# How cheaply could a cell phone be made?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cheaply-could-a-cell-phone-be-made/299985
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 19, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cheaply-could-a-cell-phone-be-made/299985 "2005-04-19T02:25:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cheaply-could-a-cell-phone-be-made/299985/1 "2005-04-19T02:25:32Z")
I’m looking for a rough guide, I imagine that with the wonders of minuaturization, it couldn’t be that expensive. Maybe $20 if you strip out absolutely everything but the phone?
Single line, black and white screen, uses AA batteries rather than proprietry LiIon. Just enough memory for an address book.
Also, any idea why cell phones haven’t been integrated into more things? I would imagine that a laptop with built in cell phone would come in handy for emergency internet access and text messaging that doesn’t wear your thumbs to a nub.
---
### Author:  [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cheaply-could-a-cell-phone-be-made/299985/2 "2005-04-19T02:53:10Z")
It’s not the actual cell phone, but rather a cell tower saturation problem.
A tower can handle only so many cell devices before being saturated and needing an upgrade. If everything including toasters has a cell phone in it, you are going to need accounts/phone numbers for everything, and that’s expensive.
I bought a GPRS/EDGE (~ 256kbps) PCMCIA card for my laptop on ebay for $25.
It takes the SIM card from my phone and uses my data account. Getting a second account for my laptop is prohibitively expensive.
---
### Author:  [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cheaply-could-a-cell-phone-be-made/299985/3 "2005-04-19T03:01:04Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Also, any idea why cell phones haven’t been integrated into more things? I would imagine that a laptop with built in cell phone would come in handy for emergency internet access and text messaging that doesn’t wear your thumbs to a nub.
Maily because they way the service provides work these days is you need a separate account for each of these devices. Do you want a phone account plus a data modem account for your laptop or do you want a phone plus a cable for you laptop.
---
### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cheaply-could-a-cell-phone-be-made/299985/4 "2005-04-19T11:02:44Z")
I read about a dirt cheap cell phone for developig countries, perhaps on [cnet.com](http://cnet.com). IT was basically as you stated (LCD display, limited phonebook.).
IIRC the cost came in about $10 higher then planned, perhaps $35, but I’m not sure of the actual price anymore.
Actually the phonebook to me seems like a luxury and not to be included in such a phone, why do you think it is needed for basic cell phone function? Wouldn’t a white sticker you could stick on the back and write importaint numbers on be a cheaper solution? Really why is a phonebook needed?
---
### Author:  [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cheaply-could-a-cell-phone-be-made/299985/5 "2005-04-19T13:17:26Z")
Because memory has gotten so ridiculously cheap theres no point in really skimping on it. You need a certain amount of memory to contain the phone software in the first place, adding an extra 128K for address books would cost maybe a few pennies.
Is it possible to somehow get a dual account? so your laptop phone and your cell phone are tied to the same account but you can’t use them both at the same time.
---
### Author:  [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cheaply-could-a-cell-phone-be-made/299985/6 "2005-04-19T17:04:20Z")
Not as far as I know.
Current networks tie an account to a phone number. And only one device can be tied to a phone number at a time. Even if you could clone it somehow, having both devices on accidentally would probably be deemed fraud by the tower and the account would be suspended.
If we come up with a new standard that allows devices on the network that have no phone number(say IPv6 IP only or just internal netword ESID etc.) then after we upgrade most of the towers in the world(hundreds of thousands) can we start making cell devices left and right. Until then…
---
### Author:  [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cheaply-could-a-cell-phone-be-made/299985/7 "2005-04-19T18:59:15Z")
Okay, so you can’t share accounts. But you can easily get pre-paid accounts that take no money to maintain providing you make no calls, albeit at slightly higher prices than planned accounts.
Why not just include a $5 pre-paid account with each phone which you could likely get from the provider at a discount rate since many people wont use up the full $5 of it.
