I work in a position where I need to be available by phone, text, or email all the time. My employer provides an iPhone on AT&T’s First Net. Most places we camp are solid and sometimes I do use an amplifier. My problem is one place we camp is in a mountain valley and has a Verizon tower, nothing else, even amplified. For about one week a year, I need access to Verizon for cell, text, and limited data. I have two questions. 1. Is there a reasonable way to get a “burner” phone that will hotspot or mifi cheaply without a contract? 2. Can I connect my current phone to wifi calling and if so will texts come through also?Thanks in advance. I’m somewhat text savvy, but far from an expert.

Try Visible, which uses Verizon towers. No contract. $40/mo but easy to get it down to $25/mo.

Get a cheap phone either from Verizon, or straight talk, ensure that its a cdma phone if you go straight talk because they work with either vz or att depending what address you give them straighttalk plansVerizon prepaid plansAs to the phones, any android that is a current build should work, the Moto e I have had, and found it to be a decent reliable phone.

Clearly a business expense if not paid for by your employer.

wanderingaimlessly wrote:Get a cheap phone either from Verizon, or straight talk, ensure that its a cdma phone if you go straight talk because they work with either vz or att depending what address you give them straighttalk plansVerizon prepaid plansAs to the phones, any android that is a current build should work, the Moto e I have had, and found it to be a decent reliable phone.CDMA is an old 2G-3G service, with 4G LTE there is no longer CDMA vs GSM, and now everything is going to 4G VoLTE service with ATT starting the 3G shutdown as of end of FEB 2022.SEE HERE FOR CDMA VS GSM DETAILSTracphone, Straight talk are both Verizon only, at one point Trac did sell specific phones for ATT towers, they no longer do that.As far as the OPs questions, Trac and Straight talk and a few other Verizon resellers that offer cheap phones with no contract will be your cheapest way but there may be some catches.. Trac when I had them a few yrs ago locked their phones so you could not tether or use it as a hotspot.. You will need to readup on their rules..

LOL we had the reverse problem on LI...we have Verizon service but the only signal you can get on the beach is AT&T. I got a prepaid ("burner") phone at the AT&T store and set up call forwarding from my Verizon number to the AT&T phone. Not sure if you can forward texts from your phone to the burner. Verizon has prepaid phones too.Option #2 is get a Verizon JetPack hot spot to connect you to the web and enable wifi calling on your AT&T phone, this has also worked well for us. Having your AT&T phone connected to wifi via hotspot also gives you chat, text and whatever else you need and is probably the best solution if you're hanging around the camper.The prepaid burner phones are OK, but the minutes expire. Invariably I would wind up losing airtime because I wanted to be sure I had enough for the week, but the leftovers would expire before the next season's trip.Another option is a signal booster on a long pole. I had a signal booster from Powerful Signal and a trucker's antenna that I mounted on a 30' telescoping flag pole. Bungess the pole to the RV ladder and the extra height let it "see" the signal I was looking for, then the booster would bring it in.

Temporary Cell Service | Good Sam Community

18 Replies

1492
Moderator
Apr 13, 2022
BarneyS wrote:
I second the suggestions made earlier to look at Visible phone service. We have been using them for about two years for both of our phones and have been very pleased with never had a problem.

They are owned by Verizon and can be used as hotspots. I use mine as a hotspot almost all summer as we spend it in the woods in upper Michigan. Unlimited everything with no throttling. They have some inexpensive phones available, or you can bring your own.
Barney

Barney and I are on the same Visible Party Pay Group. The hotspot feature is supposed to be limited to 5Mbps up/down 5G/4G mobile data for one connected device. But a check of my Visible hotspot speed indicated that I was getting this on the National Mall in DC from a MacPro:
Sjm9911
Explorer
Mar 18, 2022
Get verizon as you private phone , lol. First net is getting better im told, but it was just plane bad when it came out. Its supost to piggyback on the verizon tower. Are you sure you would even have verizon? Lots of places I camp have nothing. You have to drive a bit to get service to answer calls. And, as others said, just tell someone else you will be put of the service area. It happens. I do it all the time. I do drive to check in on stuff and fix things once a day, but they can handle it.
BarneyS
Explorer III
Mar 17, 2022
I second the suggestions made earlier to look at Visible phone service. We have been using them for about two years for both of our phones and have been very pleased with never had a problem.

