Help me. I'm 62 years old. I've proudly lived my entire life without a cell phone. Unfortunately I just started a new job and i have to do some work travel. So I need a phone. All I want to do is call and text, and I don't want to do much of that. So what do I get? What is a burner phone. Locked? Unlocked? What? Thanks.
I need a phone ...
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Sonim XP5 | Verizon
Sonim XP5 is a rugged, reliable phone, tested against dust, water and drops. Stay connected on 4G LTE, Wi-Fi or Push to Talk Plus. Get it today at Verizon
That's what I use. It calls. It texts. No apps. No browser. Basic.
I like it. has something like a 20 day battery life. its a brick and damned near indestructible.
There are two versions, and one has wi-fi calling; get the wi-fi calling.
texting takes a little bit to get used to because its T9. so you're mashing numbers to spell out words. I don't mind it. keeps texts short.
Since you have no phone, I am assuming you don't have a phone plan. Straight Talk is the cheapest and their products are available at wally world. You get what you pay for.
Do you have a person who can be your tech support? All phones have problems that are maddening if you are unfamiliar with how dumb phones can be. If you do not have have a reliable tech support, buy a plan from a store that exists where you live and where you plan on traveling. They are staffed with people trained to help you with your problems.
I like Verizon despite them being expensive. My local store has a number of phones that I could see what I wanted. If you want to dabble in smart phone, as much as I like Android phones, I think Iphones are simpler for the inexperienced. My FIL, ~70 years old, has a Kyocera DuraXV flip phone and he uses it for your exact purpose.
I would recommend getting an "unlocked" phone. That means it's not tied to any particular carrier, and you can switch cell phone companies without needing to buy a new phone. You just switch out the sim card.
One thing to note is that Verizon uses a cellular technology called CDMA, and the rest of the carriers use GSM.
Most phones have one or the other radio chip in them. This limits which carrier you can use.
Some phone are able to work on either network. I like to buy phones which support both. That way I can switch to any carrier of my choice.
Do NOT buy your phone at one of the carrier stores and finance it. They will charge you through the nose!
Buy an unlocked phone on Amazon or through the manufacturer, and then just get the sim card from the carrier.
Motorola makes some great inexpensive phones that operate on both technologies.
I never pay more than $200 for my phone.
I've been using Cricket for the past several years and have been very happy with their service. They operate on at&t towers.
One thing to note is that Verizon uses a cellular technology called CDMA, and the rest of the carriers use GSM.
Most phones have one or the other radio chip in them. This limits which carrier you can use.
Some phone are able to work on either network. I like to buy phones which support both. That way I can switch to any carrier of my choice.
Do NOT buy your phone at one of the carrier stores and finance it. They will charge you through the nose!
Buy an unlocked phone on Amazon or through the manufacturer, and then just get the sim card from the carrier.
Motorola makes some great inexpensive phones that operate on both technologies.
I never pay more than $200 for my phone.
I've been using Cricket for the past several years and have been very happy with their service. They operate on at&t towers.
Also...
Get a phone with a minimum of 128 GB of storage. They fill up fast.
Get a battery of at least 5000 mah. You don't want to be trying to charge it up all the time.
I also make sure the screen size is a minimum of 6.5"
The older we get, the harder the darn small screens are to read!
Get a phone with a minimum of 128 GB of storage. They fill up fast.
Get a battery of at least 5000 mah. You don't want to be trying to charge it up all the time.
I also make sure the screen size is a minimum of 6.5"
The older we get, the harder the darn small screens are to read!
Kimovil.com has a pretty good tool for rapidly searching cell phones based on memory/battery size/screen size/price/etc
Allows you to quickly pare down the number of phones to seriously look at to just a couple in a few minutes.
Allows you to quickly pare down the number of phones to seriously look at to just a couple in a few minutes.
I'll play devil's advocate....here are several reasons:
For not a lot more money, you can get a lot more phone! These will be phones that you will be happy with for several years. They will operate on any carrier....CDMA or GSM
A couple of examples:
- its a cheap phone with a tiny screen and small battery. It will be hard to read and have to be charged every day.
- it has very little storage. It will rapidly fill the memory with only a few apps and photos.
- you are "locked" into using only their "tracphone" service. I'm not sure how good their coverage is. If you don't like their service, you have to buy ANOTHER phone to try someone else.
- you have to constantly "buy" more minutes and data. It's not like a monthly plan, where you get unlimited calling/text/data for a fixed price.
For not a lot more money, you can get a lot more phone! These will be phones that you will be happy with for several years. They will operate on any carrier....CDMA or GSM
A couple of examples:
A burner phone is slang for a cheap phone someone bought just for the purpose of harassing someone else with. It's something they can throw away to prevent getting caught. It's disposable, or you can "burn it" when you're done.
Look in to Straight Talk from Walmart. I pay $50 for my Motorola phones from them. They're bulletproof. I've been using Motorola phones since the '90's and I'm only on my fourth phone. Nice of them have ever failed, the cell network just changes and I have to get a compatible phone.
Straight Talk will give you unlimited talk and text for $10 or $15 a month, I'm don't remember exactly. For $35/mo you get unlimited data for Internet use on your phone. For $45/mo you get all the advice but add the ability to it use your phone as an Internet hotspot ( wifi basically). I do the $45/mo and use the hotspot to run my laptop. I don't pay for internet at home anymore.
Cell services are dirt cheap vs what they used to be. It was common to spend $125-150/month on phone service + another $100 or so for home internet. Doing it all for under $50/mo feels like I'm cheating the system 😁
Get a phone that's internet capable. It'll probably be another 20 bucks if any extra price at all. Just having the GPS and ability to look up a phone number on the fly is worth it. If you decide you hate it ( unlikely) just drop the data from your service plan.
