Here's what you need to know about the switchoff.
*****
If you're like me and can count the number of calls you made last year on one hand but still like to keep a phone around for your truck in case you break down, go to Walmart. You can get a Straight Talk smart phone for under a hundred bucks and a plan for 35 bucks a month.
Walmart is a full service place. You can even buy with cash a Walmart pre-paid credit card.
ReplyDeleteJust saying
We switched to the Google Fi phone network ourselves... Phones were free or close if you did not want/need the newest ones and for a family of 4 it lists for $80/month plus some taxes, but sub $100/month... Just assuming that Google of course will be tracking you per usual, but that seems to be a common "feature" of the smartphones...
ReplyDeleteYeah, I keep a flip phone in the truck for that reason, too. If you have a Dollar Store close by,
ReplyDeletecheck out their Trac phone service. Forty bucks for the phone, 20 a month for service.
Who doesn't have a Dollar General nearby? My town has 5000 souls and 3 Dollar Generals.
DeleteMy grandmother died in the Long Island house my grandfather bought in 1938... for $3k. In that house was the still-operational, still-used phone that was installed in that house... in 1938. Funny; I and everyone before me grew up in a time when we used everything until it fell apart, re-used parts of those things to repair others, and repurposed almost everything. Somehow though, according the young, particularly a certain snot-faced, elitist-bred, mentally ill, internationally televised teenager, my generation ruined the world... I have two words for them... and one finger...
ReplyDeletePatriot mobile. I pay $60 a month for two phones. Wifey has the smart thingy and I have a NUU flip phone. (I do not work for the company).
ReplyDeleteI'm skipping 5G like the death jabs. 5G is FJB.
ReplyDeleteSafety issues are suppressed.
If your phone could make you sick, would you keep using it?
Learn to live without a phone.
I got a flipper from TracPhone. It costs $19.99 at Walmart and it costs $19.99 for 3 months. I might make 4 or 5 calls in that time. Don't know how to "Text" and don't want to know how to "Text". I tell people I have 3 ways of communicating to someone that they're an asshole. First option-face to face. Second- I'll use my 60 year old rotary wall phone. and if that fails I write it in long-hand on a sheet of paper, put a stamp on the envelope and let the USPS do their job.
ReplyDeleteBeen using a TracFone for about 10 years and it costs about $100 a year to almost never use it. You can buy a Samsung TracFone on QVC or HSN almost all the time for about $100 and it comes with 1500 mins, 1500 txts and a whole bunch of data, can't remember how much cause I just never use the thing. Like you Ken, I like to keep it around in case my wife needs me of my ride breaks down. As of this moment I don't remember the last time I used my phone, maybe a month os so ago to phone in my VA meds prescription. My current Samsung was purchased just over 3 years ago and about 3 months ago I renewed the mins for around $100. You can always check your balance online or on the phone. I'll never again have a subscription cellphone as long as TracFone is available. Now, it you LIVE on your phone like all the zombies running around out there then the TracFone might not be for you.
ReplyDeleteAnd with tracfone when your time runs out you don’t lose your minutes. When you refill it you get all your unused minutes back along with the newly purchased ones. I also rarely use it so have thousands of minutes available. Only take it when leaving the house. Also put it in a faraday bag so they can’t track it!
Deletehttps://www.walmart.com/ip/Verizon-TCL-Flip-Pro-4GB-Black-Prepaid-Phone/386666274
ReplyDelete(Exact same phone at Verizon store was $80.00 + setup fee.)
As of February 2022, AT&T dropped 3G phone service. I had to upgrade to a flip 4G. Payed the extra amount of AT&T store purchase so they would not have the excuse of terminating my plan because of new phone.
ReplyDeleteThen as of December 2022, AT&T dropped the '10 cents a minute' pay as you go phone plan. New cost was over triple the amount and did not gain one bit of upgrade. So I flipped Ma Bell off and am going another way. Ma Bell can go out and touch some else - Nasty Girl !!!
You can also get a flip phone for as little as $49.00 with service for as little as $2.00 a month for 24 months from Consumer Cellular. I've used this service for years and have the flip phone as a back-up. Their rates are outstanding and you can switch between AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon depending on getting your best local coverage. $15.00 a month to add a line.
ReplyDeleteGo ahead. Ask me how I know.
_Karl
TracFone - the phone was 5 bucks and the annual fee is 222. And I hate the sorry bastard! I want my 3G flip phone back!
ReplyDeleteSee also: https://tello.com/
ReplyDeleteIf you want a no-data plan you can get away with $5/mo for 100 minutes talk and unlimited texts. I'm at $6 just to add 500* meg high-speed data ONLY because there are certain features on the smart phone that REQUIRE data to be active even if you are using them over a wi-fi connection that supplants your cell tower connection.
They also sell new and referb phones at decent prices if you haven't already upgraded your hardware.
