• Welcome to Autism Forums, a friendly forum to discuss Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, High Functioning Autism and related conditions.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Private Member only forums for more serious discussions that you may wish to not have guests or search engines access to.
    • Your very own blog. Write about anything you like on your own individual blog.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon! Please also check us out @ https://www.twitter.com/aspiescentral

How to downgrade to a dumb phone?

G

Greatshield17

Claritas Prayer Group#9435
For various reasons, I’m seriously considering downgrading to a dumb phone. (One of the reasons being the same reason I’m going to avoid being on here on Sundays, and maybe eventually, weekends; I want to avoid being hooked on technology)

The other day I found my old dumb phones and have been charging them today. But they have so far remained unresponsive, and I’m wondering if their data was removed back when I upgraded to my iPhone. Does anyone know what the process is to downgrade to a dumb phone and what that entails?
 
The service to your flip phone was probably disconnected a long time ago

But I do know that companies still offer flip phones to those who want one, my understanding is that they are still being sold... Just talk to a cell phone company, insist, hold firm to what you want and see what they have...
 
I use a dumb phone, it's all i need, i don't do photography/selfies, I'm old, I don't need vanity selfies or dating apps, and i'm socially disconnected, so there's not a lot of reason for me to use a camera/smart phone.

Its just a prepaid numberpad phone, messaging/texting is more laborious, but I don't have a lot to do with people anyway. You can buy them in supermarkets here.
 
Sherlock77 said:
The service to your flip phone was probably disconnected a long time ago

But I do know that companies still offer flip phones to those who want one, my understanding is that they are still being sold... Just talk to a cell phone company, insist, hold firm to what you want and see what they have...
Click to expand...
Does that mean I can no longer use any of them? Or can I just insert new SIM cards into them and ask for new services?
 
Does anyone know where the SIM card goes on this model?
1A569E6D-4625-4579-A975-277DD16C5B05.webp


Also, are the SIM cards featured in this link compatible with this model?
Universal 5-in-1 SIM Card Adapter :: CellPhoneCases.com
 
Telstra EasyCall 5 with a Prepaid Sim from Telstra

this is what i use, it's prepaid, so not cheap calls but i don't make a lot of calls. I have a tablet on a separate account i can use if I need portable access for shopping/street directory stuff. I'm an older person, socially isolated so the dumb phone with an accilliary (? can't think of the word) tablet if i need it, works for me. They're about 30 bucks in a supermarket, don't know why they have that ridiculous price on that ad. Messaging is a bit laborious, but I don't text much if i can help it.
 
Last edited:
Trying to do same! Did you know you can hardly find a flip phone let alone a brownie phone? No tracking, that must be the reason. Haaaa. Seriously, please post if you find a real solution. I even got one from THe Big Box Store and it didn't work!! Upon return, they were pushing one that is, "SO MUCH BETTER!" Pah....

BTW, might I add it's not just the phone. It's the minutes and connections that are also hard to come by. I have an old brownie, but hard to find cards and services, etc......
 
OkRad said:
Trying to do same! Did you know you can hardly find a flip phone let alone a brownie phone? No tracking, that must be the reason. Haaaa. Seriously, please post if you find a real solution. I even got one from THe Big Box Store and it didn't work!! Upon return, they were pushing one that is, "SO MUCH BETTER!" Pah....

BTW, might I add it's not just the phone. It's the minutes and connections that are also hard to come by. I have an old brownie, but hard to find cards and services, etc......
Click to expand...
Okay, I’ll let you know once I figure something out.

Quite honestly, the harder this is, the more I want to do this. :p
 
Greatshield17 said:
Okay, I’ll let you know once I figure something out.

Quite honestly, the harder this is, the more I want to do this. :p
Click to expand...
Haha!! Same here except it is kinda like the more they want me to HAVE TO HAVE a smart phone, I don't want one!!
 
I tried that a few years back and downgraded to a dumb phone. It was a built like a brick. It was designed for construction workers on jobsites and had almost no features. I hated it. I don't text a lot, but sometimes I need to. The texting feature on that brick phone was so rudimentary and labored it was MADDENING. After about six months I decided I couldn't take it any longer and instead taught myself a good lesson: Put the smartphone away or out of my reach if I want to cut down on my time using it. Problem solved and I didn't have to send myself back to rubbing two sticks together.
 