They are owned by Verizon and can be used as hotspots. I use mine as a hotspot almost all summer as we spend it in the woods in upper Michigan. Unlimited everything with no throttling. They have some inexpensive phones available, or you can bring your own.
Barney
valhalla360
Navigator
Mar 17, 2022
MrWizard wrote:
To the OP... You can't get 1 Week, where you are allowed the solace of being incommunicado?
Who would take over if you were unconscious in the hospital ?
I would tell them, the other guy can handle it,
If it's that desperate they can send a telegram ( they deliver those)
And you can drive out to where you have your AT&T signal
Or get a Satellite Phone, out going calls only, to call them after you get the telegram
They can pay for the equipment to keep in contact with you, or do without you for that week,
I'm stubborn like that,
My scheduled personal/family time is just that
Now if you are Ceo of your own business, and micro manage, then shell out the bucks to stay in contact

If it's literally vacation time, I get your point.

But a lot of folks are able to work remotely and are able to spend more time away from the office, so technology it not so bad.

Currently sitting in Sri Lanka after spending 3 months in Thailand. I have a meeting with Michigan in a few hours. Without the ability to work remotely, we'd have had to spend winter in the cold snowy north.

To the OP: Find the service provider that has coverage of the valley, buy a burner phone and get a month to month plan. Last spring we picked up an android phone for $25 and a month unlimited plan was $50 (yes, there is throttling after X GB but not a huge issue except for watching high resolution videos).
MrWizard
Moderator
Mar 17, 2022
To the OP... You can't get 1 Week, where you are allowed the solace of being incommunicado?
Who would take over if you were unconscious in the hospital ?
I would tell them, the other guy can handle it,
If it's that desperate they can send a telegram ( they deliver those)
And you can drive out to where you have your AT&T signal
Or get a Satellite Phone, out going calls only, to call them after you get the telegram
They can pay for the equipment to keep in contact with you, or do without you for that week,
I'm stubborn like that,
My scheduled personal/family time is just that
Now if you are Ceo of your own business, and micro manage, then shell out the bucks to stay in contact
Gdetrailer
Explorer III
Mar 05, 2022
pianotuna wrote:
Gde,

I don't "apple" anything.

I suppose some folks know how to do what you are suggesting on both platforms.

Thanks for letting us know it is possible.

I don't "apple" anything myself, but unfortunately I do have a lot of friends that are "apple folks" and when they can't figure out how to make their 100% apple world coexist with the rest of the world with non apple stuff they come to me for help.

Sometimes "google" and "youtube" can be very helpful to find fixes and workarounds also, as there is usually someone out there that has had the same exact problem and made a video on how to fix..
joebedford
Nomad II
Mar 05, 2022
pianotuna wrote:
I don't "apple" anything.
I didn't until my son gave me an iphone while I was in the hospital. It works every bit as well as an android phone.
pianotuna
Nomad III
Mar 05, 2022
Gde,

I don't "apple" anything.

I suppose some folks know how to do what you are suggesting on both platforms.

Thanks for letting us know it is possible.
Gdetrailer
Explorer III
Mar 05, 2022
pianotuna wrote:
BurbMan wrote:
I got a prepaid ("burner") phone at the AT&T store and set up call forwarding from my Verizon number to the AT&T phone. Not sure if you can forward texts from your phone to the burner.

Unfortunately messages are NOT forwarded.

There is a "workaround" for forwarding text messages on a Iphone.

To do that you need a another Idevice with Imessages service setup to the same account as the Iphone. Then connect the other Idevice to a hotspot..
bucky
Explorer II
Mar 05, 2022
I would find another valley.