# Looking for a phone without the internet. Is it even possible?



## Ruth n Jersey (Aug 25, 2020)

I've had a Tracfone for years. The hubby and I need it just for travelling which we seem to be doing less of each year. Someone gave us one with the internet on it a few years ago. I didn't like it at all. The only thing good about it was the fact that I didn't have to press so many buttons when texting.  I want a plain and simple phone that will also text. It doesn't even need a camera. 
We have a landline at home because we can't get a good signal on the cell phone. Even my kids have trouble with their top of the line phones. 
Any suggestions other than get with the program? lol


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## macgeek (Aug 25, 2020)

I like Tracfone. I pay $22 month on a plan... unlimited calls and texts... 1GB data each month which I never use... it has internet but I think u can get phones without data/internet .  even with internet this plan is $15/month on auto pay. I've had good luck with trac fone. 

you can get an android galaxy from $40 to 100+.... just try the $40 one it may be all you need.    if you don't want internet you can get a flip phone if you want a very basic phone.


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## Lewkat (Aug 25, 2020)

Yes, there are a lot of phones without all the bells and whistles.  I am surprised Tracfone doesn't carry any.  I used to use that years ago, then my son insisted I needed an Android Smartphone, thus I have a Samsung Galaxy, something or other which is a waste.  However, it is on his business account, so at least I do have a flashlight if we have a power outage.


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## Don M. (Aug 25, 2020)

I've had a Tracfone for years....a small basic LG that fits easily in my shirt pocket.  We only carry a cell phone when we are away from the house, in case we have car trouble, or one of the kids needs to talk to us.  I pay $7/month and have almost 4000 minutes carried over on it.  I'm not interested in Texting, or being glued to a cell phone 24/7.


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## macgeek (Aug 25, 2020)

Lewkat said:


> Yes, there are a lot of phones without all the bells and whistles.  I am surprised Tracfone doesn't carry any.



Tracfone does sell phones.   https://shop.tracfone.com/shop/en/tracfonestore/phones?pageSize=36


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## Ruth n Jersey (Aug 25, 2020)

Thank you all. I want a phone that I can add minutes to but not a plan. I will have to look into this further. I buy a card each year for $100.00 and still have roll over minutes.


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## MarciKS (Aug 25, 2020)

Tracfones don't have all that internet stuff?


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## MarciKS (Aug 25, 2020)

Don M. said:


> I've had a Tracfone for years....a small basic LG that fits easily in my shirt pocket.  We only carry a cell phone when we are away from the house, in case we have car trouble, or one of the kids needs to talk to us.  I pay $7/month and have almost 4000 minutes carried over on it.  I'm not interested in Texting, or being glued to a cell phone 24/7.


When you say we only carry a cellphone when we travel...you mean the tracfone?


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## Ruth n Jersey (Aug 25, 2020)

@MarciKS, I now see a couple that don't, but not sure if I need a plan or if I can buy my minutes as I need them.


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## MarciKS (Aug 25, 2020)

Ruth n Jersey said:


> @MarciKS, I now see a couple that don't, but not sure if I need a plan or if I can buy my minutes as I need them.


I don't like texting but sometimes I need it for the shopping issue. I let someone else shop and they message me when it's on the way or if I need to ok changes. Plus some sites have this 2 step verification where they text you a code if you get locked out so I have to have it. Otherwise I wouldn't.


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## Don M. (Aug 25, 2020)

MarciKS said:


> When you say we only carry a cellphone when we travel...you mean the tracfone?



Yes....the tracfone/cellphone.  It's useless at the house because we can't get a signal from the nearest tower, so we only carry it when we go shopping or casino hopping, etc.


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## MarciKS (Aug 25, 2020)

Don M. said:


> Yes....the tracfone/cellphone.  It's useless at the house because we can't get a signal from the nearest tower, so we only carry it when we go shopping or casino hopping, etc.


So if it's useless at the house then you have 2 phones to pay for??


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## Don M. (Aug 25, 2020)

Ruth n Jersey said:


> @MarciKS, I now see a couple that don't, but not sure if I need a plan or if I can buy my minutes as I need them.



