Best basic (flip) phone w/ longest battery life?

[CA renter]

Since many of you seem to be in the cell phone industry, I was wondering if you could advise me on a cell phone purchase. I’m looking for a phone that will be used primarily for talk and text, and will be used very rarely.

Need:

-long battery life (#1 priority)
-durable, preferably one that can last for a decade or more
-exceptional call quality and decent range
-unlocked is preferable, but can work with a particular carrier if they have very inexpensive talk/text service

Do NOT want/need:

-bluetooth
-data capabilities
-do not need a camera, if that makes a difference

If you have any suggestions, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[gzz]

Buy this on Amazon then go to t mobile for a sim card and voice and text only no data plan.

[The-Shoveler]

You can get a free mostly less-than-smart-phone from most providers, After 2 years My battery lasts about three days of normal phone use and is good enough for basic google search (all I need it for really).

I laugh at my friends who have to frantically find an outlet to charge their phone half way through the day LOL.

[Hobie]

+1 to the Samsung. Had that one for years before smartphone. Batt will last a week with low use. Phone quality is better than my $$$ pos iphone. Actually considering reactivating just as phone. hmm. but then another thing to loose.

[CA renter]

[quote=gzz]Buy this on Amazon then go to t mobile for a sim card and voice and text only no data plan.

Thank you for your input, gzz (and everyone else). That happens to be one that I’ve been looking at, so it’s good to hear positive input from Piggs who know their stuff. 🙂

[CA renter]

[quote=The-Shoveler]You can get a free mostly less-than-smart-phone from most providers, After 2 years My battery lasts about three days of normal phone use and is good enough for basic google search (all I need it for really).

I laugh at my friends who have to frantically find an outlet to charge their phone half way through the day LOL.[/quote]

With a contract, right? I’m just embarking on this search, but was at Verizon last night, and they now want a $20/mo. line access fee in addition to the monthly plan (that’s how I understand it). I just want a solid, reliable dumb phone for emergencies and the rare quick conversation/text, and cannot fathom paying more than ~$20-$25/month for it, at most.

Yeah, the low battery thing is a no-go for me. My DH is always running low on his iPhone, and I shake my head at people’s eagerness to pay hundreds of dollars for a phone with a battery that can’t hold a charge for much more than half a day. I’m old, and remember the days when car/cell phones were for emergencies, like when your car would break down on the side of the road and there was no pay phone or call box. Battery life and call quality/range were the most important factors. I still think of cell phones as primarily being used for emergencies and/or when you’re out and about without access to a landline or electrical outlet. I don’t need useless games and apps…I just want a phone that works when I need it to work.

[The-Shoveler]

Nope, unless you consider $65 dollars for three lines unlimited data/talk as paying for the phone (we got three free Huawei somewhat-smartphones with the plan).
It seems very rugged as well, have dropped it many times,

I sit on it all the time.

[CA renter]

[quote=The-Shoveler]Nope, unless you consider $65 dollars for three lines unlimited data/talk as paying for the phone (we got three free Huawei somewhat-smartphones with the plan).
It seems very rugged as well, have dropped it many times,

I sit on it all the time.[/quote]

Which phone(s) and providers? TIA!

[The-Shoveler]

Call T-Mobile

I can change the battery in about 30 seconds as well LOL.

[exsdgal]

Recently I switched one of the secondary phones to Google Fi, and have been happy with the decision. It costs ~$20/month. I did buy an unlocked Nexus out of pocket.

[XBoxBoy]

For a cheap plan I suggest Ting.com. They buy bulk time on the major carriers networks and resell to their customers. My phone bill is typically $13 a month since I don’t use data and talk less than 100 minutes a month. And there is no commitment to a 2 year plan.

[spdrun]

T-mo prepaid is 10 cents per minute (min $3 per month). For under 100 minutes, you should be paying under $10/mo.

BTW. I would not get a flip phone. I’d get a candybar. Flip phones used to break at the hinge all of the time.

[Coronita]

.

[CA renter]

What were your thoughts, flu? 🙂

[Coronita]

[quote=CA renter]What were your thoughts, flu? :)[/quote]

I posted something about google fi, because I thought it was the cheapest plan. But then I saw someone post something above for $10/month.

https://fi.google.com/about/plan/

Some folks at work use it. Supposedly, the network coverage is good because it uses more than one carrier and picks among the ones the best one to use. The caveat is that you need to use a phone that has modem that all the carriers use.. Most of the phones on the markets are split so that they have radios for verizon+sprint or ATT/tmobile, but not both.

So you would need to get a phone like a Nexus5x or Nexus6,6p that has a modem for all the carriers.

The plan is $20/month for unlimited voice text, and $10/month for each 1GB of data you use, pro-rated based on your actual usage. No data usage, no data charge.

The cheapest phone would be about $199, which if you opted to, you can get it for $9/month.

No flip phone option.

In san diego, coverage would be covered by 3 leading carriers + WIFI.
(I believe that would be Tmobile, verizon, and ATT)

The advantage i think is those that complain about spotty coverage by one carrier in the past haven’t had issues, since supposedly project fi choses the best of the 3 networks each time.

I have t-mobile, and the plan is cheaper because I have a corporate discount and my employer pays for it, and I need to be able to have service that allows me to use different types of phones, so project fi wouldn’t work with me. But, if I didn’t have that requirement, I would probably use it, because at $20/month it’s pretty cheap, and reliability should be as good if not better than each individual carrier. My experience with t-mobile is that the coverage is not that great. It’s tolerable for me, but for example, when I stepped right out side of the SFO airport, I had no reception so couldn’t get an uber cab…lol.

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