Those of us who aren't glued to our cell phones are in the minority, but there are products and plans out there for us.

I have this Windows phone:

Nokia Lumia 640

and a pay-as-you-go plan from Black Wireless, which uses AT&T towers. I'm happy with both. The phone takes care of my needs. It's capable of more, but I have no desire to check my email on it or use apps. My calling plan is super cheap--ideal for anyone who doesn't use the phone much. Since October I've paid $30 in to it, and have $17 left. When I use the phone they deduct 5¢ per minute for calls, and 5¢ per text.

Yup! There still is such a thing...but you have to hunt them down with persistence. However.....

I agree with Alisande in that Nokia still makes/offers the basic phones including the flip top. Here's the entire line offered/stocked at Amazon but I would suspect that you may be able to find a Nokia of your choice through other on-line sites. From what I read, most of Nokia's products are still AT&T compatible but if you find one on the attached list that you like...just call AT&T for compatibility verification. HTH

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Anokia%20flip%20phones

If you want to stay with att go to the store and look at their go phones you can use them on any att plan or as a pay as you go. The phones are extremely inexpensive andand are excellent. Look at the ZTE phones they have very good reviews. They do everything one of the expensive oneone does for way less money. This ZTE ZMAX 2 is an amazing phone for under $100. I bought it for my husband for $79 from best buy. You can buy it at the att store also.Zte zmax 2

They have a full range of phones in the go phone section from very basic including flip phones some for as low as $35. Fine for someone that rarely uses it.

Bless you all! Just what I needed to know. I will follow up on all your suggestions. Many thanks!

I"m not sure where you live, city or rural, and I don't understand all the ins and outs of sim cards, but I will say that in our area, we have to be very careful of what pay as you go phones are bought here. People are always having trouble with sim cards installed on those inexpensive phones that won't work in our area.

My DH has been using tracfone since the 90's. He is not much of a phone user for many months of the year, but being a truckdriver he needs something that works EVERYWHERE, and tracfone does. His phone probably averages about $15 a month. But, maybe Raven can put this in better wording... when you buy minutes, those minutes are limited in monthly use. A 100 minute card is good for 3 months. So, however many minutes you buy, has to be used within the months you have left. But those months do roll over. My husband's is good until the year 2026. lol

You can also buy a one-time double minutes card that is good for the life of the phone. So each time you buy minutes, they double.

Tracfone doesn't work for me because I'm a heavier user, but it was the phone I started with, too. It was hard for me to switch because I feared getting something that wouldn't work everywhere. But, tracfone became too expensive for me.

With your current att set up you can get this basic LG flip phone they will just put the Sim card in and your good to go just as you were this phone is under $50 total. Probably the easiest way to go for you with out a lot of changes.

LG phone

I have a trac phone, phone was $20, 6 month plan was $20 or $25. Plan has limited minutes, every 6 months I purchase another 6 months.

Purchased from Walmart. There are other phones and other plans.

edit: moonie, my trac phone card also lists 3 months, but the ones I have purchased last 6 months. Maybe because I activate the card using the Internet, vs using the phone?

All the carriers have basic phones and (I believe) low cost prepaid plans. There are also many small operators as others mention, using a big company's network. Shop around a bit, you should be able to find one for free or with low monthly cost.

Hardware brand doesn't matter much, in my experience, most equipment on the market is at least adequate.

alisande, it's possible to get great utility and capabilities from having a smart or other cell phone, without being "glued" to it. Like anything else, there are people who use them too much, talk on the phone too much and in rude circumstances. But hey, they could also be spending all day every day talking on the phone at home and too many people do that too.

With att which she currently has the go phone works regular on her plan you just ignore the fact it has the ability to be used as a pay as you go phone. They just put her current Sim card into the go phone and don't use the Sim card that comes in the go phone. Works perfectly. This saves her changing up her plans all she does is get a new phone for minimal cost. Exactly what we have done and are extremely happy with the phones and operation. The Sim card in the old razor might be outdated so they can give you an updated one. They can also transfer all contacts and stuff for you.

