Dumb Olde Pharte questions on burner/disposable phones

[230RN]

vaskidmark remarked in one of the threads,
"I'm going to get a couple of burner phones..."

Pardon my ignorance, but how do those work?  I think you just buy 'em for a period or number of minutes, and then chuck 'em, right?

I'm having trouble organizing my questions.

Here's the problem.  I'm on Consumer Cellular from AARP which costs me about $12 a month.  That's OK, but their per-minute rate is pretty high, and it costs $12 once a month every month.

I got it for emergencies only, and never have it on, although it's with me all the time when I'm out and about. I think I've used it for outgoing calls three times in the last three years.   I paid something like $60 up-front for the phone itself.

I'm looking for the same kind of useage --no incoming calls, very rare outgoing ones, and I'd just like to keep it handy for emergencies for a couple of years.  (It would be nice to be able to have it on while I'm on the road so my sons can call me while I'm on my way to meet them, but that's not critical.)

Of course I've noticed prepaid phones at the supermarket, but never paid much attention to them.

I guess there are also these "burner phones."

So what's the difference and which would be best for my usage.  And how do you get a "burner phone" in the first place?

Also, can I latch onto one of those programs with my present $60 Motorola cell phone?

Help this olde cheapskate pharte out, here, please?

Terry, 230RN  

[KD5NRH]

Well, I've never found the kind Jason Bourne gets, where they're precharged, preactivated and available for  cash on every street corner, but I know a former coworker had one that just had to have a certain minimum balance on it to sit inactive for up to a year.  It was some ancient phone that would work with NiCd or alkaline AAs, but pretty much ideal for what he used it for, which was a backup phone in his car in case something went wrong and his regular phone was dead.

[Triphammer]

Look at "Trac-fone" when cellphones were new these were the affordable ones. Twenty dollar phone that came with 10 minutes. You can recharge by buying cards @ Wal-Mart or circle K & never have a name attached. Really expensive ( comparatively) for daily use but usable if you occasional or emergency communications. 

 The movie "burner phones" are the illegal black market cloned phones using someone else's account. Available as movie guns and just as realistic.

[Andiron]

http://www.teotwawki-blog.com/2015/05/how-to-burner-phone.html

[zxcvbob]

It you only want it for emergencies, any old cellphone will work w/o a plan.  (they'll all call 911)  I only recently upgraded from my Virgin Mobile "minute-2-minute" plan that was something like $20 every 3 months, and the unused dollars accumulated.  I don't know if that plan is still available for new customers.  

I decided I could afford $35 a month for unlimited texts and data, and more minutes of voice than I'll ever use, even if it was a huge % increase from the old plan I had

[vaskidmark]

http://www.teotwawki-blog.com/2015/05/how-to-burner-phone.html

The "problem" with this, as opposed to walking into the local Stop&Rob with cash, is there will be a credit card record of your purchase of the phone, SIM card, and minutes.

I picked up both a (IIRC) Trac brand GMS flip phone for $2.98 and a 10-minute double-your-minutes card (20 minutes) good for 6 months for $3.00 at the local Lowes - they were in the racks at the checkout along with the other impulse buy crap (eyeglass repair kits, LED flashlights, etc).  The phone and SIM card had to be "activated" at the checkout, but that just turns off the anti-theft stuff that prevents you from charging the battery.

Charge up the battery and call the number on the minutes card, enter the code, and you are good for however many minutes the card is worth.

Figuring new 10-minute cards at $5, and with double-minutes premium and only good for 3 months (apparently the shortest period offered) it comes out to $20/year for 10 minutes I'll probably never use for a phone that is not traceable to me.  Let  the discord begin!!

Pro tip - it is common to leave a fingerprint on the latex/vinyl gloves you use to prevent fingerprints.  Wipe them down as soon as you put them on.

stay safe.

[HeroHog]

I have one of my old Verizon flip phones I'll give ya! All ya gotta do is get it activated through whoever and buy some minutes if that will help ya out. It has great battery life.

