[olePigeon]

After 10 years I'm getting a new cell phone, mostly because I'm changing phone plans and it comes with a new phone.

What's the cheapest but still decent phone out there? Any suggestions?

[olePigeon]

Oh yeah, no flip phones. Can't stand them.

[Big Mac]

How did you possibly survive ten years without an upgrade? I guess you must only use your phone in emergencies.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

How did you possibly survive ten years without an upgrade? I guess you must only use your phone in emergencies.

I use it as a phone. Occasionally I'll get texts. That's about it. I'd actually just keep the phone I have except it's kinda broken. Plus all the cell phone plans include a free phone anyway. I'll probably go with T-Mobile.

[Rumor]

IT really depends on what the carrier is offering and what you consider cheap.

[Chuckit]

I'm not sure using it as a phone quite explains it. All of my phones have died before 10 years was up.

[CharlesS]

I'll probably get crucified for saying this, but if all you want is a phone for making phone calls and the occasional text message, and you don't want lots of fancy glitzy stuff like internet browsing, a high-megapixel camera, etc., then get a Motorola. The reception they get is far and away the best - I've had my RAZR2 V8 get a solid 3 bars in places where another phone on the same service couldn't even make a call. And if making phone calls is the only thing you care about, then reception should probably be your biggest concern.

[olePigeon]

Oh, I see. There's a fixed set of phones I can get. Been a while since I've bought a cell phone.

The only one that fits my needs is the Nokia 5310. It's $100 with no contract. Razr was too expensive without a contract.

So this thread is kinda moot. OK, well, thanks for the help.

[CharlesS]

Well, the Razr is a flip-phone, and you already said you don't want those anyway. There are some others though. They're not fancy, and they won't blow your socks off, but they do get good reception.

Nokias are pretty good in that department too though, I think.

[tooki]

Well what about the SLVR, then?

[TETENAL]

Nokia 6300

[Captain Obvious]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

Oh, I see. There's a fixed set of phones I can get. Been a while since I've bought a cell phone.

The only one that fits my needs is the Nokia 5310. It's $100 with no contract. Razr was too expensive without a contract.

So this thread is kinda moot. OK, well, thanks for the help.

Are you somewhere that phones are not subsidized by the carrier? If that is the case and you aren't going under contract then no, you are not limited to a fixed set of phones.
In fact no one is limited to a set list of phones anywhere so long as a manufacturer makes the model you want for the frequencies you are going to use it on and you are willing to do some tinkering with the phone its possible to activate it on any carrier. Its why some people here in the US use iPhones on Tmobile.

If you are paying full retail price anyway then you can just get any unlocked phone, GSM i assume, that works on the same frequencies as your service provider. Find the phone you want online. Buy it. And pop in the SIM card from your new phone company. If its a CDMA phone, which is less likely if you arent in the US, then you can check with the carrier before you buy the phone you want and make sure they'd be willing to activate it despite the fact that the ESN is not in their system.

I call BS on having a phone for 10 years.
I don't know anyone who has a phone older than maybe 5 years these days. Too much has changed and companies make it easy and cheap to upgrade after ~2 years into service with them. Even my grams phone is only a couple years old and she uses maybe 60 minutes a month and keeps it in her huge padded old lady purse.

[CharlesS]

It's true that if you're paying full price for the phone you can get it unlocked. And, in fact, you should. There's no good reason to be stuck with a locked phone if you aren't getting a subsidy for it.

[Shaddim]

AT&T has refurbed 3G iPhones for $50 with contract.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by Captain Obvious 

Are you somewhere that phones are not subsidized by the carrier? If that is the case and you aren't going under contract then no, you are not limited to a fixed set of phones.

T-Mobile offers $100 off a phone if I order it with their FlexPay plan. They have a select few models that get that discount.

Originally Posted by Captain Obvious 

I call BS on having a phone for 10 years.

It's an AT&T Sony Ericsson phone. I got it in 1999 as a Christmas/College gift from my dad. My recurring Christmas gift was that he'd pay my cell phone bill. AT&T spun off as Cingular and my contract was voided (along with any upgrade opportunities.) They got into big trouble over that, but nothing became of it. I think I got a $25 class action cheque in the mail once. People were complaining because they had to get new phones after AT&T spun off Cingular.

Then a few years later AT&T bought Cingular back again. Since my phone was from AT&T before they spun off Cingular, my phone was not eligible for an upgrade despite renewing the contract. I couldn't get a new phone because they're for new customers only and I was an existing customer.

I've had the same phone for nearly 10 years. There's nothing wrong with it, it still works. Old as coprolite, but it works. Never saw a reason to buy a new one until now.

So you can see why I'm looking to go to T-Mobile because then at least I'd be able to get a discounted phone. If I stick with AT&T I'll be stuck with not being able to upgrade anything.

[EndlessMac]

Originally Posted by Captain Obvious 

I call BS on having a phone for 10 years.
I don't know anyone who has a phone older than maybe 5 years these days.

Wow, what's with the lying accusation? My current cell phone is about 6 years old and I may or may not replace it. If something is working there's really no need to fix it...but I guess some people are just addicted to upgrading everything. Also sometimes an upgrade can be worst than what you had in the past. That's happened to me a few times in the past with other electronics. Newer is not always better.

I've used my cell phone a lot too but I take care of it so it hasn't broken on me yet. I don't see the need to be a mindless sheep who upgrades because everyone tells me so. I do upgrade other things I own because I feel they were worth the upgrade so it's not like I use everything I own until they brake. What's wrong with keeping something you like that works well for what you need it for?

Before the smart cell phones, a phone was just a phone to me so I didn't see any special reason to throw away a perfectly good phone I'm using. For example, how many times have you replaced your house line phone? The iPhone has got me interested in an upgrade because it has useful features I would like, rather than upgrading just to get a shiny new toy, but there are other things higher up on my list that I need to upgrade so once again my current cell phone might stick around a little longer.

