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Awhile back we had a discussion about this issue. I actually did go out and buy a tracfone advertised as The Big Easy Plus, that had large easy to see buttons and no touch screen. It was supposed to come with one year's activation and 800 minutes, and give me double minutes if I added minutes.
Well none of that is true and the damn thing costs $200 for a year's activation. Fortunately I only blew $32 on the thing (it is now on Amazon for $90, still advertising the 800 minutes and a year's worth of service).
So I STILL need a cheap cell phone that I can use just for emergencies, such as calling AAA on the road, or receiving an emergency phone call from my son (say he was in an accident or something). I won't be using it AT ALL for ANYTHING else. Well 911 calls, but that's it.
I don't want to have to pay a monthly fee. I only want to pay for minutes actually used, which by and large should be about 10 minutes per year if that. I would prefer a flip phone or to be able to use this stupid Tracfone if at all possible as I have absolutely no other use for it whatsoever.
Does anybody out there have something along the lines called out above?
Does anybody out there have something along the lines called out above?
Some years ago -2014? I got on Virgin PayLo with a $20 per mo plan (up to 400 minutes).
It was great for years with top up cards sold all over the place. Easy Peasy.
Apparently it was too good because they cancelled it for new subscribers.
I'll keep an eye on the thread though.
When I had a TracFone, it was a few bucks for the phone at the dollar store and $80 a year buying the 19.99 90-day packages which allowed about a minute a day of calling time.
Split this into the 2 separate things it actually is... a Phone and a Plan.
To get the cheapest plan, you're going to spend roughly $5/month by buying a 1-year plan at $60 ~ Red Pocket. They are an 'MVNO' (mobile virtual network operator ~ EXACTLY like tracfone), which is just a reseller for each of the different networks. Best price is on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Red-Pocket-...EAAOSwrXdar-~y
That is the cheapest plan I've found while looking for something similar to what you want. The one bit of information you need to know is what Network you want, I'm on Verizon because it has the best rural coverage, but other networks have abetter selection of basic phones.
As for the Phone, the one you have ought to work but I don't know enough about phones to be much help. I'm still using the same flip-phone I bought in 2009, finding a replacement is going to be a nightmare when Verizon cuts off the radio network mine uses (sometime next year apparently). Generally speaking though, ANY phone can be used so long as you know what network it's designed to attach to. That info is probably on the box, but can be looked up if you post the name and model number of the phone.
Yeah, I absolutely DO NOT understand the contract thing. The way the Tracfone website displays this is that you have to pay a monthly fee to keep the phone active, even if you have plenty of minutes - but they don't call this a "plan" or "contract". They say it is NO contract but it requires a monthly fee. I do not understand. I do feel very very VERY ripped off.
All it says is "Alcatel One Touch" and "Big Easy Plus". Here's the Amazon link if that is any help:
When I had a TracFone, it was a few bucks for the phone at the dollar store and $80 a year buying the 19.99 90-day packages which allowed about a minute a day of calling time.
I had a Tracfone years ago, and you just paid for the phone and then you bought minutes, which persisted forever. I didn't have to pay a monthly fee. I am frankly baffled by the "options" on their website. They're ALL expensive. I don't understand the terms. Apparently I'm a lot dumber than I thought. I HAD a Verizon phone but was going to dump it in favor of an ultra cheap almost-never-used cell plus the OOMA phone. The OOMA phone is working ok, but now I have no cell option. I have a friend who I have to call when I get to his place to come down and let me in - they have a security door. I can't call him on my OOMA because obviously that will still be at home when I get to his house.
I also have come to rely on the PDA aspects of a cell phone, such as keeping phone numbers and addresses of businesses and the calendar feature that allows me to set up multiple reminders for everything I need to do. Without those alarms and reminders, I would be totally at sea. I have memory problems and cannot track time. I did buy a stand-alone GPS and that has been working fairly well (it does have some odd quirks) so at least I can still get around. I literally cannot get anywhere without the GPS telling me turn-by-turn where I am going.
I guess I need a PDA but they don't seem to make them any more.
I was expecting to be able to continue to use my old cell as a PDA with all the reminders and everything in it, but it just suddenly stopped charging this morning. It's down to 42% charge and I am scrambling to find a way to get as much data from it as possible backed up to my PC before it quits altogether.
Yeah, I absolutely DO NOT understand the contract thing. The way the Tracfone website displays this is that you have to pay a monthly fee to keep the phone active, even if you have plenty of minutes - but they don't call this a "plan" or "contract". They say it is NO contract but it requires a monthly fee. I do not understand. I do feel very very VERY ripped off.
Have you contacted your Public Utilities Commission?
Yeah, I absolutely DO NOT understand the contract thing. The way the Tracfone website displays this is that you have to pay a monthly fee to keep the phone active, even if you have plenty of minutes - but they don't call this a "plan" or "contract". They say it is NO contract but it requires a monthly fee. I do not understand. I do feel very very VERY ripped off.
All it says is "Alcatel One Touch" and "Big Easy Plus". Here's the Amazon link if that is any help:
Phone numbers get recycled if not used over a certain period. I use some apps on my smartphone to generate phone numbers to receive calls or texts if I don't want to give out my real number.
A phone number isn't going to be held indefinitely on an idle device.
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