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Cell phone question #1178090
02/19/19 12:19 PM
02/19/19 12:19 PM
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oldbroad Offline OP
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I have an ancient flip phone that has no "plan". I pay money to buy minutes. The phone will no longer hold a charge. I rarely use it but it does come in handy sometimes. I have no long distance service on my land line and if my land line doesn't work I would have no way to call AT&T to report it. Also the cell phone has sentimental value to me.

My question is this. Will replacing the battery work or does it involve the sim card too (don't really even know what that is or if I have one) or anything else? My brother took the phone someplace and they said that it is obsolete but I did find a battery at Amazon. I don't want to waste my money on it though if that is not all that it needs.

I'm assuming it is the battery not holding a charge because I can charge it until it seems fully charged but if the phone rings and I answer it, it then goes dead. Or if I dial a number, it rings one time and dies out.

Thanks.

Last edited by oldbroad; 02/19/19 12:22 PM. Reason: added info
Re: Cell phone question [Re: oldbroad] #1178092
02/19/19 12:33 PM
02/19/19 12:33 PM
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The problem with buying batteries for an old phone like that is you never know how old they are or how long they will last. It's possible that since the phone is older, the battery may not be produced any longer, so what you're buying is old stock or low quality aftermarket. If it's sentimental, you can put it away somewhere as a keep sake and maybe look for a new one. I did a quick google search on pre-paid flip phones and they seem to be offered at a number of places including Best Buy, WalMart and through the major cell providers. Prices look to be relatively reasonable. Here's a link to the pre-paid section at Best Buy. Unfortunately, I can't make any specific suggestions, since I've never gone that route before, I'm sure others will have suggestions though. Good luck! smile

Last edited by Trail_Mystic; 02/19/19 12:35 PM.

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Re: Cell phone question [Re: oldbroad] #1178093
02/19/19 12:59 PM
02/19/19 12:59 PM
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San Diego, CA
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I too love my flip phone. Everyone laughs at me. I only use it for emergencies and nobody has the phone number to call me. The guys who tell you your phone is obsolete just don't realize you might LIKE obsolete like me.

If the battery at Amazon isn't too expensive, it might be worth a try. My flip phone is still working great, even if it is a bit slow. I only have it for 911 or tow calls anyway and if my electric goes out (sometimes for days).

TracFone is the one I use which costs me about 10 bucks a month if I buy a year (400 minutes) at a time. Also have 'special' extra minutes if you look at the website or get emails about special deals. I get my TracFone minutes at WalMart. It's 99 bucks for 400 minutes which doubles on my particular phone as a deal when I bought it. So 800 minutes for 100 bucks approx.

I'd keep the phone and look at it as 'memories' and then buy a very cheap phone to replace it. Keep the old one just because. AARP offers some very simple phones too. I don't need all the picture, texting and other 'features'. Wouldn't know what to do with them anyway. You might like the newfangled ones. Everyone is different.


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Re: Cell phone question [Re: oldbroad] #1178096
02/19/19 01:13 PM
02/19/19 01:13 PM
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Thanks Trail_Mystic. I was pretty much told that you can't do the pre-paid phones anymore. I will check your link there. That was actually my thought at first, that maybe I could get a different phone since I already have this "pre-paid service" through T-Mobile. The phone is a Nokia. When I started looking at the booklet and found the battery type, I looked that up and hoped that would be easier. I do not understand all the tech stuff with the phones so I really don't want to have to dig too deep as I will just lose interest altogether, if that makes sense.

I think the one I saw at Amazon was "new" but now, of course, I cannot find it again. I see one at NewEgg that says new and is cheaper than Amazon and shows the phone's model number which I didn't notice or know yesterday. I imagine it is "old stock" since the phone is so old.

Thanks for the suggestion Sorta Blonde. You were posting while I was writing.

Also though, does it sound right that this is just the battery?

Last edited by oldbroad; 02/19/19 01:19 PM.
Re: Cell phone question [Re: oldbroad] #1178105
02/19/19 02:09 PM
02/19/19 02:09 PM
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My wife and I used flip phones up until last year when we upgraded to smart phones. My wife wanted to text but didn't like the difficulty of multiple key presses to get a single letter to appear on the screen so we got phones with voice recognition texting. Sooooo much easier. Anyway, we bought our phones and have our service with Consumer Cellular. The rates are really good and you can get a basic plan that just has what you want. AARP members get discounts.