Tracfones cheapest plan is their Basic "talk, text, and web" 90 day plan for $20...$18 with "auto fill", and includes 60 minutes.  That's what I use, and most of the time they throw in extra minutes....which I seldom use.  That is far and away the cheapest cell phone plan I've ever found.  

https://www.tracfone.com/shop/plans


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## Don M. (Aug 25, 2020)

MarciKS said:


> So if it's useless at the house then you have 2 phones to pay for??



Certainly!  We live in the deep forest, and get a landline, Internet and TV bundle from our local Electric Co-op.  The service is all fiber optics, with crystal clear phone, 250 TV channels, and 100MB Internet, for about $140/month.


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## MarciKS (Aug 25, 2020)

Don M. said:


> Certainly!  We live in the deep forest, and get a landline, Internet and TV bundle from our local Electric Co-op.  The service is all fiber optics, with crystal clear phone, 250 TV channels, and 100MB Internet, for about $140/month.


That's not bad. Hell just basic cable with an extended pack through Cox went to $175 a mo.


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## Don M. (Aug 25, 2020)

MarciKS said:


> That's not bad. Hell just basic cable with an extended pack through Cox went to $175 a mo.



Yup, this living in the boondocks is quite inexpensive....compared to the larger cities/towns.  None of the Major TV suppliers service this area, so our local power company supplies everything.  They serve about 20,000 customers in the middle of Missouri, and as "subscribers" we are all "Members" of the Co-op.  They even give us a yearly "rebate" on our electrical charges....when they figure out their annual costs...since they operate as almost a "non-profit".  We got a letter a few days ago saying that our monthly electric bill will reflect a $160 "rebate" for the past year, on the November bill.  That pretty much gives us 12 months electricity for 11 months of charges.


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## MarciKS (Aug 25, 2020)

Don M. said:


> Yup, this living in the boondocks is quite inexpensive....compared to the larger cities/towns.  None of the Major TV suppliers service this area, so our local power company supplies everything.  They serve about 20,000 customers in the middle of Missouri, and as "subscribers" we are all "Members" of the Co-op.  They even give us a yearly "rebate" on our electrical charges....when they figure out their annual costs...since they operate as almost a "non-profit".  We got a letter a few days ago saying that our monthly electric bill will reflect a $160 "rebate" for the past year, on the November bill.  That pretty much gives us 12 months electricity for 11 months of charges.


I lived at this one HUD housing apt complex & they co-oped our cable bill between all of us and it cost me $14 a mo for basic cable. They were gonna try to get something similar going for internet before I moved away.


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## Rosemarie (Aug 26, 2020)

I have an old Nokia...it does what I want it to...make calls and handles text. It doesn't do the internet.


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## Tommy (Aug 26, 2020)

FWIW, I've used a simple Tracfone flip phone for many years.  When we relocated five years ago we found that the coverage in this area was awful.

I called Tracfone and explained the situation.  Apparently Tracfone uses other providers towers and has a variety of SIMM cards available to them. They looked up my area, sent me a different SIMM card at no charge, I replaced the old one, and our reception is now pretty darned good.


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## macgeek (Aug 26, 2020)

Ruth n Jersey said:


> Thank you all. I want a phone that I can add minutes to but not a plan. I will have to look into this further. I buy a card each year for $100.00 and still have roll over minutes.



tracfone allows that too, just add minutes to your phone as needed, no plan needed.


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## JaniceM (Aug 26, 2020)

Plus if you're looking for specific information or advice, the Tracfone website has a Live Chat for customer service.   
They're quite helpful.


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## Autumn (Aug 26, 2020)

You can get the Doro 7050 from Consumer Cellular.  It's a simple flip phone that you can use to call or text.  It does have a camera.  It's geared toward seniors.  It has larger buttons and is very easy to use.  They also have a smart phone that's supposed to be very simple, but the 7050 is the most basic model.


