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.

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Ramblin__Ralph
Explorer
Mar 04, 2022
Try Visible, which uses Verizon towers. No contract. $40/mo but easy to get it down to $25/mo.
wanderingaimles
Explorer
Mar 04, 2022
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 plans
Verizon prepaid plans
As 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.
Lwiddis
Explorer II
Mar 04, 2022
Clearly a business expense if not paid for by your employer.
Gdetrailer
Explorer III
Mar 04, 2022
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 plans
Verizon prepaid plans
As 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 DETAILS

Tracphone, 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..
BurbMan
Explorer II
Mar 04, 2022
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.
bgum
Explorer
Mar 04, 2022
Straight talk from WM for one month a year.
pianotuna
Nomad III
Mar 04, 2022
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.
BurbMan
Explorer II
Mar 04, 2022
That's what I was thinking but never tried to do that. I still think that a hot spot that connects OP's phone to the web for wifi calling gives the best solution.
bucky
Explorer II
Mar 05, 2022
I would find another valley.
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..