[vaskidmark]

I have one of my old Verizon flip phones I'll give ya! All ya gotta do is get it activated through whoever and buy some minutes if that will help ya out. It has great battery life.

He'll really need 2 phones: one to call from and one to receive the call.

Not that I know what the heck I'm talking about and nobody else does either.

stay safe.

PS -

Dear DHS,  I'm supposed to meet some folks for breakfast tomorrow morning.  Would it be too much to ask you to wait till about 11:30 to come kick in my door?  I'd sure hate to miss you if you came earlier.

[230RN]

I may take you up on that offer later, HeroHog ! :)

So I gather I can buy one of the supermarket phones, pay cash for a card for it, and, depending on plan, keep renewing it every 3 moths or so?

(I'm not particularly interested in security/secrecy.)

My next question is, how do I go about getting my current phone (Motorola) on one of these plans, since it does not have a card port that I can find.  There might be one in the battery compartment, but I can't figure out how to open it.

 My old one (Nokia) which I put out to pasture when I got the AARP plan for the Motorola, has a card under the battery, but I can't figure out how it snaps in and out.  (Of course, if I break it, it doesn't matter, since I don't use it anyhow.)

Quickie pics for reference...

Terry

[230RN]

Couldn't seem to get both pics on the same post...

[Firethorn]

Okay.  On the Nokia - it looks like the metal bracket holding the SIMM card down is hinged on the top side,  You can try tugging up on the bottom of it that is coming up. 

As for the motorola - in the USA you have AT&T(GSM) and Verizon(CDMA).  AT&T went with GSM, which has the chip.  Verizon went with CDMA, which doesn't use a chip.

Honestly, you may be better off just buying new from wal-mart.  As the article mentions, you can get a new phone for like $20, a chip for $5-10, and then you have something that's compatible with much more modern technology, you don't have to worry whether the battery is fried, etc...

[HankB]

I have a TracFone. It cost me around $15, with "double minutes for life."  Every 3 months, I buy a $20 card good for 120 minutes which extends my service 90 days. (There's usually a promo code on the web to get some extra minutes.)

I never use my minutes, and have a rather large total now . . . but I have to keep buying $20 cards every 3 months to keep the service active. Still, that's less than $8 a month - pretty cheap for a cell.

It's a "dumbphone" without touch screen, 4G internet, video, etc., but I've used it - as a phone! - in Texas, Ohio, Illinois, California, Kentucky, Minnesota, and a few other places without any problems.

[230RN]

Upshot:

According to this thread, what I want (pay once, keep it active "forever") is not possible:

http://www.armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=27530.msg537926#msg537926

I guess my  best bet is to let my subscription to the AARP connection lapse, and since 911 calling is always active, use it that way.  Just keep the battery charged.

If I could use my old Nokia phone this way, how do you test for 911 calling capabilities without ticking the 911 operators off because  it isn't a real emergency?  Is "testing" 911 this way (sans a legitimate emergency) OK with them?

Terry

[Tallpine]

Upshot:

According to this thread, what I want (pay once, keep it active "forever") is not possible:

http://www.armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=27530.msg537926#msg537926

I guess my  best bet is to let my subscription to the AARP connection lapse, and since 911 calling is always active, use it that way.  Just keep the battery charged.

If I could use my old Nokia phone this way, how do you test for 911 calling capabilities without ticking the 911 operators off because  it isn't a real emergency?  Is "testing" 911 this way (sans a legitimate emergency) OK with them?

Terry

You could call the local dispatch on their non-emergency line and get their okay first, but the problem is that there is no guarantee where a cell phone 911 call will be routed.  Such calls are supposed to go to the nearest emergency dispatch, but there have been numerous cases in Montana where the call gets routed to a dispatch several counties away - who then have to figure out the location of the caller and contact the appropriate agency.

[KD5NRH]

You could call the local dispatch on their non-emergency line and get their okay first, but the problem is that there is no guarantee where a cell phone 911 call will be routed.  Such calls are supposed to go to the nearest emergency dispatch, but there have been numerous cases in Montana where the call gets routed to a dispatch several counties away - who then have to figure out the location of the caller and contact the appropriate agency.