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## bowmore (Aug 26, 2020)

The reason I switched from a flip phone to a smartphone was because of the few times I needed to text, it was a PITA with a flip phone. For each letter you had to press each button one, two or 3 times. In other words, once for A, twice for B, three times for C. That gets pretty old.
We use a pay as you go plan with Tracfone, rather than a monthly plan. The main thing we use the phone for is in the car, where it is pairedby Bluetooth  with the car's Bose audio system, and we listen to Pandora.


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## squatting dog (Aug 26, 2020)

MarciKS said:


> So if it's useless at the house then you have 2 phones to pay for??



Not always.  
We also have no cell service at or near my place, so, I use an inexpensive tracfone for when I'm out and about and toss it in the desk when it expires. (since it's cheaper to buy another phone with units than to renew) Then, we use talk-a-tone off our internet by using it's WiFi. This has allowed us to take one of our old expired tracfones, and use it so the wife can call me or anyone else we know in the country for free.


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## Phoenix (Aug 26, 2020)

I really hate cell phones.  They are too intrusive.  But they are good in case the car breaks down.


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## applecruncher (Aug 26, 2020)

Phoenix said:


> I really hate cell phones.  They are too intrusive.  But they are good in case the car breaks down.


Yes, they can be intrusive. But finding a payphone is a lost cause.


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## Phoenix (Aug 26, 2020)

applecruncher said:


> Yes, they can be intrusive. But finding a payphone is a lost cause.


That's another reason I carry one, but I don't give the number to anyone except if I called about an emergency.


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## squatting dog (Aug 26, 2020)

Phoenix said:


> That's another reason I carry one, but I don't give the number to anyone except if I called about an emergency.



That's part of the reason I like tracfone's. When they expire and I simply buy another, I just send the new number to only my family and others that are important to us.


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## Phoenix (Aug 26, 2020)

squatting dog said:


> That's part of the reason I like tracfone's. When they expire and I simply buy another, I just send the new number to only my family and others that are important to us.


Do you throw the old one in the landfill?


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## squatting dog (Aug 26, 2020)

Phoenix said:


> Do you throw the old one in the landfill?


No, I've got a box full of them.   At first, I was selling them online, but then I began to wonder if someone with evil intentions were buying them. (terrorist types) so I gave that idea up.


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## MarciKS (Aug 26, 2020)

Around here we can give our old phones to the police dept and they can give them to abused women to call 911.


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## Phoenix (Aug 27, 2020)

squatting dog said:


> No, I've got a box full of them.   At first, I was selling them online, but then I began to wonder if someone with evil intentions were buying them. (terrorist types) so I gave that idea up.


It's good you try to recycle them.  I'm very concerned about the fact that we all keep buying more and more products that eventually end up tossed out.


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## Nathan (Aug 27, 2020)

Ruth n Jersey said:


> I've had a Tracfone for years. The hubby and I need it just for travelling which we seem to be doing less of each year. Someone gave us one with the internet on it a few years ago. I didn't like it at all. The only thing good about it was the fact that I didn't have to press so many buttons when texting.  I want a plain and simple phone that will also text. It doesn't even need a camera.
> We have a landline at home because we can't get a good signal on the cell phone. Even my kids have trouble with their top of the line phones.
> Any suggestions other than get with the program? lol


  Consumer Cellular is a "seniors friendly" cellular provider, I highly recommend.      They have non-smartphones reasonably priced:
https://www.consumercellular.com/shopping/choose/device?filters=Flip-Phone


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## Pinky (Aug 27, 2020)

Rosemarie said:


> I have an old Nokia...it does what I want it to...make calls and handles text. It doesn't do the internet.


I use my old Nokia as an alarm clock when it failed to pick up signals from new towers. I bought a newer version for emergencies only. I never have, and never will use it for connecting to the internet. Do not want to become a slave to my phone. I usually pay $10 per mo. with Roger's, but recently paid $100 for a year.


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## twinkles (Aug 27, 2020)

i had a consumer cellular for 3 years and i liked it--i use mine for emergencys and long distance--our land line doesnt have long distance on it--i just purchased a consumer cellular phone but i dont know all about it yet--i got it for 20$  because i all ready have service with them-(-the first phone was a doro)


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