If your phone doesn't hold a charge anymore, I would agree that the battery is the culprit. You could go to a specialized vendor such as Batteries + Bulbs for a replacement. We've used them for hard to find batteries (one was for a 20+ year old moisture analyzer) and have never had any problems with them. The prices are good too.


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Re: Cell phone question [Re: oldbroad] #1178106
02/19/19 02:27 PM
02/19/19 02:27 PM
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I have a TracFone flip phone. We buy minutes every year. They sell the cards at our grocery store. You can buy a new phone and transfer the minutes and keep your number. I did this last year. Actually, hubby did it for me. They also sell the phones at WalMart, drugstores, etc.

Last edited by Sparkle; 02/19/19 02:29 PM.
Re: Cell phone question [Re: oldbroad] #1178114
02/19/19 03:18 PM
02/19/19 03:18 PM
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Thanks Cue and Sparkle.

Cue - I have looked online at Consumer Cellular a bit and I am a AARP member. I think the lowest plan I saw was $15.00 a month which I'd rather not pay. Right now I usually spend about $40.00 once a year for this phone use. I don't even know how to text and don't care if I never learn. I'll check out your link there.

Sparkle - the phone number is something I wondered about. I don't have ANY idea at all how to set up a phone or how to keep the number or any of that, which is why a new battery sounds easiest to me but I am considering and looking at other options.

My biggest problem is information overload. Once things start sounding/getting too complicated (anything, not just talking about cell phones) my brain blurs and I lose interest. crazy


Ah Cue - that is where my brother went this morning. They suggested he try Amazon.

Last edited by oldbroad; 02/19/19 03:31 PM.
Re: Cell phone question [Re: oldbroad] #1178118
02/19/19 04:07 PM
02/19/19 04:07 PM
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Canal Fulton, OH
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My husband took care of switching the phones for me. But I'm pretty sure TracFone can walk you through. We've been very satisfied with the service. And the phones are very inexpensive.

Last edited by Sparkle; 02/19/19 04:08 PM.
Re: Cell phone question [Re: oldbroad] #1178121
02/19/19 04:56 PM
02/19/19 04:56 PM
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Well, actually, looking at these various sites I guess isn't what I need. If I choose to buy a new phone rather than a new battery, can't I just call t-mobile to activate my current number on the new phone?

I am already confused! Just because they don't require you to sign a contract doesn't make it pay as you go. What I'm seeing are still monthly plans.

Re: Cell phone question [Re: oldbroad] #1178122
02/19/19 04:58 PM
02/19/19 04:58 PM
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We use TracFones. My husband just gave up his flip phone and went to a cheap $70 smart phone. You can still get them. and you can still get the cheap pay-as-you-go plans too. You can try the battery route if you can find one. It might not be a nice fresh battery, but it might work just fine. Just take yours out and see what kind and size it is and look on Amazon.


Gardens put to bed for the winter. Time for some gaming!
Re: Cell phone question [Re: oldbroad] #1178127
02/19/19 06:27 PM
02/19/19 06:27 PM
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Well, I went ahead and ordered the battery which I hope will work. Someday I may work myself out of the dark ages and learn how to buy and use a different phone. Right now I also need to buy a new chair (office type) because my old one broke and I have been sitting at my computer on an ottoman which is actually the perfect height but does hurt my butt and back after awhile.

I still would like to know the answer to this though (in case the battery doesn't work): " If I choose to buy a new phone rather than a new battery, can't I just call t-mobile to activate my current number on the new phone?"

Thanks all for your input.

Re: Cell phone question [Re: oldbroad] #1178129
02/19/19 06:58 PM
02/19/19 06:58 PM
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Yes, you can keep your number if you switch phones.

Ana wave


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Re: Cell phone question [Re: oldbroad] #1178130
02/19/19 07:01 PM
02/19/19 07:01 PM
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I don't use T-Mobile, so I don't know for sure. I did find this in a Google search.

https://www.t-mobile.com/switch/


Gardens put to bed for the winter. Time for some gaming!
Re: Cell phone question [Re: oldbroad] #1178139
02/19/19 08:45 PM
02/19/19 08:45 PM
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Thanks Ana and Draclvr.

