Prepaid phone as a backup

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Alaskajohn

Alaskajohn

Bugged out
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Oct 2, 2020
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Alaska
I am tired of the occasional damage to my expensive iPhones from my outdoor activities. I’d like to have a throw away prepaid that I can take up the mountain to down a tree and bring it back during a rain storm, for example. Or I might want to put on my chest waders and head to a lake or river. I typically use the phone to text the wife of my whereabouts and an occasional call.

I’ve looked at Amazon and see a variety of prepaid phones at about $100 plus a prepaid plan. AT&T is the provider with a few limited exceptions.

Any Amazon prime available prepaid phones using AT&T for texting and calls that folks can recommend? I also know little of how the prepaid plans charge for texting verses calls, etc. $100 or a bit more for the phone if I need to.

thanks for any help you can provide!
 
In my area, AT&T is about useless unless you're in a larger town. To be honest there's better options at Walmart. If you don't need a smartphone, a $30 flip phone can do the job. Make sure you get the plans that carry unused minutes over to the next month. I had a Verizon prepaid phone for a backup when I was traveling at one time. Verizon didn't carry over unused minutes so I had to get a new card every month. It was a waste...
 
No cell phone works where I live. I wanted one for emergencies when driving etc. So I got an at&t prepaid. If I buy $100 in minutes once a year my minutes from the previous year don't expire and rolls over.

A few years ago I realized I had over $400 in minutes built up. In stead of buying another $100 in minutes that year I called and explained my situation to their customer service. They rolled my minutes over the next 2 years without making me buy more then they expired them and let me start over. Now I make an effort to use the phone more when I drive to use up some of them.

I just renewed again this past Tuesday.. I now have $230 built up. Next December I'll call them again to see if they'll do me that favor again.
 
Spikedriver said:
In my area, AT&T is about useless unless you're in a larger town. To be honest there's better options at Walmart. If you don't need a smartphone, a $30 flip phone can do the job. Make sure you get the plans that carry unused minutes over to the next month. I had a Verizon prepaid phone for a backup when I was traveling at one time. Verizon didn't carry over unused minutes so I had to get a new card every month. It was a waste...
Click to expand...

If you can text from a flip phone, then that will do the trick. I’m a bit of a distance from a Walmart, but if I haven’t figured out what to get from Amazon, I will pay them a visit the next time I go to town.
 
Funny, one of the vets I called yesterday had a recording that said their system only receives text messages, not voice... Please enter my text message. I have no idea how to send a text message, actually have that function turned off on my cell phone. I was calling from my home phone, a land line, the phone has no text function.
 
What I did: bought an old used iPhone back in 2015 for $100 and it is still running like a champ. When it finally dies, I will buy another cheap old iPhone and put another tough UAG casing on it. That way I have all the things I love about iPhones at a cheap Andriod price.
 
Alaskajohn said:
If you can text from a flip phone, then that will do the trick.
Click to expand...

You can, or at least I could when I had mine. At the time it was .25 cents for each text, so something to inquire about.


Caribou said:
My flip phone will text, but I'd rather have a root canal, but that's just me.
Click to expand...

LOL, nope, same here. It works but it is painful compared to smart phones.
 
Years ago, when we had the tornado here, the only phones that would work were
Tracfones...we use one for our travels to the Dr.....in case the old car breaks down....and they are so helpful if anything goes wrong....or I can't figure out something on it....
 
Curmudgeon said:
You can, or at least I could when I had mine. At the time it was .25 cents for each text, so something to inquire about.
Click to expand...
Years ago my brother bought his teenaged son a phone with unlimited texting.
He got the first bill, it came in a box and it was $3700. The text was free but instant messages were billed at .25 each.
His son and his friends would message each other and they would all reply to all. His friends were on their computers so it was an IM, not a text. His next bill included the rest of his billing cycle so the next bill was over $1000.
ATT started including IM about 2 months later but he was stuck for the 2 months he was already billed.
When my son was a teenager he sent over 12000 texts a month.
 
backlash said:
When my son was a teenager he sent over 12000 texts a month.
Click to expand...

I recall those days with my now grown kids! I know my wife and I feel like we are texting each other all the time, but I doubt it would ever be over 50 texts a month.
 
And the reason I have prepaid phone.
Used have land line, but had 14 year old son who called psychic hotline.
Phone bill was $3000 when I got home.
Finally got it paid off in 2007.
$25 a month in pennies unrolled.
He made his epic phone call 2006.
It cost him heck a more than it did me initially.
Now I have prepaid smart phone.
 
I have used a burner for about 15 years. T Mobile is my carrier. I could text if I knew how. No camera. No internet. Makes and receives calls, which is all I need. No plan. No contract. Pay as you go.
 
Morgan101 said:
I have used a burner for about 15 years. T Mobile is my carrier. I could text if I knew how. No camera. No internet. Makes and receives calls, which is all I need. No plan. No contract. Pay as you go.
Click to expand...

Sounds like my kind of plan! Thanks
 
I use a prepaid mobile phone for emergencies only, still got the original top up money on it, dont use it much.
I dont make phone calls, dont really have anyone to call, family mostly all deceased.
 
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