Flip Phone

ItsyRV wrote:
The issue is not about flip phones or who sells flip phones, the issue is that Verizon is terminating their older 1-3G networks and non HD portions of their 4G and LTE networks.

The OP's present flip phone is a Kyocera Cadence LTE which is 4G LTE.

The issue is not about flip phones or who sells flip phones, the issue is that Verizon is terminating their older 1-3G networks and non HD portions of their 4G and LTE networks. Starting January 1 2020, no new account on those networks will be accepted. Starting January 1 2021, they will begin the systematic terminating of that service.

This means starting the new year, you can't activate any new service that uses those systems on the Verizon network be it through Verizon or any other provider. So unless yo already have service activated come the first of the year, you wont be able to get activated using those older networks.

Come 2021, they will be systematically shutting those networks down and any phone that uses the 1-3G or non HD 4G or LTE networks will become paper weights. It doesn't matter if you are a Verizon customer, TracFone, Total Wireless, Straight Talk or any other MVNO customer that uses Verizon's network, if you use those older networks, your days are numbered!

I've used flip phones for years and didn't want to give them up since they worked well for me. However, in recent times, the volume of scam calls I was receiving made the phone almost unusable. So I went to a smart phone (Samsung J3 on Verizon network) and the scam calls were greatly reduced. I'm happy with my smart phone and don't believe I'll return to a flip type again.

free radical wrote:
In Canada flip phones dont even exist,at least I havent seen any in stores.

Sure they do - I have a Telus flip phone.

Flip phones do have an advantage. They only need to see one tower to work, where smartphones need two. I know that's true for texting for sure. When we go to the beach in Oregon, our T Mobile phones won't work, but my daughters flip phone does.

Well, if you have US$1,500 & can wait until Dec. 26th to pre-order, you can buy the new Motorola Razr 2019.
It's a full smartphone that folds horizontally across the middle, to match the original Razr phone form factor, exclusively with VZN in the US. It even has an overlay for the phone mode to match the original phone keyboard, for those of us nostalgics.
High on my drool list!

If you go to Verizon Wireless website they show 6 flip phones they are selling. My wife has a flip phone and wants nothing more. She does however need a new phone. We pay $109 for 400 minutes good for a year and she has yet to run out.

fj12ryder wrote:
Texting on a flip phone is an exercise in frustration for me. And I'd rather text than talk, conversations are much shorter, and I hate talking on the phone.

But the future usability of a flip phone is what I would be concerned with. There are some new ones on the market that will work with the updated systems though.

Some of us use text to plan phone calls, now that not driving all the time. Had one dispatcher that got his panties in a wad if I would not answer, or hung up as soon as he said something that indicated it was not a emergency. Kept telling me to get hands free. Did not understand they did not sell spare minds, with big motor and only one gearshift the hand was not the issue.
A lot of both incoming, and out going texts on my phone are "Can you talk"
When working I carried a flip and late a smart, at the same time. One thing I liked about the flip was I could have half a dozen numbers that could dial with a couple of buttons by feel. "What is your wife's phone number?" "2"

Texting on a flip phone is an exercise in frustration for me. And I'd rather text than talk, conversations are much shorter, and I hate talking on the phone.

But the future usability of a flip phone is what I would be concerned with. There are some new ones on the market that will work with the updated systems though.

I guess being only 65 I am just too young for this topic. I am not sure how pushing a button on a updated phone is harder than pushing a button on a flip phone but to each his own!