Emergency, Low Usage Mobile Phone--Any Suggestions

A friend suggested that I get a Samsung T301G from Tracfone for an emergency phone in my car and as a low usage backup mobile phone.

 

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated about either the Samsung phone and Tracfone.

 

For about $66 I get a phone and about six minutes per day for the next 60 days.

 

This works for me.

 

Are there any other better alternatives? 

 

 

 

 

 

Some music for the Coffeehouse

 

I'd just buy a cheap Nokia, charge the battery up, and put in any PAYG and topped-up SIM card, take out the battery, and hide it away. The battery should last a couple of months when disconnected.

 

Though planning like this seems a little extreme; though you're right-wing I never really thought of you as the Survivalist sort. If you're planning on leaving civilisation behind for a while you'd be better off with an Emergency Radio Beacon and Radio than a mobile phone.

W3bbo said:

I'd just buy a cheap Nokia, charge the battery up, and put in any PAYG and topped-up SIM card, take out the battery, and hide it away. The battery should last a couple of months when disconnected.

 

Though planning like this seems a little extreme; though you're right-wing I never really thought of you as the Survivalist sort. If you're planning on leaving civilisation behind for a while you'd be better off with an Emergency Radio Beacon and Radio than a mobile phone.

I don't think he means "emergency" in a survivalist sort of way...  I think he means "emergency" in a "I got in an accident on the highway and my car's on fire" sort of way.

CannotResolveSymbol said:

W3bbo said:

*snip*

I don't think he means "emergency" in a survivalist sort of way...  I think he means "emergency" in a "I got in an accident on the highway and my car's on fire" sort of way.

Then I'd just use my regular phone.

 

I guess it isn't really an issue for me in the UK as our motorways all have emegency telephones at every mile. Interesting how the Highways Agency explicitly advises using these phones over mobile phones.

CannotResolveSymbol said:

W3bbo said:

*snip*

I don't think he means "emergency" in a survivalist sort of way...  I think he means "emergency" in a "I got in an accident on the highway and my car's on fire" sort of way.

If that's the case, I'd just go the old crappy nokia route. Don't bother paying for service. You can still make 911 calls without a plan.

W3bbo said:

CannotResolveSymbol said:

*snip*

Then I'd just use my regular phone.

 

I guess it isn't really an issue for me in the UK as our motorways all have emegency telephones at every mile. Interesting how the Highways Agency explicitly advises using these phones over mobile phones.

The problem with the PAYG sim idea is that if you don't use the sim once a month or so it will become deactivated.

 

And of course you don't have roadside emergency phones as soon as you off the motorway, I'd definately agree with the regular phone idea.

911 calls don't require a plan in the US, just a working phone.

W3bbo said:

I'd just buy a cheap Nokia, charge the battery up, and put in any PAYG and topped-up SIM card, take out the battery, and hide it away. The battery should last a couple of months when disconnected.

 

Though planning like this seems a little extreme; though you're right-wing I never really thought of you as the Survivalist sort. If you're planning on leaving civilisation behind for a while you'd be better off with an Emergency Radio Beacon and Radio than a mobile phone.

I am a classical liberal or what in America they call a libertarian.

 

The phone is primarily a backup emergency phone that is cheap and will always be in the car in case I forget to take my main cell phone with me.

 

After doing some shopping at Radio Shack I have changed the phone selection to the Samsung T401G using Tracfone's Net 10 plan.

 

For $80 plus tax you get 300 minutes and the phone.

 

I like the slide out keyboard for text messaging at 3 cents per message.

 

Looks like it would cost about $15 a month or 50 cents a day to maintain an active backup emergency phone that you can use also for text messaging.

 

http://pbush14.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/samsung-t401g-review-part-1/

 

http://pbush14.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/samsung-t401g-review-part-2/

 

 

 

Still open to any suggestions or alternatives.

 

Thanks for the input.

 

raymond

W3bbo said:

I'd just buy a cheap Nokia, charge the battery up, and put in any PAYG and topped-up SIM card, take out the battery, and hide it away. The battery should last a couple of months when disconnected.

 

Though planning like this seems a little extreme; though you're right-wing I never really thought of you as the Survivalist sort. If you're planning on leaving civilisation behind for a while you'd be better off with an Emergency Radio Beacon and Radio than a mobile phone.

While I was at Radio Shack, I did look at emergency radios.

 

They have an interesting selection and one for about $8o that looks nice.

 

 

I am considering this as well.

 

Any suggestions?

 

 

raymond said:

W3bbo said:

*snip*

While I was at Radio Shack, I did look at emergency radios.

 

They have an interesting selection and one for about $8o that looks nice.

 

 

I am considering this as well.

 

Any suggestions?

 

 

That radio's pretty cool, the phone charger took me by surprise.

 

I guess it digital-radio uses HDRadio rather than DAB (yet another case of the USA adopting an incompatible standard vs. the rest of the world), which is a shame otherwise I'd consider getting one myself.

I bought the the Samsung T401G using Tracfone's Net 10 plan and like the phone very much.

 

 

I've been using Net 10 for 5 years now.

 

Price works out exactly like this:

 

$30 gets you 60 days or 300 minutes whichever comes first (you can leave the phone off, charge lasts 2 weeks without talking)

$60 gets you 120 days or 600 minutes whichever comes first (you can leave the phone off, charge lasts 2 weeks without talking)

 

Simple enough? It's $15 a month with no taxes and no fees. That covers the cost of the phone (which is $30 and comes with 300 minutes)

sysrpl said:

I've been using Net 10 for 5 years now.

 

Price works out exactly like this:

 

$30 gets you 60 days or 300 minutes whichever comes first (you can leave the phone off, charge lasts 2 weeks without talking)

$60 gets you 120 days or 600 minutes whichever comes first (you can leave the phone off, charge lasts 2 weeks without talking)

 

Simple enough? It's $15 a month with no taxes and no fees. That covers the cost of the phone (which is $30 and comes with 300 minutes)

That's expensive. In Belgium the cheapest plan is 5 € a year. Phone is not included but you can buy anything you want.