Cell phone question
#1178090
02/19/19 12:19 PM
02/19/19 12:19 PM
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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 18,249 Chicago
oldbroad
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Chicago
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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 My brother took the phone someplace and they said that it is obsolete but I did find a battery at Amazon.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
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Re: Cell phone question
[Re: oldbroad]
#1178092
02/19/19 12:33 PM
02/19/19 12:33 PM
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 6,919 Hogwarts
Trail_Mystic
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Dragon Breath - Darkside Moderator
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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!
Last edited by Trail_Mystic; 02/19/19 12:35 PM.
I feel a lot more like I do now, then when I first got here
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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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Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 9,848 San Diego, CA
Sorta Blonde
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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.
WARNING! This person is extremely blonde...please type SLOWLY.
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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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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 18,249 Chicago
oldbroad
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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.
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Re: Cell phone question
[Re: oldbroad]
#1178105
02/19/19 02:09 PM
02/19/19 02:09 PM
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 17,630 The Outer Limits
Cue
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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.
Did you ever stop to think and then forget to start again?
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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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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 2,222 Canal Fulton, OH
Sparkle
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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.
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Re: Cell phone question
[Re: oldbroad]
#1178114
02/19/19 03:18 PM
02/19/19 03:18 PM
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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 18,249 Chicago
oldbroad
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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. 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.
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Re: Cell phone question
[Re: oldbroad]
#1178118
02/19/19 04:07 PM
02/19/19 04:07 PM
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 2,222 Canal Fulton, OH
Sparkle
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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.
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Re: Cell phone question
[Re: oldbroad]
#1178122
02/19/19 04:58 PM
02/19/19 04:58 PM
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 20,123 Near St. Louis, MO
Draclvr
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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.
Once again, weeds are my life!
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Re: Cell phone question
[Re: oldbroad]
#1178153
02/19/19 10:22 PM
02/19/19 10:22 PM
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 20,123 Near St. Louis, MO
Draclvr
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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.
Once again, weeds are my life!
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Re: Cell phone question
[Re: oldbroad]
#1178217
02/20/19 01:53 PM
02/20/19 01:53 PM
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Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 9,848 San Diego, CA
Sorta Blonde
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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.
WARNING! This person is extremely blonde...please type SLOWLY.
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Re: Cell phone question
[Re: oldbroad]
#1178282
02/21/19 05:26 AM
02/21/19 05:26 AM
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Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 25,148 Marlborough USA
Kaki's Sister
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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
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Re: Cell phone question
[Re: oldbroad]
#1178324
02/21/19 12:52 PM
02/21/19 12:52 PM
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 20,123 Near St. Louis, MO
Draclvr
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Reviews Editor - Hints/Glitches Mod - Site Support
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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.
Once again, weeds are my life!
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Re: Cell phone question
[Re: oldbroad]
#1178331
02/21/19 01:56 PM
02/21/19 01:56 PM
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 20,123 Near St. Louis, MO
Draclvr
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Reviews Editor - Hints/Glitches Mod - Site Support
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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.
Once again, weeds are my life!
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