Best non-3G replacement for my current phone setup?

[Algeh]

So, I've got a phone that (I assume) will stop working soon with the 3G sunset. I'm trying to figure out what I should do to replace it, because my use case for this phone is kind of weird and I'm not really sure how to get similar functionality at a similar price point in these modern days.

Right now, what I have is an old flip phone on a grandfathered T-Mobile prepaid plan where if I put $100 in minutes on the phone at once those minutes don't expire for a year, and it's a rare year that I use $100 in minutes on the phone so it costs me $100/year to have this phone number work.

I use this phone as my "pocket phone", since it is small enough to easily fit in a front pants pocket, sturdy enough to have survived being dropped many times over the years (just this month I fell down my porch stairs and landed on on cement on the pocket in question - phone was fine, I'm still sore a week later), holds a charge for days, and meets all of my needs for "emergency contact while out on a dog walk, at work, or otherwise traveling light" phone. (I have a much larger and presumably more delicate smartphone that I use as my "home" phone and can take with me if I'm willing to carry a purse and think I'll need complicated phone features, which I almost never do. Since the smartphone has unlimited talk and text through that phone plan, I use it at home to make longer phone calls.)

So, is there a similarly cheap, small, and rugged option available these days to replace my current pocket phone? I really don't need a smartphone in my pocket at work or on dog walks, and the only reason I'm looking to change things up is that I assume my current phone will stop working sometime in 2022.

[snowblizz]

There is some types of "retro" phones available. They (the people who bought up the old Nokia brand and properties) made a "modern" version of the classic Nokia 3310 model. A friend of mine works a in power utility company who use it as their "on-duty" phone for precisely the reason you cite. Even that is by now quite old, so not sure if it's available or if there is a successor to it.

[Wintermoot]

I hope you find an answer, if you do I'd like to find it too.

I also have/had a flip phone that I used exclusively. But with the dissolution of 3g, its being retired as an option. The Nokia 3310 model suggested by the prior poster is also being decommissioned, no longer functional next year.

I've been able to find a low-feature replacement, but not in the sturdy flip body which is your primary need.

[Mr Blobby]

I have an affordable answer.

I'm facing possibly similar - I've got a Nokia 215 (2015) which I use as my 'roaming' phone. Folks might mock, but I work outside a lot and I need a) a mobile but b) cheap/easy to replace which c) is not tempting for thieves. It's a solid little thing which has survived ~4 years now (most solid since my old 3410) and has long battery life. I *think* my one can use both 2/3G networks and 2G is being kept in the UK until '25.

In this case, I shall reccomend it's 4G updated model for you, if experience of it's older bro is anything to go by. However, a quick look shows while I can find them cheap (~£30) in the UK, it's not the same in the USA. So I suggest the Nokia 225 4G instead...

https://www.amazon.com/Nokia-Unlocke.../dp/B08Q1YWQQ9

You're not alone, folks. And no, a stupidly expensive ruggedised smart is not the only game in town...

[Eldan]

For indestructible, I can recommend CAT phones, at least the slightly older ones (I can't judge the newer ones, mine's five years old and still works.) They make construction equipment, normally, and it shows. I use this phone for biological fieldwork, and it has survived falling into knee-deep mud, being crushed by metal equipment, being left out in the summer sun for ten hours when I forgot it, freezing, and being dropped several times a day. At one point, I had to have the battery replaced, since it got old, no complaints otherwise. It is heavy, though, since it's made mostly out of a metal frame covered in hard rubber and what I can only assume is some kind of bullet-proof glass.

They make retro-phones, too.

[Mr Blobby]

Yeah, one of my bosses swears by his TUFF. Issue is, they are expensive and a quick search shows the 'simplephone' options are mainly 2/3G [at least in UK] which is no help at all to the two above. Nor me, really as I like the 'cheapness' element to be a deterrant from stealing. Though personally what I did with my 215 was get an aftermaket extra rubber case to toughen it up more. It wouldn't survive a direct screen hit or serious water, but it's easier to grip and more likely to survive drops [which is the main threat for me].

Plus, I only paid £29 for the handset. It's loss - unless it happens more than quarterly - is nothing to weep about. Simply salvage the SIM and slot it into another. The 'operating costs' are perhaps ~£40 a year (quarterly top-ups of £10, doubled by phone provider) because all I use it for is calling/texting and that's not much on this one.

[Algeh]

It's now looking like my best option may be to get a cellular Apple Watch, which would at least have the small form factor and, if I'm reading my current phone provider's page correctly, only cost me an additional $10/month (plus the cost of the watch) for unlimited talk and text while sharing the data pool with my existing phone plan. The watch itself wouldn't be cheap, but if it lasted long enough that wouldn't matter much as the cellular monthly fee itself is cheaper than a second phone would be so it'd work out eventually.