---
### Author:  [@6\_6\_6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6_6_6)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cheaply-could-a-cell-phone-be-made/299985/8 "2005-04-19T19:03:28Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#):
>
> Is it possible to somehow get a dual account?
Vodafone allows this in the UK. Two or more phones/one number. They call it **Multi SIM**.
---
### Author:  [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cheaply-could-a-cell-phone-be-made/299985/9 "2005-04-19T19:17:51Z")
You could probably build a basic cell phone (no screen, no address book, no nothin’) into a phone card for pennies. Buy the card with, say, $50 worth of service, and toss the card when it is used up.
---
### Author:  [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cheaply-could-a-cell-phone-be-made/299985/10 "2005-04-19T22:03:59Z")
There was a design for a [disposable cellphone](http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa022801a.htm), a few years back, made largely of paper (!), and that was supposed to cost about $20.
I don’t know if anything ever came of it. (I’m guessing “no”)
---
### Author:  [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cheaply-could-a-cell-phone-be-made/299985/11 "2005-04-19T22:37:51Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#):
>
> Okay, so you can’t share accounts. But you can easily get pre-paid accounts that take no money to maintain providing you make no calls, albeit at slightly higher prices than planned accounts.
>
> Why not just include a $5 pre-paid account with each phone which you could likely get from the provider at a discount rate since many people wont use up the full $5 of it.
Name one such cell phone provider? Even if you make no calls, you have to periodically “top up” with a new prepaid card to keep the phone number active. The cheapest I have ever seen is what I have. T-Mobile like to run every Christmas season (and also around June) an offer where if you buy a prepaid card for $25 or more it extends the minutes on the phone for a full year. Thus you can maintain the account for about $2 a month if you make no or few calls.
---
### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cheaply-could-a-cell-phone-be-made/299985/12 "2005-04-19T23:00:25Z")
Instead of building a phone into a laptop, you can just use it in conjunction with one; my phone (and the one I had before it) has an infrared port and will function as a dialup modem - you just put the two devices next to each other and away you go. Don’t use it much that way now though.
Alternatively, there are PCMCIA GSM cards - you pop the SIM out of your phone, pop it in the card, insert in the laptop and you _have_ a laptop with an inbuilt phone (well, more or less). There’s no compelling reason to integrate devices that are a)most commonly used separately, b)less convenient to use if both are combined and c)already owned by most people as separate units.
---
### Author:  [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2005, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cheaply-could-a-cell-phone-be-made/299985/13 "2005-04-19T23:23:46Z")
> [@rfgdxm](#):
>
> Name one such cell phone provider? Even if you make no calls, you have to periodically “top up” with a new prepaid card to keep the phone number active. The cheapest I have ever seen is what I have. T-Mobile like to run every Christmas season (and also around June) an offer where if you buy a prepaid card for $25 or more it extends the minutes on the phone for a full year. Thus you can maintain the account for about $2 a month if you make no or few calls.
I correct myself:
[http://gobeyond2.chainreactionweb.com/catalog/airtime\_rates.php](http://gobeyond2.chainreactionweb.com/catalog/airtime_rates.php)
“\*\*Minutes never expire as long as 1 minute is used every 60 days.”
This does take money to maintain the account. However it is just 15 cents every 60 days.
---
### Author:  [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2005, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-cheaply-could-a-cell-phone-be-made/299985/14 "2005-04-20T03:34:23Z")
> [@rfgdxm](#):
>
> Name one such cell phone provider? Even if you make no calls, you have to periodically “top up” with a new prepaid card to keep the phone number active. The cheapest I have ever seen is what I have. T-Mobile like to run every Christmas season (and also around June) an offer where if you buy a prepaid card for $25 or more it extends the minutes on the phone for a full year. Thus you can maintain the account for about $2 a month if you make no or few calls.
I don’t know about the US but the cell plan I’m on now in Australia is a monthly plan with no minimum spend. If I never made any calls, I would not pay a cent for it.