Getting a basic flip phone with no Internet capabilities these days is surprisingly difficult.
A few weeks back, my brother calls me saying he needs a basic “dumb” phone as soon as possible. For reasons I will not go into, he’s banned from using a smartphone with cellular Internet for the foreseeable future. Luckily, there’s a Verizon store within walking distance from campus, so I went there after work.
The Verizon store did have a flip phone in stock to sell, a TCL FLIP Pro. Holding that in my hands brings me right back to the Motorola days of 150 pixel by 100 pixel display and thousands of colors. Typing out a text message with only the number pad? These kids have no idea what that was like. I wonder if the TCL Flip Pro even has the Snake game on it…
But there was a problem: Verizon doesn’t sell any plans with only voice and text messaging. Data is a prerequisite, and turns out even the dumbest phone on the market has Internet capabilities (the Flip Pro certainly does). AT&T and T-Mobile are no different. This arrangement does not work for my brother: his phone simply must not have Internet access.
So we needed a cellphone plan that only has voice and text. There seems to be a few Internet-only cellular providers (meaning: no brick-and-mortar stores) that still offer basic phone plans. These companies piggyback off the cell towers of the big three. One such entity is US Mobile. For a tiny sum of $8 dollars a month, you get unlimited talk and text. Pay about $14 dollars to start and you will get a SIM card in the mail in two business days. Setup is completely online, and once the SIM is activated, simply stick it into any phone you wish to use.
It’s too bad Verizon can’t offer such a plan, but at least we got the Flip Pro for free. It’s considered an “upgrade” for my brother’s phone line, though I’m not sure if going backwards to a dumb phone can be called an upgrade. Nevertheless, he’s all set now, getting an opportunity to use the archaic cellphone technology that I grew up with.
That is no moon.