Around here, the two cities with their own PD/FD/EMS, the university, and the sheriff's department can all transfer a 911 call to each other instantly, however, it's sort of a roll of the dice as to which one you'll get from dialing 911 on a cell phone regardless of location, so I got in the habit of specifying first which jurisdiction I was in before giving the exact location; they can also dispatch each other's resources, but it will go a lot faster to get the right dispatcher when you're not using an exact address, (and every department has to be able to deal with directions based on "the old Dairy Queen" that closed in the early 80s and was bulldozed in the 90s, or "that big herd of Charolais...not the Herefords, farther down by where the barn burned last year.")  since they don't always know the intricacies of the roads in the others' areas.

[Monkeyleg]

The "problem" with this, as opposed to walking into the local Stop&Rob with cash, is there will be a credit card record of your purchase of the phone, SIM card, and minutes.

I picked up both a (IIRC) Trac brand GMS flip phone for $2.98 and a 10-minute double-your-minutes card (20 minutes) good for 6 months for $3.00 at the local Lowes - they were in the racks at the checkout along with the other impulse buy crap (eyeglass repair kits, LED flashlights, etc).  The phone and SIM card had to be "activated" at the checkout, but that just turns off the anti-theft stuff that prevents you from charging the battery.

Charge up the battery and call the number on the minutes card, enter the code, and you are good for however many minutes the card is worth.

Figuring new 10-minute cards at $5, and with double-minutes premium and only good for 3 months (apparently the shortest period offered) it comes out to $20/year for 10 minutes I'll probably never use for a phone that is not traceable to me.  Let  the discord begin!!

Pro tip - it is common to leave a fingerprint on the latex/vinyl gloves you use to prevent fingerprints.  Wipe them down as soon as you put them on.

stay safe.

So there's still possible to be anonymous in some way in this country, or was this phone available a few years ago but not anymore?

[KD5NRH]

So there's still possible to be anonymous in some way in this country, or was this phone available a few years ago but not anymore?

Looks like the ReadySIM cards are still available.  $15 for a 3 day, $20 for a 7 day or $55 for a 30 day.  Really not a bad monthly price for unlimited talk/text/4G compared to a lot of plans.  No idea if they're still as anonymous as before, but I might be inclined to grab one and try it at some point.

http://www.amazon.com/Ready-SIM-Talk-Text-Day/dp/B00AB41DJM/ref=pd_sim_107_1
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-SIM-Talk-Text-Data/dp/B00AB3ZNF8/ref=pd_sim_107_9

[Monkeyleg]

If you buy it from Amazon, it won't be anonymous. Credit card and all that. 

[KD5NRH]

If you buy it from Amazon, it won't be anonymous. Credit card and all that.

http://www.readysim.com/where-to-buy

Plenty of cash dealers all over the place.

[Tallpine]

Around here, the two cities with their own PD/FD/EMS, the university, and the sheriff's department can all transfer a 911 call to each other instantly, however, it's sort of a roll of the dice as to which one you'll get from dialing 911 on a cell phone regardless of location, so I got in the habit of specifying first which jurisdiction I was in before giving the exact location; they can also dispatch each other's resources, but it will go a lot faster to get the right dispatcher when you're not using an exact address, (and every department has to be able to deal with directions based on "the old Dairy Queen" that closed in the early 80s and was bulldozed in the 90s, or "that big herd of Charolais...not the Herefords, farther down by where the barn burned last year.")  since they don't always know the intricacies of the roads in the others' areas.

Remember, Montana is not all that far past the smoke signal era 

Part of the trouble is phone co-ops etc straddle county jurisdictions.  And then who knows which cell tower you might hit, if any (they recently shut down about half the cell towers in MT :( ).  Cell phone doesn't work at all at our property.

For instance, we live in County A, but our mail delivery comes from County B, and also the school buses run out here from County B because our country won't go out this far    And our ranch neighbors "two doors down" are long distance from our house because they are served by a different phone co-op, but they are still in our county.  It's also long distance from our house to the county seat.