Yeah texting on flip phones is near impossible. BUT, I still have the first smart phone I ever bought and can't understand why some folks want the latest model every year. It does everything I want, so why upgrade?
 
I've never had a smart phone.
I resent the way stores, restaurants and most everything today is pushing us to need a smart phone.
I don't want a smart phone. I do very little talking on a phone. Only text one person occasionally or
receive texts about appointments and such.

The flip phone I've used for many years is by Consumer Cellular. My old one gave out and they
don't make that style anymore, but, they still have a new version of the flip phone.
I got one and their prices are very reasonable.
Enough for me. www.consumercellular.com phone is $30.00 and the site explains the rest.
 
I've downgraded to a feature phone several times. I did so again a few months back.

Nokia still offers plenty of feature phones.

Ed
 
Consumer Cellular, which is a phone company typically marketed towards senior citizens, is cheap and has a great flip phone called the "ZTE Link". I love it! There's no internet on it, but you can send and recieve photos in your text messages.

They no longer sell the Link on their website, but you can find them brand new for under $30 on Ebay, and then get a free sim card from Consumer Cellular.

The new phone they have replaced the Link with is the Link 2. It has internet search capability, but that's not something I really desired in a phone, so I stick with the original Link.

Phone service is about $25 a month per phone for unlimited talk and text.
 
VictorR said:
The card slot is for the phone in the photo is occupied by a white-coloured Rogers SIM card. A lot of older phones are carrier locked, so it's possible that you might need the phone unlocked first if is that the case.
Click to expand...
Thanks, my other dumb phone has that too. Is it okay to remove the lock? I’m not saying I could do that but I’m thinking maybe there’s some buyer on Craigslist or EBay who is skilled in that area who could buys these from me and do the hackers themselves.
 
For those who are indigent and living in the United States of America, there are programs that give you phones that make a limited number of calls and test messages that often provide basic phones such as what some of you seek.
Free Government Cell Phones: Plans, Devices, How to Apply
I've had a portable phone since they had pull up antennas and you had to find the right "spot" for reception.

Not many people had them yet, but I jumped on fairly quick.
I was also a part of the pager generation right before that stage, so it was only another transition to something better.
Nokia phones were my favorites. Durable and damned near bullet-proof.
I had a few flip phones, but they were fragile compared to the bricks I loved the most.


I now have a really awesome camera that blows away my Nikon and Pentax SLRs that can capture motion pictures, record sounds, surf the internet, send and receive emails and as a value added bonus, allows me to make and receive or even decline dreaded phonecalls.
The damned thing fits in my pocket too.

My WIFI provides a home based internet connection that I'm already paying for, so I have a lowest tier data plan for when WIFI isn't available.
An added bonus is the ability to display it on my 50" TV screen that doubles as my PC monitor.

I would never want to pay for a phone that was limited in what it can do, so I opted for a smartphone instead.They were invaluable when I was running a business, so I never looked back after getting my first one.
@ $75 a month including insurance for my present plan, I feel it is a wise choice over the $30 basic plan my company offers.
Another use for mine is the ability to monitor our forum when I am away from home. Yep kids, I am pretty much in the loop here 24/7 in case anyone is wondering.

I now utilize my smartphone to organize my life, send myself reminders thru my gmail account and primarily to take very high resolution pictures. The images files are so huge, I have to resize them for most uploads, but the originals are off the hook incredible for reworks or cropping.
Please don't tell me I can turn the resolution down either, I'm well aware of that. Storage is cheap and I love high quality.
As it is my only phone, it doubles down as that too.
I love the call and text blocking features the most, for those pesky scammers and spammers.....go figure

Did I ever mention that I hate phones? :p
 
Greatshield17 said:
Thanks, my other dumb phone has that too. Is it okay to remove the lock? I’m not saying I could do that but I’m thinking maybe there’s some buyer on Craigslist or EBay who is skilled in that area who could buys these from me and do the hackers themselves.
Click to expand...

Yes, there are people and businesses that unlock phones, and if you ask that carrier nicely they might do so as well. (otherwise, you could consider getting a pay-as-you-go plan from that same carrier)
 
VictorR said:
Yes, there are people and businesses that unlock phones, and if you ask that carrier nicely they might do so as well. (otherwise, you could consider getting a pay-as-you-go plan from that same carrier)
Click to expand...
Thanks, I don’t know if there is a Rogers near me or not.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New Threads

Top Bottom