recommendations for hobby phone?

[donuts]

i'm in the market for a new hobby phone. which ones do you guys recommend? which ones should i avoid?

[Horatio]

Definitely a pre paid phone that is not traced to you. One that has a good sized screen for internet searching and maps. I recommend the Samsung Galaxy S4 or Note 3. It has come in handy for me plenty of times.

[Monica13]

I used to use a phone called total call. you can get refills at gas stations or there is a place online to buy refills. I like getting them at the gas station because i don't have to use my name at all.

[Alyssa XOXO]

Track Fone from Walmart. Reloadable and nontraceable...... And make sure to always pay cash for the refill minutes unless using a throw away nonregistered gift card....

[donuts]

which one has a good pay-as-you-go or daily plan? also, should i just buy a sim card and use an old phone? or just buy a new phone altogether?

[RedLeg505]

Originally Posted by Alyssa XOXO

Track Fone f

That's what I use. Pay for the refill cards anywhere with cash, reload as needed. No link to me whatsoever. You do have to provide an email address.. so I use my hushmail email address I use for hobby contact

[Nicolet]

I use Boost Mobile and I have the Samsung Galaxy 3. You pay monthly, but NO contract, NO record of calls or text messages. If you don't pay, they just cut it off. You pay, it gets turned back on, simple. You start out paying paying 55 or 60 a month, unlimited EVERYTHING, calls, text, and internet. The have a "Shrinkage Plan", if you pay on time for 6 months, they knock off 5 until it gets as low at 45 a month. You do pay full price for the phones, I bought mine at Christmas time at RadioShack and got a great deal. Walmart, Target, Best Buy, RadioShack, just about all electronic stores will have Boost Mobile.
Good luck finding the right phone for yourself.

[Bera Birsha]

Originally Posted by donuts

i'm in the market for a new hobby phone. which ones do you guys recommend? which ones should i avoid?

I recently researched a hobby phone and decided on a Nokia Lumia 520 for AT&T. It's runs Windows Phone 8, has a 4" screen, 4G speeds, dual core processor, GPS, and 8GB of storage. It has a removable micro-SIM card and can be used on AT&T or any AT&T MVNO (H2O, NET10, Straight Talk). I bought mine on Craigslist for $50 cash. Microsoft Store has them on sale for $59 and free shipping.

Since this is a dedicated phone for a limited purpose, I wanted something that was inexpensive and had e-mail, internet, and mapping. The 520 has fit the bill perfectly and I consider it to be an exceptional value for the money.

[NTFunGuy]

I just use Google Voice. It's free, easy to set up, and you don't need to buy a totally separate device. You can just turn off all of the forwarding when not in use.

[Alpha_Male]

Don't trust Google.

Don't understand why you would buy a smart phone as a hobby phone. I buy something cheap and get 2 phones of the same type. One I keep in my car and tell the SO it is for the times I forget my phone at home or work. That way there is no question on the hobby phone if it is found. Harder to justify having 2 smart phones.

[CharminEyes]

Unless you really, really need to do email, maps, etc on your Hobby phone, go for a dumb old candy bar phone (feature phone). Remember that the smart phones are just like your computer - it leaves a trail no matter where your go, every search you make on it will be tied to your particular phone, and more than likely a photo was taken of you when you bought it. If you want a smart phone, the best thing you can do is to buy it second-hand without the seller having your personal information. Look on Craigs List, email them from a new email account set up for that one transaction, pay cash for it and then delete the email account when you are through. And, of course, don't send those emails from your own computer unless you have to. And if I seem paranoid, it's just because I know phones and computers and what goes on behind the scenes.

[Ordinaryguy52]

Tracfone for me. I keep it buried in my car until needed.

[Bomb Pop]

I have a LG tracfone that offers triple minutes with every fill-up. I never run out of minutes (texting is less expensive). Reload every 90days for $20 and it keeps on goin'. Not the greatest phone, but a good burner.

Google voice has been known to show actual numbers not it's number every so often, and if you forget to turn it off your real VM will answer for you.

[dreamvacationdates]

Originally Posted by Alpha_Male

Don't trust Google.

Don't understand why you would buy a smart phone as a hobby phone. I buy something cheap and get 2 phones of the same type. One I keep in my car and tell the SO it is for the times I forget my phone at home or work. That way there is no question on the hobby phone if it is found. Harder to justify having 2 smart phones.

It depends on your status, if you don't have to hide anything from anybody, it's not a issue at all, you don't need a hobby phone. ( oh how I hate the word hobby used in this business)

[salo]

Originally Posted by dreamvacationdates

It depends on your status, if you don't have to hide anything from anybody, it's not a issue at all, you don't need a hobby phone. ( oh how I hate the word hobby used in this business)

Thank you.