I am not a fan of wearing wristwatches (all of my watches for the past 20 years have either clipped to a lanyard or been necklaces), so I'm going to do a little more research before assuming that's my best option, but it's another avenue of research I'll be looking at since I do already have an iPhone as my "home" phone that I just don't want to carry with me on walks and such. Maybe I can rig it as a necklace or something, or maybe someone makes a 3rd party case to nest it inside a pocketwatch shell? (That would be ideal, since I'm trying to replace a pocket-based phone.) I don't care at all about losing the fitness-based features by not wearing it properly, since I don't have any particular interest in having my fitness tracked. The fact that it can be worn while swimming is also a big plus, since I do have a pool and I currently don't carry a phone while swimming.

I'd rather just have a new flip phone like my old one, though. I appreciate the possible leads, although I think UK versus USA is going to make a big difference here, unfortunately.

[Mr Blobby]

Have you shopped around for new SIM-only deals yet? Or even checked to see if your old SIM is even 4G compatable?

[Algeh]

Have you shopped around for new SIM-only deals yet? Or even checked to see if your old SIM is even 4G compatable?

I haven't - I doubt my current SIM is 4G compatible since I've had that SIM card for over 10 years. It's a T-Mobile prepaid SIM that I bought at Target in...2010, maybe? Sometime between 2009 and 2012, anyway. It's currently in a Samsung flip phone also from about that era, the second phone I bought for it after a brief time with a Nokia that had a flaky power cord less than a year after I bought it. When I went to replace the power cord, I determined it'd be about the same amount just to buy a new phone, so I did.

I assume I'm basically going to be starting from scratch, hopefully keeping the existing number or parking it somewhere that i can check voicemail/texts for a few years. (I'm also frustrated that there doesn't seem to be any way to get things like pictures off of my existing phone since the data network for it was shut down quite a few years back and I didn't understand at the time what that meant for pictures so I didn't back them all up back then. It will no longer let me send pictures to other phones through text messaging, and I didn't realize that would also no longer work along with using the built-in web browser since those were charged at completely different price points from each other so I didn't see them as linked. I thought they were shutting down the web portal rather than the data services, but anyway that's a long time ago now.)

[Mr Blobby]

Of course your phone provider wants you to have an Apple Watch; it desires to lock you into (higher) forever payments with a perhaps locked-in device! They don't like the stupidphone + SIM options because their profit margins are so low. So the question is; are you willing to pay that extra to have a non-phone phone?

In the UK at least, yes you are able to transfer your number. I vaguely remember it being something along the lines of a PAC number or something. Now, this is not directly helpful but it means it's at least technically possible. Question for a Mr G, I think. [Though I'll argue that it's possible a number-change is good, because it allows you to 'trim' your contacts book a bit].

But [another correct me if I'm wrong] there's zero point 'parking' that old number for voicemails/texts because if it's a 2/3G SIM, nil messages will be left for the service is dead and if it's a 4G SIM I suspect you'll be able to simply put it in your new phone.

As for the saved data... well, transfer via bluetooth/infra-red may be possible. Or getting a data transfer cable or something. That Samsung doesn't sound to be that old, I suspect a means exists - the question here is whether the 'costs' of transfer is worth the value of those pictures [I mean, they can't be that good quality...]

When shopping around for a new SIM, it's possible you may get an even better deal when you point out you've got no need/desire for a data allowance [I did]. Another option is asking the provider of your smartphone's service whether they'll throw in another SIM cheap. Or your home internet provider. Don't know about the USA, but here in Blighty it seems there's load of slightly odd providers - my electricity company even has one.

Now, I have found a prepaid SIM from Tello [I did a US VPN]. Their 'economy' one is $10 a month and with *unlimited* calls and texts. Only issue is a really weedy data allowance, but that don't matter if you have the Nokia Stupidphone I linked earlier. This is $5 a month cheaper than the T-Mobile option.

So, if we factor in the handset cost over the first year and you go with the option I picked out, your mobile bill for my option will be around $14.17 a month for the first year. And you'll still have the phone at the end of it.

[Algeh]

Of course your phone provider wants you to have an Apple Watch; it desires to lock you into (higher) forever payments with a perhaps locked-in device! They don't like the stupidphone + SIM options because their profit margins are so low. So the question is; are you willing to pay that extra to have a non-phone phone?

In the UK at least, yes you are able to transfer your number. I vaguely remember it being something along the lines of a PAC number or something. Now, this is not directly helpful but it means it's at least technically possible. Question for a Mr G, I think. [Though I'll argue that it's possible a number-change is good, because it allows you to 'trim' your contacts book a bit].

But [another correct me if I'm wrong] there's zero point 'parking' that old number for voicemails/texts because if it's a 2/3G SIM, nil messages will be left for the service is dead and if it's a 4G SIM I suspect you'll be able to simply put it in your new phone.

As for the saved data... well, transfer via bluetooth/infra-red may be possible. Or getting a data transfer cable or something. That Samsung doesn't sound to be that old, I suspect a means exists - the question here is whether the 'costs' of transfer is worth the value of those pictures [I mean, they can't be that good quality...]

