who is your service with now and do you want to stay with that company? they usually have a compare phones option on their website. I am soon going to get new phones, my contract has long been over with ATT but I can get new phones free with them with a new contract, I have been looking at the phones that I could get on their site and I can check the ones I want to do a comparison with.

You would want one that does not require a data plan there are plenty of those still available.

The best thing is just decide which company you want to go with then you can look at the phones they offer, to sign a contract you should get a choice of several phones free.

I'm with AT&T, too, Ravencajun. I will stay with them and will get a free phone, but there are soooo many to choose from!!!

I have AT&T and the phone has internet access, but we didn't have it activated. Calling and texting is all I wanted, although it could do everything but cook supper for you if I wanted to pay extra.

I'm with Verizon and there weren't many that were "text friendly" meaning a QUERTY pad instead of just the number pad and that didn't require a $10 a month fee. I chose one of the two they had simply because I didn't want the data. I still prefer the flip style, but wanted the typing pad more. Hate having to hit a key 3 or 4 times per letter...i.e. 4 taps of number 7 equals an S.

I am thinking of choosing the Motorola Bravo which is free for me with my new contract but it does use a data plan which we will have to add.

I will look at the ones there on the site and see which ones you might like.

The gal at the Sprint store looked at me as if I had 2 heads when I told her I want a Phone that will be used to call other peoples phones, usually home phones. I did not need or want to access the internet, get GPS, read books, text, take pictures, get the time in 9 other time zones, figure amount of a tip, calculate the exchange rate of US $ to Yen, get thousands of ring tones, listen to music, play games,watch TV or movies! I want to just call someone on the phone on a rare occasion. 1G 4G or 0G I don't care I wasn't talking to the moon I was calling a phone a mile away.

LIL

on the att site if you put in your info for your account and select the upgrade my phones option you get to see all the phones you could choose and read about them and see the prices, on each phone there is a little box you can check that says compare pick several and do the compare and then you can see the differences.

the ones they offer that do not require a data plan that you may be interested in are
Samsung Eternity
Pantech Impact
LG VU plus
Sharp FX
Samsung Solstice 2
on each one your can see how it is rated and also read the user reviews.
You do not have to use all the features that are on a phone just the ones you want. and if you will not be using internet just do not get a data package, some of them do say that you must buy the data package with that phone so stay away from those. All of them will have texting available and you can add an unlimited texting feature if you use that alot.

if you will use the camera look for the one with the highest pixel rating, look at the battery life on each one, some have a real keyboard that slides out some are on the screen, pick the ones that have the features you like best.

you can do that comparison with out actually going through with the upgrades I look at them often then just close out the page. I still like the bravo best for our next one.

If you know what company you are going with, could you go to the store? That's what we did when my husband needed a new phone. He is hard on phones mainly becuase of his job. He works with sand and rocks and a bit of water and needed a durable phone. He wanted to be able to text and call and get the weather report but do nothing else as far as the internet. After that, they showed him two phones that fit his needs and he picked the one he wanted. So far he is happy and the phone is durable. The only down side in his mind is that the phone is a bit bulky.

We went into the Verzion store and the person was great. We wanted a plain phone, no texting etc easy to use and read. Got exactly what I wanted without a problem.

We also went to the Verizon store a month or so ago. The kids got the fancy phones and I got what I wanted, they had to go into the back and bring it out for me. I don't text, it is a flip phone and can take pictures, but don't do that either. Mine sounds much like Marie's.

Sue

I am in Canada so this may not help but I recently got the samsung wave WITHOUT a data plan. I can use wireless if I wish. It is a nice phone, took me forever to find one that I liked. For the first time ever I have learned to text...my kids are thrilled!! Before I couldn't stand trying to figure out what number was a letter, with this phone it has the touch keyboard that I liked.

I will tell you that going into the store you will not get the same prices and deals that are listed online, the online prices are just for online. I tried that with ATT, I went to the store and said I want to update my phone and go with a new contract I want the Motorola Bravo that is free on the website. He said well that is only online we can not do those deals in the store they had different phones in the store so I did not do it.

I went to the store at Sam's today and I called the AT&T store. The AT&T store said they only had ONE free phone there!! Sheesh! The Sam's store were really limited on their choices and the deals were not any better.

Raven, I found that comparison thing and we have been checking out that page. The thing that makes me nervous is how many reviews say that the phone locks up frequently. About 25% of the people aren't happy with them (all of the phones are that way!!!).

Taigen, what do you mean you can use wireless with your phone? How does that work if you don't have a data plan? Is it like you go to a place that has wireless internet and you can access it with your phone? That would be cool!!

My last cell phone was a 'smart phone', but I cancelled the internet on it. Just talk to the provider and let them know what you want, and what you don't want. Sometimes though, the bundling with internet makes your bill smaller.

Sounds like we have pretty much the same needs. I can't see paying contract prices and penalties when I get everything I need for a few dollars a month with a prepaid phone. I don't use the calendar and stuff either, although occasionally the calculator gets used while shopping. Simple needs for a simple person! :)

Good luck finding what you want.