Can you find this phone?

September 20, 2022 8:05 PM

My phone carrier is like $9/month. Total. I want to keep them. They require that I use a 4g phone. Can you find me a used phone that doesn't cost the moon?

REQUIREMENTS:
- 4G VoLTE T-mobile compatible
- can do group texts (natively, not whatsapp)
- not smart
- the cheaper the better
- accepts a sim card

That's it. You can stop there if it means you'll give me an answer.

VERY VERY NICE TO HAVE
- used (or fair trade / eco if new)

VERY NICE TO HAVE:
- unbreakable
- easy to text
- excellent sound quality
- camera
- support for lots and lots of bands (works internationally)


NICE TO HAVE:
- video
- alarm clock
- calculator
- flashlight
- calendar
- hotspot

REJECTION PILE:
- Smartphone


I used to have a Sonim XP5s and it was the best cell phone ever. Their model that works with my carrier now, the XP3 Plus, is still priiiiiicey.

posted by aniola to Technology (21 answers total)

Any chance this refurbished option appeals to you? Prices are in CAD but with a $9 phone plan I’m guessing you’re in America so it would probably be even cheaper for you!
posted by Juniper Toast at 8:26 PM on September 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

Have you looked at Sunbeam's phones? They meet all of your requirements and many of the extras, depending on phone model.
posted by forbiddencabinet at 8:41 PM on September 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

I saw the TCL Classic but it might not fit all the criteria.

https://www.cricketwireless.com/cell-phones/smartphones/tcl-classic-black.html
posted by VyanSelei at 8:49 PM on September 20, 2022

Sounds like you do _not_ want a smartphone, but how about a 'semi-smart' phone? The Nokia 2760 for example, is a 'feature phone' that runs the KaiOS operating system. KaiOS is an OS developed for those phones that supports some apps, including some Google stuff. A sometimes-changing page of devices that support KaiOS is here. Note that some phones are carrier-specific (the 2760 is not, as far as I can tell), and might not be available in all locations.
posted by TimHare at 10:12 PM on September 20, 2022

Personally? Get one off Swappa, a gently used one. Get former T-mob phone to ensure compatibility.

The problem is it probably WILL be a smartphone.
posted by kschang at 2:43 AM on September 21, 2022

Nokia's feature phone page might help: https://www.nokia.com/phones/en_us/feature-phones The Nokia 6300 4G looks promising.
posted by cgg at 8:48 AM on September 21, 2022 [1 favorite]

May I ask why you don't want a smartphone? Understanding that might give some context that could help guide what does get recommended.

Also, what is your max, budget-wise?
posted by pdb at 9:15 AM on September 21, 2022

Response by poster: Thank you for all your suggestions so far. These are all very close. Please keep 'em coming.

- The Canadian refurbished one isn't available in the US [availability, hopefully price]
- Those Sunbeams look great too, but they're like $200 and I wasn't seeing them used anywhere [price]
- Cricket phone is locked to Cricket [network]
- Unless something has changed in the past couple years, KaiOS can't handle group text (have you ever successfully tried to tell a group to stop texting you because it blows up your phone?) [group text]
- Smartphones are way too useful, do a number on my wrists and my eyes and my time, and I'm not seeing a feature phone on Swappa. But it's good to know about! [Smart]
- Those Nokia phones won't handle group texting (per my partner per cnet) [group]


I was spending about US$30 before. So these prices are seeming high to me. There are phones on Swappa for $30. So it seems like I should be able to find something under, like, twice that. My $ criteria is "the cheaper the better" so if it's cheaper than something someone listed here, it's better.
posted by aniola at 9:39 AM on September 21, 2022

I'm not sure about group texts, but this one from Tello is 4G VoLTE, not smart, accepts a SIM, and isn't expensive. I don't think you need to use Tello as your carrier, but they'd tell you if you ask.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 2:15 PM on September 21, 2022

Looks like there are (refurb?) XP3s on ebay for about $130 (US Cellular) but the cheapest I see a T-Mobile compatible is about $150. But one option is to keep an eye on eBay and a T-Mobile compatible XP3 might show up at a decent price sooner or later.

