cell phones

[beige_alert]

I have an old Motorola V120 with a tiny black-and-white screen, no camera, no nothing. I’ve been thinking of getting a new phone. My first cell phone was my brother’s old one which he gave me when he moved out of the service area of then-PrimeCo. My second was a cheap replacement for it. My third, which I got when they forced me to upgrade when their network would no longer support such old phones, was this one, which I selected basically because it was simple and cheap. This time, I’m obsessing over the choice. I’ve been looking at phones, reading endless comment threads on cell-phone-geek web sites, and just wasting hours on this. I’ve now gathered so much information that I’m not sure I really want to bother getting a new one. I actually use the thing a good bit these days, and I’ve even dropped my POTS line and now have just the mobile and Skype-out, and the new phones are all so cool-looking, but, you know, mine works fine.

Comments

[beige-alert.livejournal.com]

My mother uses TracFone. It seems to work for her, though she almost never actually makes an calls on it. I don't know what their coverage is like---I can't get their web site to show a map.

There is always satellite internet. The upstream bandwidth is low, the latency is too great for voice-over-IP, and it's kind of expensive (say, $600 worth of equipment and $70/month for 500 kpbs down and 100 kbps up, for example, compared to no up-front fees and no contract and $45/month for roughly 4mbps down and 400kpbs up on cable here), but it is faster than dialup. Dawn and Drew out in rural Wisconsin upload their podcast by satellite and always grip about slow uploads, but it could be worse.

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

The TracPhone looks like it might be getting close, but either their page to inquire for coverage is broken, or they don't actually cover anything. (Not only do all the zip codes in my area come up with "no coverage there", so does downtown Chicago.) I could probably live with <$100/year to have a phone I didn't use; if I find myself actually using it I'd probably go with a regular provider with a contract.

$70/month for satellite internet is way more than I'm ready to pay.