When shopping around for a new SIM, it's possible you may get an even better deal when you point out you've got no need/desire for a data allowance [I did]. Another option is asking the provider of your smartphone's service whether they'll throw in another SIM cheap. Or your home internet provider. Don't know about the USA, but here in Blighty it seems there's load of slightly odd providers - my electricity company even has one.

Now, I have found a prepaid SIM from Tello [I did a US VPN]. Their 'economy' one is $10 a month and with *unlimited* calls and texts. Only issue is a really weedy data allowance, but that don't matter if you have the Nokia Stupidphone I linked earlier. This is $5 a month cheaper than the T-Mobile option.

So, if we factor in the handset cost over the first year and you go with the option I picked out, your mobile bill for my option will be around $14.17 a month for the first year. And you'll still have the phone at the end of it.

I can buy the Apple Watch directly from Apple, and use it on any carrier that supports it (which is all of the major ones, and some of the weird ones, including the weird one I have my iPhone through currently). An Apple Watch, if you get one with cellular, can make and receive voice calls and texts, and it seems like the only "phone" features I'd lose are fewer apps available in the app store compared to a regular phone (I do not care, because I do not particularly use apps even on my smartphone, and certainly not on my flip phone. It has a calculator, and that's the only app I'm likely to really miss if I don't have any more after 20 years of having one on my phone out places) and no camera (which I care about slightly, because I generally take a picture of the nearest sign when I park my car somewhere, but I didn't have a camera on my phone until I got this one 10 years ago and I can revert to previous methods of remembering where I parked).

I can transfer my number in the USA, I just need someplace to transfer it to. (New cell phone, home phone, some kind of VOIP phone, etc.) If I'm not planning to keep it past making sure my contacts are all using my other number (as opposed to if I'm using it with a new phone), then I can pay for a year or two of a cheap VOIP plan, then check messages regularly while I train my contacts into using the new number. (I want to keep it through at least one full year so as to catch relatives trying to contact me around holidays and people I work with at conventions once a year reaching out related to those events.)

The pictures are of dogs that I used to pet sit for before I closed my business (I'd use a picture of each dog as the caller ID display when the owner called me). Those dogs have since passed away, because I closed the business over 5 years ago and I specialized in older dogs with extra care needs. They're not suitable for printing resolution-wise, but I would like to be able to look at them on my computer or other phone, because they were very good dogs and I miss them.

My current cell provider for my smartphone is my cable internet company. They don't do anything but smartphones, because they want you on wifi as much as possible rather than using cell data since they own the wifi but rent space on the cell network, so they only support phones that can use wifi for calling/texting when possible. My current cell provider for my flip phone is T-Mobile, which I have a grandfathered prepaid plan through where I add $100 to it once a year and the minutes don't expire for a year. The important feature of that plan is that I can prepay for a year at a time so I don't have to deal with a monthly bill, and that I can go pay it in cash in person once a year so I don't have to keep track of another online account login. I am unwilling to add one more online account or monthly bill to keep track of to my life right now, so if I can't pay it in person once a year I'm going to just add something to my existing smartphone bill rather than add something new to keep track of. (I hate keeping track of bills so much that I'm considering switching to electric heat when I remodel just so I can stop having a gas bill. Well, among other reasons, but it's certainly a selling point for an electric heat pump.)

That Nokia phone has Facebook preinstalled as an app, and the Amazon comments make it sound like it may not be removable. I'm not getting a phone with Facebook or any other ad-supported social media living on it, that's a non-starter.

[Mr Blobby]

Well, all the other points are your call; I merely was pointing out other options were out there. I didn't look into how you could pay Tello; it's possible you might be able to do it several months in advance, or by a pay card or whatever [mine is a 'top up when you run out of credit' type]. In most things in this life, convenience will cost ya and speaking personally, I'm not willing to pay say 3x the price to 'rent' a piece of tech of which I won't use 85% of the features merely to avoid remembering a small monthly bill coming out of your account.

I can answer one thing about the Nokia-Facebook thing; yes, it is pre-built on it - it is on mine at least [and the 4G version appears to be the same OS]. However, it is only active when you physically select the app and start it. It does *not* auto-start, and it is not tied into any other feature of the phone. In fact, checking on my phone right now you can ban automatic data use just to make sure it gets no ideas. I loathe FB and it's ilk too, but it's not bothered me here - I mean, FB has wormed it's way into loads of things online now, but I simply don't use it, not boyott the site etc which happens to allow you to log in with it or something. It's the world we live in and designers 'believe' folks want FB. Lastly, what on earth will FB learn if you don't log in and don't surf on this phone?

Anyway, there's other affordable, basic phones out there. A quick hit of Amazon.com shows me options from TracFone, Lynxx, Soyes and so on. You're gonna have to do a bit of legwork here because you are some kind of 'wierdo' who doesn't want a smartphone grafted to their face, but we odd types are more numerous than 'they' think and are provided for... *smirks*