Drac, that link seems to be if I wanted to switch TO t-mobile service. That is the service I already have. I would just want to transfer my information (phone number/service) from the old phone to the new phone.

Re: Cell phone question [Re: oldbroad] #1178153
02/19/19 10:22 PM
02/19/19 10:22 PM
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I noticed it was for transferring to T-mobile. But if you can transfer a number in, shouldn't it also work within the network? You'd really have to contact them to find out.


Gardens put to bed for the winter. Time for some gaming!
Re: Cell phone question [Re: oldbroad] #1178157
02/20/19 01:13 AM
02/20/19 01:13 AM
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Thanks. I'm sure it can be done (people buy new phones all the time right?), and if need be I will find out how. I don't see any reason to buy a different phone AND a different service since this one works for me. For now anyway.

Re: Cell phone question [Re: oldbroad] #1178217
02/20/19 01:53 PM
02/20/19 01:53 PM
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Hope that new battery does the trick. My electronics guru friend said it sounds like it might work fine. Just because something is old, doesn't mean it's broken. Good luck. And I too hate complicated sutff! Give me ONE button to push and no choices and I'm happy. Hate learning new stuff (will if forced) but my brain seems to resist any more things to remember. I call it selective memory. I only learn what I really want to and the rest goes bye bye.


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Re: Cell phone question [Re: oldbroad] #1178218
02/20/19 01:56 PM
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Thanks Sorta!

Re: Cell phone question [Re: oldbroad] #1178282
02/21/19 05:26 AM
02/21/19 05:26 AM
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Oldbroad if you have an older flip phone it is probably a 2G or 3G and you need to replace it with a new 4G flip phone. I still have a flip phone but I had to get a new 4G flip phone because the old one was a 3G and would no longer work. Tracfone actually notified us and sent a free phone replacement but it wasn't a flip phone so we got a new one at WalMart.


Gerry
Re: Cell phone question [Re: oldbroad] #1178323
02/21/19 12:43 PM
02/21/19 12:43 PM
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Thanks for that info Kaki's Sister. I don't know about all that stuff so I'll wait to see if the battery works before I start looking at phones again.

Re: Cell phone question [Re: oldbroad] #1178324
02/21/19 12:52 PM
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T-Mobile should have notified you if your old 2 or 3G phone would no longer work like Tracfone did. Most of them are using upgraded networks.


Gardens put to bed for the winter. Time for some gaming!
Re: Cell phone question [Re: oldbroad] #1178327
02/21/19 01:01 PM
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I don't know if I would be notified of anything since this phone belonged to my sister and I guess it is registered to her (if that's how it works). Though, I think they just text information like that, and who knows if I would even ever see that.

Re: Cell phone question [Re: oldbroad] #1178331
02/21/19 01:56 PM
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Well, I guess you'll find out if you can still use it when you get the new battery. I would think T-Mobile would set you up with a new flip phone if it doesn't work any more.


Gardens put to bed for the winter. Time for some gaming!
Re: Cell phone question [Re: oldbroad] #1178709
02/25/19 11:55 PM
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The battery came today and it charged and seems like it is working. My mail comes late and I was out to dinner tonight with a friend I haven't seen since last May so I can't try to call anybody until tomorrow (to test it) but I did check to see if my minutes are still there and they are. I don't think it would have let me do that with the old battery. So, fingers crossed that this will work for at least until I can decide on a different phone. And those of you who are familiar with me at all, know that this will take me a long while as I am quite the procrastinator! wink

Thanks again to all of you for your responses. I could not find what "G" this phone is (as in 4G or whatever).

Re: Cell phone question [Re: oldbroad] #1178728
02/26/19 09:27 AM
02/26/19 09:27 AM
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Glad it's working for you, oldbroad!


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Re: Cell phone question [Re: BrownEyedTigre] #1178757
02/26/19 02:15 PM
02/26/19 02:15 PM
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Good Luck, oldbroad !! thumbsup


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