Some Sim cards are not transferable unless you stay within the same phone brand/builder. I recently purchased an LG 440G to use with my Tracfone contract and the Sim card from my previous Motorola was not transferable/compatible with the LG. I had no choice but to reload my entire tel book. Thanks to my AMD...I had to delegate the task to my stepson when he came to visit. It was easy enough to do. I just couldn't see the screen on the phone well enough to do it. LOL Lesson here...check with the selling agent before you automatically assume the Sim card can be transferred.

Exactly that's what I meant by an updated sim card, mine was able to transfer from the old phone to the new one no problem and it was a totally different brand. Of course it has to be for the appropriate service carrier. and the benefits of going to the att store is they can transfer it all for you quickly. Let them do all the work for you!

I agree with you, Raven. Go to the AT&T store. Let them earn the salary. :-)

Regarding "nontransferable SIM cards" -- the reason a SIM card cannot be transferred to a different phone is the SIZE OF THE SIM CARD. Some phones take a micro-SIM, some a nano-SIM, and still others use the mini-SIM. It doesn't have anything to do with the "phone brand/builder" as proven by the fact that the BlackBerry Q10 that I currently have uses a micro-SIM and the two phones I'm considering (BlackBerry Classic and iPhone SE) both use a nano-SIM. My husband's BlackBerry Torch uses the mini-SIM and yesterday he switched to an iPhone so he had to get a new SIM...

Thanks for the clarification, Lindsey. I'm not a pro when it comes to cell phones. I carry one for emergency purposes but aside from making sure it's always charged...I rarely...if ever...access it. I repeated here what I was told by my cell phone provider...and...what I watched him do when he tried to transfer my Sim card. The Motorola card did physically fit into the LG phone...but for some reason the information was not transferable. Tracfone further confirmed that the Sim card was not transferable because I had gone to another cell phone build...and they could not retrieve my data from the Motorola card for the LG phone. Perhaps it's a different situation with Blackberry smart phones. The important thing here is that the OP discuss the entire issue with her cell phone provider before she leaps to a new phone.

Why be concerned about whether a Sim card can be moved or not?

Lindsey, you should jump off the Blackberry ship before it sinks. It's going to, a question of when not if. When I retired 8 years ago, I still had a Blackberry because at the time that was all my company's system supported. I got a Droid immediately and never looked back. I know they're better now but they're going down fast. With either a Droid or Iphone, you're future-proof.

Regarding SIM info transfer, it doesn't always work. And, there are adapters to transfer info so the format doesn't matter. I wonder if the chips have cost cutting areas that may make it one time use.

Cloud?

The SIM cards I know are not one time use. When travelling abroad, you duck into a shop (sometimes a newsstand, sometimes a mobile phone shop), buy and load (with money) a local SIM card, take out your SIM card, put in the new one, and bingo - you have a local phone number and local phone/data to use. Returning to US, reverse the procedure and save the SIM card for your next trip. They're about $10.

For those with smartphones, whether Android or I-type, a gmail account automatically duplicates and backs up your emails, calendar and contact list. Get a new phone, start the app, and everything appears on the phone with no intervention on the user's part. If you have photos on the phone, those should be backed up off the phone periodically anyway so for many people, getting a new phone involves no data transfer effort at all.

Snidely - thanks for the info regarding gmail accounts. I'm going to have my daughter read that. Could help her from having to buy a new phone if she isn't already aware.

I have been using a Tracphone that I purchased at Walmart years ago. It works great for me since I don't do a lot of calling. The service is very inexpensive and at one time I bought a card for double minutes so every time I buy a $ 20.00 card I actually get 40 min. I think a card lasts 3 months and if you have to renew your card you don't lose any minutes as they just roll over.