Look in to Straight Talk from Walmart. I pay $50 for my Motorola phones from them. They're bulletproof. I've been using Motorola phones since the '90's and I'm only on my fourth phone. Nice of them have ever failed, the cell network just changes and I have to get a compatible phone.
Straight Talk will give you unlimited talk and text for $10 or $15 a month, I'm don't remember exactly. For $35/mo you get unlimited data for Internet use on your phone. For $45/mo you get all the advice but add the ability to it use your phone as an Internet hotspot ( wifi basically). I do the $45/mo and use the hotspot to run my laptop. I don't pay for internet at home anymore.
Cell services are dirt cheap vs what they used to be. It was common to spend $125-150/month on phone service + another $100 or so for home internet. Doing it all for under $50/mo feels like I'm cheating the system 😁
Get a phone that's internet capable. It'll probably be another 20 bucks if any extra price at all. Just having the GPS and ability to look up a phone number on the fly is worth it. If you decide you hate it ( unlikely) just drop the data from your service plan.
Moto G Power is what I have now. Battery life is so good I don't even carry a charger away from home anymore. Have a charging port on the bike for camping trips, but I haven't had a charger in the work truck for a couple years now.
The Power is kinda big due to the large battery though. The bigger screen makes GPS easy to glance at when driving/riding, but I kinda miss my smaller Moto G Play. The Power also demands a 3 amp charger. The screen is so big that the phone will die while charging if the screen is up ( eg; displaying gps on a long trip).
Walmart sells them for $80 when I bought mine a few months ago.
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Ps. For my area, Straight Talk's signal blows Verizon away. My phone works so much better now that I'm away from Verizon, and I pay a third of the price for the service. When you say for Verizon you pay for the multiple store locations and huge ad campaigns they run, you're not necessarily buying a better service. This will all depend on your exact area you intend to use the phone though.
Jitterbug
Give some thought to what Shinyribs said.
We don't know what your new job entails, but a "smartphone" (most people just call them "phones" today) is a powerful tool that can be useful for a wide variety of things. You don't have to use a bunch of apps (applications = programs) or anything complicated.
Just think of a phone as a small, portable computer, similar to the one you already use to access the internet. If you already use Apple products, an iPhone would make sense, but Android (Android is an operating system developed by Google) based phones (basically everything that isn't an iPhone) work fine. There's no need to buy the latest model, either. They're nice, but aren't cheap, and older phones once were the latest model.
At any point in purchasing whatever you select, if you feel overwhelmed or don't understand something, stop the process and ask for an explanation. In my experience, phone & phone plan salespeople may rush through the process or use jargon that gets in the way of understanding what it is you're buying. You wouldn't buy a car with a salesman zipping through the contract like that, and buying a phone is no different.
$25 for two months with Tracfone via Walmart. 500 minutes of talk, 5GB data, countless texts. All unused minutes, data, etc roll over every month. I would also suggest an Android, IMO they are much easier to learn and operate.
PS: I just got an Iphone and hate it.
PS: I just got an Iphone and hate it.
Black Friday is coming up so I'd suggest you pick-up a brand phone like the Samsung A20 or A13 etc. You think you don't want "all those bells and whistles" now but there are some very handy ones out there. Which plan you get is a mystery to me as I don't live on that side of the pond but when I travel there I just grab a Trac-Phone package and have at it. Most businesses have Free Wi-Fi and I take advantage of that.
One thing I NEVER do on my phone is any banking or buying unless I KNOW who I'm dealing with and am at home! NEVER NEVER over someone else's Wi-Fi system.
This ain't some scary stuff like going into a sharp turn at 80MpH that jumped out of nowhere it's just new tech that you learn to use and you only need to learn what you NEED to learn. We'll never learn it all we got into the game too late and it doesn't fit into our existing positronic pathways.
One thing I NEVER do on my phone is any banking or buying unless I KNOW who I'm dealing with and am at home! NEVER NEVER over someone else's Wi-Fi system.
This ain't some scary stuff like going into a sharp turn at 80MpH that jumped out of nowhere it's just new tech that you learn to use and you only need to learn what you NEED to learn. We'll never learn it all we got into the game too late and it doesn't fit into our existing positronic pathways.
Let's do the Internet thing where you get 20 different opposing answers for a simple question.
Get the latest Iphone on a subscription, including insurance, and unlimited data and phone calls. Choose a provider with great cell coverage. You'll pay few dollars per day. But you'll have a very powerful phone with great user interface, that will be powerful enough for anything you ask it to do. When your subscription runs out get a new Iphone. All your data transfers seamlessly to your new phone and your grandkids will fight each other for your old phone.
Get the latest Iphone on a subscription, including insurance, and unlimited data and phone calls. Choose a provider with great cell coverage. You'll pay few dollars per day. But you'll have a very powerful phone with great user interface, that will be powerful enough for anything you ask it to do. When your subscription runs out get a new Iphone. All your data transfers seamlessly to your new phone and your grandkids will fight each other for your old phone.
Yep, that's doing the Internet thing. Not only do you get 20 different answers, you also get someone who has to make comments about the answers that don't fit his view.
That's not what happened. What I said was accurate.
Correction: From this and other threads, I've concluded that we don't have anything further to discuss. Ignore List, engaged.
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Get the latest most inexpensive iPhone with T-Mobile. iPhones are the easiest and most intuitive phones to use if you never had a cellphone before. Since you’re over that “age”😜 you should get a good deal on service pricing as well… YMMV