have the tower on our property and they pay the H.A. every month, which helps the budget of the H.A.) and the largest provider has one about 1/2 mile from our house. There is another, much smaller provider, but I'm not sure where their nearest tower is now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grantmom Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 I think I am paying way too much but just haven't taken the time to research better ways. We are stuck with Verizon because of DH's job, but I didn't know that there were carriers that use Verizon lines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in NH Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 (edited) We use tracfone on Verizon lines. Dsl just upgraded to a very nice refurbished galaxy s5. Service runs us $100 per phone per year including calling, text, & data. Edited December 24, 2015 by Amy in NH 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grantmom Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 That is really cheap! What a great deal that is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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