Cell Phones without plans ( emergencies, single/rare use )

I was looking for a cell phone to keep in the glove compartment of my
car for rare uses:
-- car breaking down
-- emergencies
-- getting lost
-- an occasional call when doing volunteer work outside

I didn't want to get all wired into a calling plan for this modest
amount of use. My initial search seemed to show that this was
impossible, that if you wanted a cell phone you would have to buy a
plan or get involved in some scheme that would keep extracting money
from you.

Luckily I found this site. I am posting the link here for archive
searchers who might have the same goal as I did:

http://www.emergencycellphones.com/

On 8 Apr 2007 11:15:20 -0700, "Steve" <tinker123@gmail.com> wrote:
>I was looking for a cell phone to keep in the glove compartment of my
>car for rare uses:
>-- car breaking down
>-- emergencies
>-- getting lost
>-- an occasional call when doing volunteer work outside
>
>I didn't want to get all wired into a calling plan for this modest
>amount of use. My initial search seemed to show that this was
>impossible, that if you wanted a cell phone you would have to buy a
>plan or get involved in some scheme that would keep extracting money
>from you.

Well, it very much depends on which country your in! Where on this
globe are you situated?

On Apr 8, 2:15 pm, "Steve" <tinker...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I was looking for a cell phone to keep in the glove compartment of my
> car for rare uses:
> -- car breaking down
> -- emergencies
> -- getting lost
> -- an occasional call when doing volunteer work outside
>
> I didn't want to get all wired into a calling plan for this modest
> amount of use. My initial search seemed to show that this was
> impossible, that if you wanted a cell phone you would have to buy a
> plan or get involved in some scheme that would keep extracting money
> from you.
>
> Luckily I found this site. I am posting the link here for archive
> searchers who might have the same goal as I did:
>
> http://www.emergencycellphones.com/

Same thing, possibly cheaper yet:
http://www.911phone.net/

"Steve" <tinker123@gmail.com> wrote in news:1176056120.362004.234940
@d57g2000hsg.googlegroups.com:

> My initial search seemed to show that this was
> impossible, that if you wanted a cell phone you would have to buy a
> plan or get involved in some scheme that would keep extracting money
> from you.
>

Nope, not true, no matter the company bull****ters. FCC forces them to
provide 911 service to any cellphone on any system at any time. It's in
their license contract.

Best emergency cellphone for a vehicle is a nice-condition Motorola 3
watt AMPS bagphone with a cigarette lighter power cord that doesn't
require an internal battery. If any cellphone stored in the trunk for
years had a battery, it would soon be dead rendering the phone useless.
With the ciggie lighter cord, even a DEAD car battery has more than
enough power to operate the phone at a full 3 watts output IF you take
the loads off it....like leaving the door open which runs 27 dressy lamps
all over the cabin. Take the load of a battery that won't budge the
engine, and in minutes it will boot and talk for hours on a bagphone,
which draws little DC power in comparison. Turn off all
lights/radios/gadgets and the dead battery comes back up unless it's
shorted.

Store the heavy-duty bagphone in the trunk. You can't hurt it banging
around in the bag. They're as rugged as cop radios....commercial
quality. Use it until they REALLY take the AMPS analog cellphone system
down, which I still think is years away because of government use and
companies like ONSTAR who have millions of cars online on AMPS. FCC
keeps extending the time carriers MUST provide AMPS on 800 Mhz for this
reason. Hell, the Presidential Limo has AMPS phones in it because the
cryptographic voice equipment won't go over a crappy digital low-res
cellphone circuit.

Set the phone to STD A/B or STD B/A so it will scan BOTH A and B 800 Mhz
AMPS systems for a signal, not just the old home system it was programmed
for. If you get a refusal to allow the call, call your local police and
tell them about it, straight away! Send a complaint with all the
information as to what carrier refused to info@fcc.gov and they'll sure
get it straightened out in a hurry! That's an NAL (Notice of Apparent
Liability) violation of FCC rules and taken very seriously.

Larry
--
A bagphone in every vehicle....even the boat!

Steve wrote:

> Same thing, possibly cheaper yet:
> http://www.911phone.net/

It would take many years of service to be as cheap as a prepaid plan
such as 7-11's SpeakOut ($25/year minimum) or PagePlus ($30/year minimum).

T-Mobile could be as cheap as $10/year after the higher cost first year;
you pay $100 to achieve "gold status" and get 1000 minutes, and
thereafter only pay $10/year (30 minute card) to keep the phone active.

Of course for emergency-only, you can use any inactive cell phone.

Also, credit card calling will be very difficult, if not impossible,
once AMPS is turned off in major metro areas in 2008. The American
Roaming Network allows credit card calls, but it's AMPS only.

Steve wrote:

> ANY phone? I ask because I received a Nokia 2115i as a gift. The
> manual said I HAVE to use the virgin mobile network. I called them
> and it is obnoxious. It is geared toward teenagers, right down to the
> way the operators talk. Every 3 months I would have to give them
> $20 whether I need more minutes or not. I haven't been able to make
> a 911 call with this phone. Maybe I am doing something wrong. Can
> I make credit card calls with this phone? How? I am a cell phone
> newbie.

Okay, maybe not _any_ phone. But 911 works from every TDMA, AMPS, or GSM
phone that I've ever tried. The Virgin phones don't support AMPS, so you
can't do credit card calling.

> I'm a cell phone newbie. How does one place a credit card call on
> an inactive cell phone at present?

If you try making a call from inactive cell phone, on the AMPS network
(you'd have to switch a tri-mode cell phone to AMPS only) then you
should get prompted for a credit card number. It doesn't always work though.

The least hassle for very-very occasional use, are the 7-11 Speak Out
service ($25/year, 20¢/minute) or the T-Mobile plans after you spend the
$100 it's only $10/year).

The big advantage of PagePlus is that the coverage is much better than
on SpeakOut or T-Mobile. The downside is that every four months you have
to add $10. So it's $30/year and about 14¢/minute).

I got my kids PagePlus phones. My daughter often lends her phone to her
friends that have family plan phones on Cingular and T-Mobile, because
the coverage is so much better on the PagePlus/Verizon network. Just
check the February Consumer Reports!

I'd guess that I'm spending about $4/month for my daughter's phone on
air time. She tells me about the fancy phones that kids at school have,
and I told her that she was free to buy one of those phones and pay for
the service herself, but she wisely decided not to. I'd put her on my
Verizon plan, but I'd lose my grandfathered stuff such as wider coverage
area, and 8:01 p.m. nights.