[KD5NRH]

And our ranch neighbors "two doors down" are long distance from our house because they are served by a different phone co-op, but they are still in our county.

Had that for years growing up; I could hop the fence and be at the neighbors' door in less than five minutes, but it was a long distance call.  The ones over their back fence had a business and the father was pastor of a church both in our town, and had to cut a deal with the folks over our back fence to put in an extra phone line, then run it 500 feet to their house so their staff and church members wouldn't have to call long distance.

[Tallpine]

Had that for years growing up; I could hop the fence and be at the neighbors' door in less than five minutes, but it was a long distance call.  The ones over their back fence had a business and the father was pastor of a church both in our town, and had to cut a deal with the folks over our back fence to put in an extra phone line, then run it 500 feet to their house so their staff and church members wouldn't have to call long distance.

Well, to be specific - "two doors down" is actually about four miles.  There is one more house beyond us and then their ranch starts about 3/4 mile up the road, but their houses/barns/corrals are several miles farther.

It's relatively crowded right around here (because this one old ranch was subdivided back in the 1970s) but there are lot's of places where the nearest houses are five, ten, or more miles apart.

Our dispatch is a PITA, because they will always give us the address of the reporting party even though the fire or accident or whatever is actually some miles away 

[KD5NRH]

Our dispatch is a PITA, because they will always give us the address of the reporting party even though the fire or accident or whatever is actually some miles away

Yup; we've tried to get 911 addresses assigned to each gate for the same reason; go in mom's front gate for an emergency up on the ridge and you're in for about a mile and a half of bushwhacking and mudbogging, if you don't end up having to back out from a 4-8 foot deep vertical-sided wash.  It takes about ten minutes on a tractor or gator if you know the route and don't care about a few dents or a lot of scratches.  You'll also pass two more gates on the main road along the front and one on the other county road at the back corner, two of which have pretty decent pasture tracks (as in, my Saturn has no trouble with them and the guy leasing the grazing rights pulls trailers along them with a 2WD F150 all the time) straight to the ridge...plus one to an equally difficult to access spot on the neighbors' place that can be accessed in less than three minutes from the main road if you know to go through mom's third gate.

[Tallpine]

Yup; we've tried to get 911 addresses assigned to each gate for the same reason; go in mom's front gate for an emergency up on the ridge and you're in for about a mile and a half of bushwhacking and mudbogging, if you don't end up having to back out from a 4-8 foot deep vertical-sided wash.  It takes about ten minutes on a tractor or gator if you know the route and don't care about a few dents or a lot of scratches.  You'll also pass two more gates on the main road along the front and one on the other county road at the back corner, two of which have pretty decent pasture tracks (as in, my Saturn has no trouble with them and the guy leasing the grazing rights pulls trailers along them with a 2WD F150 all the time) straight to the ridge...plus one to an equally difficult to access spot on the neighbors' place that can be accessed in less than three minutes from the main road if you know to go through mom's third gate.

It's worse than that - sometimes we get paged for three fires apparently spread out all over the western half of the county in the space of a few minutes 

Turns out they are all the same fire, nowhere near any of the addresses that we are supposed to respond to.  We just have to ignore the paged location and drive towards the huge fokking smoke column 

Then there was the page for a fire on my next door neighbors place, and I am going "oh *expletive deleted*it!"  Turns out it was really up the road a couple miles on the aforementioned ranch but they just gave us the nearest address.

[KD5NRH]

Turns out they are all the same fire, nowhere near any of the addresses that we are supposed to respond to.  We just have to ignore the paged location and drive towards the huge fokking smoke column

Works for a fire.  Bit tougher for an EMS call to someone's back 40.  I usually try to keep a few bottle rockets tucked away in the car year round; the pop gets them looking the right way, and if the weather's clear, the smoke trail will stick around for a few minutes.  IME, they're less likely to start a fire than typical aerial flares, cheaper, (meaning I can buy a lot more for a few bucks and just keep launching until they show up) and not a typical emergency signal so they can also be used for non-emergency signalling ("found the lost calf over here") without worrying that someone else will panic.