Snidely, the reason I like the BlackBerry Q10 and BlackBerry Classic is, simply, the physical keyboard. I had loved, loved, loved my BlackBerry Bold 9700 (with keyboard), but one evening I picked it up to send a text message and the screen had a message that essentially translated to "your phone has gone kaput and cannot be recovered." So, I got the Q10. That was about 2.5 years ago. The BB Classic brings back the optical track pad, the "back" and "menu" buttons, and the dedicated answer and end call buttons. The downside is that it is larger than the Q10 (which, in turn, is larger than the Bold 9700). I don't use my phone for web surfing, but I do a lot of texting with relatives (but never when I'm driving!), which is why I like the keyboard. I have long nails (yes, they are my natural nails) and a fingernail doesn't work on touchpad keyboards. However, they DO work on physical keyboards. :-)

The reason I'm considering the iPhone SE is because of its smaller size (easier to hold in my female hands) and the availability of the Rose Gold color.

Downside to an iPhone is the limited storage. The SE is available only in 16 GB and 64 GB. Although BlackBerry phones come with only 16 GB of internal storage, you can add a micro SDHC -- and I have a 64 GB in my Q10. The Classic can handle up to a 128 GB micro SDHC.

Try Consumer Cellular - $10 a month, plus a one-time $35 purchase of a flip phone. And discounted if you are an AARP member.

https://www.consumercellular.com/

My husband and I both have Tracfones, mine is an older silver one, his is a newer smaller black one.

You all are so great. I love coming here. Not only are there are smart people here, there are smart people who are willing to share what they know. You have given me plenty to mull over in order to make a choice, and I sincerely thank each of you.

I too use a Tracphone....Just a simple black flip phone

lindsey, what do you do with so much memory on your smartphone? I believe there are some Android phones with memory card slots.

I too was very fast and very adept at using the BB physical keyboard with my thumbs but I don't miss it at all. I'm much faster today "typing" using either voice recognition or Swype/Swiftkey-type strokes over the virtual keyboard. Maybe twice as fast.

Snidely, I have a lot of documents (e.g., genealogy documents, knitting patterns, recipes) saved on my phone. Nothing that I don't have on my desktop pc here at home, but stuff I have found very handy to have with me when I am not at home.

Yet one more satisfied TracFone customer for over a decade, and I've had other companies (ball-and-chain) plans and have used cell phones for over 20-years. My first cell phone company gave me 30 FREE minutes each month - WOW!

Both hubby and I purchase the 1-year card for $99 and have never used all our minutes (which roll-over, and we have transferred the minutes when we up-graded phones). So our total for two phones is under $200 a year. BTW, we're NOT the "average" cell phone users who look at their cell phone the astounding amount of 1,000 times a day - as we recently heard on a radio report.

My husband uses a Tracfone, he went to the site and chose a phone and then one year of service which costs around 100.00. His phone was only 20.00 Would you believe he gets better service than my smart phone? He can be in the woods in Maine and call me here in Ma. and it's sounds clear as a bell. For a person who uses a phone for only emergencies, I think it's the most economical, easy to use phone I've ever seen. The bonus is you can order more minutes on the tracfone site of go to Amazon and buy them, you don't have to leave your home. To show you how little he uses it. He has over 6000 minutes now. He uses about sixty a YEAR lol.

I, too, have an LG Tracfone $100.00 for the year. Works for me. Don't want or need a smart phone. I can wait till I get home to read my E-mails and I generally have someone traveling with me that has one so if we need to find nearby restaurants or gas stations they can look it up.

I'm certainly no expert on TracFones, but when I did the math on their plans, I felt they were overpriced. Even the $99 one-year (400 minutes) card, presumably the most economical, works out to 25¢ per minute--five times the 5¢ I pay at Black Wireless.

Using Yayagal's post as an example, her husband uses about 60 minutes a year, and pays $100 for them, That's $1.66 per minute.

