Wanted: Simple Verizon (dumb) cell phone

In My Humble Opinion
1

I have a 90-year old friend who has Verizon. His old phone died, and he asked if there was anything like it now.

I’ve been perusing their website, and I can’t find any phone that just makes phone calls. He does not need a camera, email, texting, Internet access or anything else.

He hesitates going to one of their stores as he knows they will give him a big sales pitch, and there is always a long wait for a salesperson. He thought if he could find the model he wanted, he could then go and haggle with them for the price with or without a contract.

Does such an animal still exist?

2

Look on eBay. You should be able to find lots of phones there that will work for him. Make sure you check the specs for Verizon compatibility.

3

I’ve got an old Verizon Motorola cellphone, some pre-Razr model, that I found just the other day.

Not sure if I still have the charger for it but other than that, if you want it, you can have it for postage. I’ll gladly pass the responsibility of recycling it on to someone else…

4

Oh, and if he’s a current Verizon customer and has his own phone (such as me giving him my de-registered phone), I believe he can register it online and have the service start working to the phone (and no longer to the old one).

I did this at least once - it involved logging in to the Verizon Wireless home page, going to the phone associated with your cell phone number and then selecting the model of phone you had and entering in some info from the phone itself.

(ETA: I think it’s a Motorola V60 or V60c or something of that era, circa 2003.)

5

You should be able to find basic Verizon phones at Target or WalMart. It should be as easy as letting Verizon know that you have a new phone and give them the ESN (Electronic Serial Number).

6

For chargers, and cell phones for almost any kind of phone, go here http://www.bargaincell.com/

It’s where I go for that second charger the companies never give you. Cheap too.

7

You can buy old Verizon phones via Amazon, too. I have this model here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0041NG9OI/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001TGAZDG&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0NXZQAHJKPQA47S9TG6P

Although I didn’t buy from that seller. (I got mine a hundred years ago when it was Verizon’s free upgrade and I’ve never bothered to get a smart phone.)

But if he wants one new, there’s some basic phones on the Verizon website - look under the Feature Phones category (since they don’t call them Dumb phones). Check out these models:

LG Accolade
Motorola Barrage (also comes in a non-camera version)
Samsung Haven - looks easy to read
Samsung Gusto

I have no idea what the price would be if wanted to buy those in the store, or even if the store would stock them. But no harm in asking. And of course, he might get a contract renewal discount, if he asks about it.

8

Thanks for the kind offer. I’ll check with my friend, and if he wants it, I’ll send you a PM

9

Does he even need to tell Verizon if he has the old SIM card? Just switch the SIM cards.

10

Verizon phones (except the newest 4g phones) don’t have SIM cards. But you can do it from the website: Log in to the website, click “active new device/change device”, type in the serial number, turn on the new phone and dial *228, press 1 to active new phone,and wait until it says you are done.

11

My wife and I knew that her mom would have problems with a complex phone,(she was 88) but we wanted her to have a cell phone. If the phone was not really simple she would get confused. We signed her up with Jitterbug cell phone company. It is just a phone few extras. the only extras is it has a voice mail box for missed calls and it even has a dial tone when the phone is opened.

12

Maybe he’s happy with Verizon and his contract, but he could probably cut his monthly cost by 70 percent by getting a phone from PagePlus, which uses the Verizon network.