Here is another source for T-Mobile XP3 at $127.
posted by flug at 4:05 PM on September 21, 2022

Response by poster: Thank you for your new suggestions. These are both very close. Please keep 'em coming.

- That one from Tello doesn't do group texts [group texts]
- XP3 isn't XP3 Plus, it's the "plus" version that's supposed to work with Tello. (The XP3 is from the same generation as the Sonim XP5s that I was using but this year Tello rejected its 4G VoLTE for some mysterious reason anyway.) [Tello compatibility]
posted by aniola at 7:59 PM on September 21, 2022

Best answer: Going a different direction and taking inspiration from this reddit thread looking for basically the same thing. In that thread a suggestion was an iPhone 3G, which was essentially a dumb phone because everything else other than the phone features were too old to be usable. An iPhone 5 is the first iPhone with 4G, and I see them for about $50 on swappa. And I'm guessing most internet-based features will be pretty unusable at this point given it'll have been 10 years since it's initial release, so I'm not sure how smart it is at this point. Probably still not great for your wrists and screen wise, but it will have group texts...
posted by cgg at 12:49 PM on September 22, 2022

Have you looked at the AGM M6? When I was looking into feature phones it seemed like a fairly good choice, but maybe a bit pricier than what you’re looking for. From memory, it does most of the things you want.
posted by Kattullus at 11:09 AM on September 24, 2022 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: The iphone 5 is a clever idea! But based on reviews, it looks like it would still be too smart. And the used AGM M6 is cheaper because (unlike with a 10 year old iphone) I won't have to replace the battery. Just ordered it used for under $40. Thank you all so much!
posted by aniola at 10:15 AM on September 25, 2022 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Update: The AGM M6 is a consumer and/or cheap knockoff of the Sonim phone I had before!!! Right down to the size and heft and keypad and wording when you unplug the device. Differences between this and the phone I had before:

- Different exterior case, seems lower quality.
- Doesn't have a million "useful" holes like the Sonim.
- Doesn't have some sort of emergency responder app that I never used because I'm not an emergency responder.
- LED is in a sensible place to be used as a flashlight instead of as a camera flash.
- Goes up to a gajillion decibels (this might be the same and my last phone was just dying) - "This device is equipped with a tremendous sound system to provide you fantastic listening pleasures. Due to the intensity of high dB levels, hearing protection is advised." My little dog with the big ears agrees.
- Still compatible with Tello
posted by aniola at 3:10 PM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Update: AGM M6 does not seem to thread texts. Has an inbox, an outbox, and a sentbox.

Minimum viable usability works for me, but this is definitely anyone considering this phone should know about it.
posted by aniola at 4:57 PM on September 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Minor update: it also doesn't read/speak emoji
posted by aniola at 12:41 PM on September 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: - Group texts don't work
- There seems to be no way to not capitalize the first letter of every word

Annnd the phone is getting returned.
posted by aniola at 4:41 PM on October 12, 2022 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Also this is the phone that finally taught me the difference between sound quality and volume.
posted by aniola at 9:37 PM on October 12, 2022 [1 favorite]

What an annoying set of faults! Sorry for steering you towards such a lemon.
posted by Kattullus at 10:53 PM on October 12, 2022

Response by poster: PAST: No worries!! I was just giving updates in case any future person comes across the thread. Such reviews often end with the first update which doesn't always tell the whole story. Definitely looked promising. I enjoyed its "lights up when it rings" feature. It's within the return period and it's not like there's anything better out there (where "better" is defined as "meets all my criteria"). I really enjoyed the phone it's a cheap knockoff of, so I really wanted it to work.

FUTURE: My partner found "How I turned my smartphone into a "dumb"phone" on reddit. Technique requires the use of a second person.

Looks like this feature is only available on iOS 12 and up, which starts being available on the iPhone 5S. Here is an iOS 12 device list.

The iphone 5/5s doesn't support VoLTE. Iphone 6 or higher will support VoLTE, but only with 3 bands out of 6 LTE bands. Iphone 6S will support 4 out of 6 bands, one of which is an "extended range" band (which goes through walls better).

PRESENT: Just ordered the iphone 6s (on which I will use the phone conversion technique).
posted by aniola at 10:59 AM on October 14, 2022 [1 favorite]