I have no stock or other vested interested in Black Wireless, but I'm glad my son recommended them to me. I pay online, and as I mentioned above, I pay very little. Happy to spend my money on other things. :-)

Alisande-

For us, it's about TOTAL annual cost - not per minute fees because we never use all the minutes. As well as the convenience of only having to pay once a year for service, over having a monthly bill. What is your average annual payout for Black Wireless (which I've never heard of - BTW - so don't know if it's even available here in the middle of No Where, Kansas)? We also get lifetime double minutes, so 800 minutes with a 1-year card.

I started with Black Wireless in October, and as I mentioned above I've paid $30 so far and have $17 remaining. I chose to go with the cheapest plan ($10 for 90 days), and will continue to do that because the 1-year plan costs $100, way more than I'm likely to use. All the plans offer 5¢ texts and 5¢ per minute calls.

I'm not 100% sure how this works, but when I added an extra $10 shortly after starting with the plan, the 90 days shifted to start with that payment. So it seems as though the money rolls over.

I linked their website in my fist post above. They probably explain their coverage, which I believe is the same as AT&T.

Has any poster here cancelled their land line and use a cell phone instead? Have you found there are real advantages to such a plan? What would be the best cellphone you use for that situation?

I'm using Verizon's Cell service with an old phone, my wife's discard from 3 years ago. I. like you, only use my phone occasionally. like when I take a motor trip and will be away from home for a few days, am running about shopping and errands and wish to be able to connect with home or my wife, or want to have 911.

Verizon has a plan that is very suitable. You pay one fee (About $100 plus tax) and it buys you a fixed amount of talk time good for one year. As the end of 1 year approaches, if you renew the contract for another year (before the present contract expires) any minutes left over rolls over and adds to the new purchase of talk time. If during the year, you run low on minutes, you can purchase another unit of time.

There are times when they do not charge minutes against your account, for example. after 6pm and on weekends. The exact times may vary. Contact Verizon for the latest information - what I recall is not accurate and contract particulars may change.

I have found that Verizon has wide coverage over the US.

Thank you all very much!

Allisande, that you for all that information on Black wireless. I'm going to switch DH to that as soon as his air time runs out.

You're very welcome. I hope you'll be happy with it. If not, I'll feel responsible!

I'm sorry I didn't see this sooner since i have some information that might help you out. I have had an account for years with puretalkusa. When I started I got a free flip phone and 200 rollover minutes per month for $10/mo. I have over 2000 minutes that rolled over and will never use them. Because of that, i went to a $5/month plan for 50 minutes that also roll over. I' sure the plans have changed a little but not much, maybe fewer minutes, but the last time i looked they still had the free flip phone. Check it out at Puretalkusa dot com.

I can't possibly imagine being without a means of communication at any time, regardless of where I am and that's what I grew up with personally.

Yes, I know humans survived for thousands of years without phones, they also survived without the internet, electricity, modern plumbing, etc. It doesn't mean I want to live that way.

I was 17 when I had my first ticket and wreck because I rear ended someone on a country road.

The deputy said he could drive me to the city line but that's it. I lived almost 10 miles out of town and had no cash for a payphone. The guy I rear ended was so kind to me. He had a mobile phone and let me use it to call my mom. Unfortunately, she happened to be in the middle of one of her 2 hour gabfests with her sister and call waiting was disabled due to dial up internet.

This man was kind enough to wait with me til the tow truck showed up and then he gave me a lift home.

I swore I would get a cell phone as soon as I was able to sign a contract, and I did.

I've followed and upgraded my phone continuously as the technology has improved.

I remember having to stop at a local gas station to buy a map for the town to find out where I was going, having to find a phone book and look through it to find the right business to call, having to call businesses to find out their hours of operation.

No more, thanks to smart phones.

I truly don't understand the vitriol some have towards evolving technology. I get lost on vacation, I don't need to stop and buy a map and ask the locals, I don't need to buy a fancy GPS device, I use the power of the internet in the palm of my hand to get my answers.

I'm not "glued to my phone" BUT it is a tool, a very powerful one at that, why would I purposefully NOT use it?

I switched to Project Fi from Google a few months ago and it has been the cheapest phone plan I've ever had and provides everything I want.