[torsoboy]

Originally Posted by Captain Obvious 

In fact no one is limited to a set list of phones anywhere so long as a manufacturer makes the model you want for the frequencies you are going to use it on and you are willing to do some tinkering with the phone its possible to activate it on any carrier. Its why some people here in the US use iPhones on Tmobile.

This is what my wife does. We have a jailbroken iPhone that she uses as a T-Mobile pay-as-you-go phone. The reason we got the iPhone was because my wife needed a new PDA, and she also needed another phone because her cheap nokia phone was dying randomly multiple times each day. With the jailbroken iPhone, she just dropped the sim card in, and it worked like a charm. No data plan, but that isn't what it was purchased for. And wifi at our house is good enough for downloading apps and things.

Me on the other hand, well, I have a very cheap Nokia phone. I use it for the pay-as-you-go plan as well, but I wouldn't recommend the phone to anyone. I have had it for about a month (my previous phone got lost in a lake when I was on a wave-runner), and it already doesn't ring, and it randomly turns the speaker volume down to the lowest level every couple of days. But it was only $20, with no carrier subsidy.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

It's an AT&T Sony Ericsson phone. I got it in 1999 as a Christmas/College gift from my dad. My recurring Christmas gift was that he'd pay my cell phone bill. AT&T spun off as Cingular and my contract was voided (along with any upgrade opportunities.) They got into big trouble over that, but nothing became of it. I think I got a $25 class action cheque in the mail once. People were complaining because they had to get new phones after AT&T spun off Cingular.

Then a few years later AT&T bought Cingular back again. Since my phone was from AT&T before they spun off Cingular, my phone was not eligible for an upgrade despite renewing the contract. I couldn't get a new phone because they're for new customers only and I was an existing customer.

I've had the same phone for nearly 10 years. There's nothing wrong with it, it still works. Old as coprolite, but it works. Never saw a reason to buy a new one until now.

So you can see why I'm looking to go to T-Mobile because then at least I'd be able to get a discounted phone. If I stick with AT&T I'll be stuck with not being able to upgrade anything.

So you basically got screwed for being a loyal customer.

Well, unfortunately, that's the same with all carriers, not just AT&T.
For some reason, they are always more willing to offer incentives for new customers, rather than keeping existing ones. Hate to say it but people like you prove their strategy works (for the most part).

-t

[Captain Obvious]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

T-Mobile offers $100 off a phone if I order it with their FlexPay plan. They have a select few models that get that discount.

So you can see why I'm looking to go to T-Mobile because then at least I'd be able to get a discounted phone. If I stick with AT&T I'll be stuck with not being able to upgrade anything.

http://www.t-mobile.com/templates/po...y_ComparePerks

Flexpay sounds like Tmobile speak for prepaid. And after looking at those extras they charge for services it looks like financial rape. And that discount off of junk phones doesn't look like much of a discount.

The CDMA carriers are having a serious price war through their MVNOs. If I were you I'd look at that long before I went to this Tmobile plan

[Captain Obvious]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

AT&T spun off as Cingular and my contract was voided (along with any upgrade opportunities.) They got into big trouble over that, but nothing became of it. I think I got a $25 class action cheque in the mail once. People were complaining because they had to get new phones after AT&T spun off Cingular.

I was with ATT then too. In fact I have no end of complaints to how bad my service became when they changed to the Cingular brand. But I remember they discounted the hell out of handsets to get people to switch from the "cingular blue" plans, which is what they called the former ATT customers. I did not choose to do that. However, they did not cancel my contract. They couldn't. It was one of the conditions of the merger. What they did do was not renew the conditions once it ended.

My ATT SIM card and phone worked up until my contract ended just as it did before. Once that happened they again tried to bribe me to resign by discounting the new phones. I believe what new customers could have gotten for free they offered to me for $30 rather than the full retail of $150.
I don't know what plan you were under but as far as i know there was no legal way to void ATT contracts en masse

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

So you basically got screwed for being a loyal customer.

Yeah, pretty much.

Originally Posted by Captain Obvious 

Flexpay sounds like Tmobile speak for prepaid.

No, they also have prepaid. With FlexPay the phone isn't subsidized on the monthly plan, and only partially subsidized on their 1 year agreement.

Originally Posted by Captain Obvious 

And after looking at those extras they charge for services it looks like financial rape. And that discount off of junk phones doesn't look like much of a discount.

It's actually not much more. My monthly bill for the service would be about $45, and that includes texting. It's only 300 minutes, but I don't use my phone extensively anyway. So it's fine for me.

Originally Posted by Captain Obvious 

The CDMA carriers are having a serious price war through their MVNOs. If I were you I'd look at that long before I went to this Tmobile plan

I'll never buy into CDMA. That's the biggest ripoff of them all. You buy a phone and you're stuck with that carrier no matter what. You have to buy a brand new phone if you change carriers. Plus, the rest of the world except for Japan uses GSM.

[Captain Obvious]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

I'll never buy into CDMA. That's the biggest ripoff of them all. You buy a phone and you're stuck with that carrier no matter what. You have to buy a brand new phone if you change carriers. Plus, the rest of the world except for Japan uses GSM.

That is wrong.
Most CDMA phones are no more locked to a carrier than GSM phones. Overcoming the barrier to put a Verizon phone on Sprint is about as big as getting an ATT phone on TMobile. Its not just possible its done by quite a few people.

Yes, its true the rest of the world uses GSM but so what? If you travel overseas often and need your phone that much then you'd need a plan with better roaming rates than that Flexpay offers anyway.
There is CDMA carriers in all of North America so you're covered in the most traveled to places by Americans.