*500 meg high-speed data. All Tello plans include unlimited low-speed data after your high-speed allotment runs out for the month. All prices are before .gov rapeage/fees.
An even less expensive option is Mint Mobile which is only $15/month (pre-paid annually) for 4GB of data. Mint uses the T-Mobile network so you'll need an unlocked GSM phone (or one that's tied to the T-Mobile network will work as well but I only use fully unlocked phones).
ReplyDeleteDamn. That's even better than Republic Wireless.
DeleteI just signed up with Mint. And I bought a refurb phone. Works fine business. it's cheap enough to keep the inner Scot quiet.
DeleteMy Nokia 206 continues to work even though 3G was turned off on my carrier. The phone isn't meant for data use anyway, just to be at home in lieu of a landline for my kids or a babysitter to use when the wife and I aren't home. Lack of data support means my kids can't be looking up porn which is a feature, not a bug.
ReplyDeleteSo are burners now 4G?
ReplyDeleteI could be wrong, but I think the days of buying a cheap phone and re-filling minutes at the local 7-11 are gone. No more burner phones.
DeleteI'm looking for an emergency phone for my parents since they decided $30 a month was too much for a landline that never got used. the only things I have been able to find so far require monthly payments. Fuck that shit.
And you expected to find a free telephone service? Really?
DeleteIf it's strictly for emergencies, just buy any phone. You don't need a plan to connect with 911.
Not free, just don't want monthly payments. Purchase the phone and purchase minutes - you know, like you could do for years. It wouldn't just be for 911 calls - family members would be programmed in it. Mom's memory is not in the great shape it once was. She isn't anywhere near the level of the fucking idiot Biden, but dementia has started to set in.
DeleteEvery prepaid phone plan I've ever heard of requires you to have no more than a 30 day gap between adding minutes or they'll cancel you, so you're getting a monthly payment plan whether you like it or not.
DeleteWow... I learn something new every day. Thanks, Wirecutter.
DeleteI pay $25.00 for 2 months with TracFone J7 Samsung Crown.
ReplyDeletebetter still: https://www.mintmobile.com/
ReplyDeleteI've had cell phones for 20 years, but never a "smart phone." The way a lot of people use them, smart phones are dangerous security risks. But that's another discussion. Instead, I buy "milspec" flip phones. Have had multiple Samsungs, and a couple of years ago, seeing that 3G service was ending, bought a Kyocera ruggedized phone that supports 4G. Even better, it supports WiFi which the Samsungs did not.
ReplyDeleteI have treated all of these phones like redheaded step kids. Shove them in my back pocket, sit on them, toss them around; etc. In spite of my not babying them, I have never broken one. Though I did spring a hinge once, but that was able to fix that myself. I know for certain I'd crack a smart phone like an egg, so won't even go there.
Same here.
DeleteI got by with the same phone carried every day for 15 years until they shut it off.
Bought a Kyocera Dura XA. Tactical grade you can throw it up against a wall and drop it in water for up to 30 minutes.
I have a phone and plan from PureTalk. Unlimited text and talk, with 2 gigs of internet a month, $20 plus tax (generally .77 cents)
ReplyDeleteThey are great, American staffed if you need to call for help, and owned and run by veterans.
The service uses AT&T network, it is known as a MVNO, mobile virtual network operator. Just type in MVNO in your search and you will find plenty of others.
daddy-o
Or Wirecutter, you can do as I did and spend $100 on a used iphone 7, powered by a U.S. mobile $20 a month plan!
ReplyDeleteTo big and bulky. I'll break it in no time.
DeleteIt didn't get to be ten years old by being weak, if you think about it.
Delete3G is only data; this isn't a problem for making voice calls or sending SMS text messages until cellular voice is turned off and everyone is forced to use voice over mobile data (currently called VoLTE... dunno what the 5G name for that will be). At least on the T-Mobile network a 2G phone will still work for voice and SMS.
ReplyDeleteHappened to me with sprint about 6 months back. They’d been on me for about 2 years already, regularly pushing back the “comply or die” date. Finally got serious and shut it down. I went to Verizon and got another flip phone, I guess it’s supposed to be 5g enabled. It at least works at the homestead, sprint couldn’t seem to connect a call with wire ties and duct tape. 50/50 shot if the phone would ring or not. Only bad thing is, even though it’s a flip phone, the stupid battery dies in a day and a half. Old 3g flipper would go 7 to 10 days between charges.
ReplyDeleteThe one issue I didn't see mentioned is the effect the shutdown will have on some car models.
ReplyDeleteCertain 'premium' features in some car models (e.g. remote door opening, crash detection, navigation) are dependent on cellular tech and for those models where the imbedded tech uses 3g the car owners SOL.
Consumer Cellular is good but DON'T buy their cheap flip phone - it's a piece of shit.
ReplyDeleteThe Nokia 6300 phone is an excellent unlocked GSM phone for around $70.