We were previously with Sprint and we paid 150 a month for 2 phones with unlimited data.

We now pay less than 70 for 2 phones.

The downside is you have to purchase a current gen phone (either the Nexus 5x or the Nexus 6P) at full price. (Not a problem for us as our old phones WERE old and outdated)

The upside is our unlimited cell costs only 20 bucks a month per line, plus 10 dollars per gig of data. If you don't use all the data, you are credited back on the next bill for the unused data.

Almost all our data usage is at home over our own Wi-Fi so we have received a credit on every bill since we signed up.

Google's Project Fi works over wireless, Sprint and T-Mobile networks so we have better coverage than we did with only Sprint.

If you think you might ever use data (aka the internet) from your phone and you can afford the upfront cost of a new smartphone, I strongly encourage you to look at Project Fi.

A friend has AT&T and buys GoPhones at Walgreens for about $15. When he damages the phone or something he just buys another phone and moves the SIM over and yes you can transfer the sim on the GoPhones. The issue with some providers is, for instance, Tracfone SIMs are tied to the phone. If you transfer it, it stops working. You just need to get another (free) SIM and start over.

I'm another Tracfone user for a long long time. I used to play the games with them buying the phones and cards and getting service for about $2-$3 per month. Looking at the cost per minute is not a good way to look at it for a low use person like me. I look at annual cost. Plus many of the phones are double minutes or triple minutes so buying one minute gets you two or three.

I bought a phone (Tracfone) for my sister for $30 with a year of service and 400 minutes included which is about right for her. I didn't want to drop my LG flip phone but it was time and costs going up. I liked the phone I got my sister so I bought an updated one that had a next generation phone, 800 minutes, a year of service and cost $40. My gf needed a new "roadkill phone" so I bought one for her too. She transferred her remaining minutes, transferred her phone number to it and is happy as can be. These use the AT&T network. I liked my LG CDMA because of the coverage but the sound clarity wasn't as good as the GSM so I switched since the AT&T coverage in this area has dramatically improved over the past 5-6 years. This is still the cheapest emergency use and low volume user phone to have. I think the price is up to $50/year now but that's still cheaper than buying the cards.

FWIW, none of us have converted to cell but use the cell phones for all long distance service. We've all shut off long distance on our landlines and use cell. None of us are phone addicts. We use a phone for a purpose and then get off it. I find phones to be totally distasteful shall we say. I want to say something else which would offend some of the thin-skinned.

You people are amazing! So many responses, so much information, so kind of you all. I love this site. I appreciate that you have taken the time to tell me all this!

Texas Gem, I think it is great to be able to do all that you do with your phone. If I were 20 years younger I would be right there with you. However, I am not 20 years younger, I am frankly right old. I don't go anywhere except near home unless one of my phone freak young relatives are with me. I see how much they enjoy the things their phones can do. I just don't need that. I am annoyed when I pay AT & T forty dollars or so when I have not made any calls on the cell that month.

Snidely, I looked at the link you gave for the providers and was amazed. That'll keep me occupied for a while. Thank you. At this point I am leaning toward a flip phone and one of those providers.

Again, heartfelt thanks to all who responded.

I also use a tracfone,got it at walmart several years ago for $20.00,every 3mos i add another 20.00 to it and it gives me 120 more minutes.I have more minutes on it than i'll ever use,but at least i know they are there should i need them..Mine is a simple flip phone,i don't text,or play games or anything else.I do get the messages from Joann's fabrics about their sales and that comes in handy,as i don't have to print the coupons from my computer any longer.Other than that,it stays in my purse for MY emergencies,and /or needs.

Kathi

kathi_mdgd, I ran into that situation where I needed days more than minutes so I started buying the smallest card I could online, then buy an additional year of service time. It's about $50 to add a year but you have to buy a card with it. Might be an option for you. Although now I'm buying phones with minutes for under $50 so that's the way I go now. And minutes can be transferred from one phone to another. Just FYI.