I hate cell phones and have never had one. But I really need one for calls made when traveling, since I often stay in youth hostels with no land line available to borrow.
But I only travel every couple of months. Other than that, a phone would be nice to take on my bike rides to call my wife to get me if I have a flat. Really don’t care anything about web-surfing on the phone, since I carry a laptop with me on trips.
I thought there was a phone like a TracFone where I could just buy a prepaid card that was good until I used the minutes up. At Wal-Mart today the clerk told me $15 a month was the cheapest I could get service. Thus I might be paying $15 for something I never used during the month.
Is there any phone I could buy that just lets me load it with minutes that do not expire at the end of each month? The purchase price of the phone doesn’t bother me as much as the monthly fee.
They still make flip phones that are made for someone like you. I have a friend who has been on TracFone forever. He always brags how cheap it is. I just looked up Tracfone on walmart.com. I think the lady you talked to wasn’t being forthright with you. I would read that website and even print up there prices and walk into walmart and talk to someone else.
I have a 2nd/emergency phone that has minimal use, so this may apply to your situation.
I chose to go with Tello (T-Mobile) because you can customize your minutes and data, and if you ever need more, you can buy it
So I chose a minimal plan of 100 minutes of talk, 1 GB of data per month, which costs me $6/month.
And – if you manually renew your plan online before it is due to renew – Tello will roll over your minutes and data! They have a small checkbox when you renew to email you 48 hours before the next renewal. I also put it on my calendar. So, with my minimal plan, I have accrued a pretty good chunk of minutes and data, if I should need it.
Note - if you need more data/minutes, you end up buying a new plan at that point (even if it’s not renewal time). I don’t think they credit from the old plan, but my cost is so low that I don’t worry about it. Plus the manual-renewal rollover feature more than makes up for any possible loss of credit. Some people may be upset if they don’t get credit if they change plans out of sync with their renewal, but my view is that it’s the price of Tello’s flexibility, which I don’t see at other carriers. And it may be that other carriers don’t give credit either if you change plans. To the point – Tello is flexible - you’re not locked in. And, you can roll over your unused minutes/data!
I do occasionally use the Tello phone just to keep track that it’s working ok, since it’s not my primary phone.
Consider using the phone plan finder on clark.com. There are plans that proved talk and text for $5-8/month when prepaying for 12 months.
The plans generally offer cheap flip phones. You can also find very cheap new or used/renewed flip phones on amazon,ebay etc.
Still don’t understand. People keep telling me about “burner phones” where you buy a prepaid card and used it until it runs out, then recharge. I can’t find these phones. The Tracfones at Wal-Mart have a monthly fee.
When I use the Clark Howard phone finder, they all have a monthly fee of at least $9 plus taxes a month.
Suppose I go with Tello. How do I know which phone to buy to work with their plan?
Maybe buy a Tracfone flip phone on HSN or QVC,using the the first time buyer discount.I bought the Nokia 2760,which works fine.Then use up the 1200 minutes,which comes with a 1 year account.If you don’t use much,maybe you will get a full year.After using up the minutes,sign up for a $5-$8 monthly,talk and text plan at one of the providers mentioned by Clark.I’m nearing the end of my 1200 minutes.Might try Liberty Wireless,for $5 a month,but the reviews aren’t great.
This is so complicated. Tello’s phones for sale seem very expensive. I looked on ConsumerReports.org for cheap cell phone recommendations. There is a Samsung Galaxy S9 for $130. But I cannot figure out if it would work with Tello.
Depressing is the fact that there are no printed instructions included anymore with new cell phones.
I agree with jrj. I have used Tracfones from QVC and HSN for >12 years and pay NO MONTHLY BILL with a new fone every year. Usually less than $60. I recommend MOTO G PLAY 2024 model (not 2023) - you may have to wait for a bargain since they move the price up and down a lot.
Thanks. I went to their website and it asks for my phone number. I don’t have a cell phone. How do I know what phones will work with their plan, and how do I get a phone number?
I am as tech savvy as a rock. Target sells the refills for page plus. I would go ask one of their people in electronics how to proceed. I did that , they took a few minutes and had me set up, I also bought the cheap phone they had they worked with Page Plus.
The way things are going, in the near future, and now, you will have to have a cell phone. Lots of rebates are going to scan a bar code to get the rebate. . Plus everyone (doctors and businesses) now sends you text messages about stuff, assuming you have a cell that will get those texts.
Yes, I had to leave several sit-down restaurants in Sydney Australia because the only way to order food and pay for it was by phone.
I have a pager that receives texts, but really need to talk to patients when they page me. Patients really cannot describe too much in a text.
When the history of Homo sapiens is finally written, the invention of the smart phone will be a key factor in our specie’s downfall. It is literally a Mobile Addiction Delivery Device, as well as a shield against real face-to-face conversations. It is also one of the biggest drags on worker productivity. The social destruction the MADD has brought cannot be overestimated.
That being said, I need one for VERY infrequent use when traveling, as well as for emergencies.
Sure. There are prepaid phones where you buy a SIM card and it has preloaded minutes on it. You can get a cheap phone easily. It doesn’t have to be a Smart phone, even an older model smart phone isn’t expensive. Just make sure the phone works on Foreign systems if you travel.