When you look at VZW's current phone offerings, the selections of feature
phones and messaging phones continue to dwindle.
Are people turning away from the feature phone to go to smartphones or are
the companies deemphasizing feature phones because they don't use data
plans?
At 21 Feb 2012 06:01:15 -0500 crkeehn wrote:
> When you look at VZW's current phone offerings, the selections of
feature
> phones and messaging phones continue to dwindle.
>
> Are people turning away from the feature phone to go to smartphones or
are
> the companies deemphasizing feature phones because they don't use data
> plans?
Yes.
Seriously, the majority of phones sold today are now smartphones, so it's
not surprising the selection of less popular phones if getting thin.
In addition, if you need little or no data, prepaid cellular usually
offers better voice and texting plans, so you probably shouldn't be
buying feature phones on postpaid plans anyway, unless you have a
particularly sweet grandfathered deal or some type of atypical plan
(heavy corporate discount, etc.)
crkeehn wrote on [Tue, 21 Feb 2012 06:01:15 -0500]:
> When you look at VZW's current phone offerings, the selections of feature
> phones and messaging phones continue to dwindle.
>
> Are people turning away from the feature phone to go to smartphones or are
> the companies deemphasizing feature phones because they don't use data
> plans?
The companies make more money from smart phones with data plans and added
this that and the other. Feature phones are being de-emphasized by the
carriers because of that and because smart phones are gaining more
popularity.
On 2/21/2012 6:01 AM, crkeehn wrote:
> When you look at VZW's current phone offerings, the selections of feature
> phones and messaging phones continue to dwindle.
>
> Are people turning away from the feature phone to go to smartphones or are
> the companies deemphasizing feature phones because they don't use data
> plans?
>
> Carl
>
>
Richard B. Gilbert wrote on [Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:44:53 -0500]:
> On 2/21/2012 6:01 AM, crkeehn wrote:
>> When you look at VZW's current phone offerings, the selections of feature
>> phones and messaging phones continue to dwindle.
>>
>> Are people turning away from the feature phone to go to smartphones or are
>> the companies deemphasizing feature phones because they don't use data
>> plans?
>>
>> Carl
>>
>>
>
> Alright, I give up!
>
> *** is a "feature phone"
In article <ji064o$sjf$1@dont-email.me>,
Todd Allcock <elecconnec@AnoOspamL.com> wrote:
>Seriously, the majority of phones sold today are now smartphones, so it's
>not surprising the selection of less popular phones if getting thin.
True, and it breaks my heart.
I own four computing devices, but I also need a device that is useful
for completing a (voice) phone call. For this purpose, an old Motorola
cell phone is far superior to the smart phones that are compatible
with VZW.
And just look at the dumbphones that Verizon offers. Frail and shoddy,
all of them.
I have been buying old Moto handsets from eBay, it is the best I can
do.
--
David Arnstein (00) arnstein+usenet@pobox.com {{ }}
^^
"crkeehn" <carlkeehn@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:jhvths$f89$1@dont-email.me...
> When you look at VZW's current phone offerings, the selections of feature
> phones and messaging phones continue to dwindle.
>
> Are people turning away from the feature phone to go to smartphones or are
> the companies deemphasizing feature phones because they don't use data
> plans?
>
> Carl
>
What a great question. Cellphone manufacturers and service providers
certainly appear to be steering us into buying "smart" phones, which seem to
have lower quality voice, but blazing fast data; and then *****ing about the
demand put on their networks from all the data being used, which justifies
switching to tiered pricing plans. God, I love this ****.
At 21 Feb 2012 21:51:37 +0000 David Arnstein wrote:
> In article <ji064o$sjf$1@dont-email.me>,
> Todd Allcock <elecconnec@AnoOspamL.com> wrote:
> >Seriously, the majority of phones sold today are now smartphones, so
it's
> >not surprising the selection of less popular phones if getting thin.
>
> True, and it breaks my heart.
>
> I own four computing devices, but I also need a device that is useful
> for completing a (voice) phone call. For this purpose, an old Motorola
> cell phone is far superior to the smart phones that are compatible
> with VZW.
>
> And just look at the dumbphones that Verizon offers. Frail and shoddy,
> all of them.
>
> I have been buying old Moto handsets from eBay, it is the best I can
> do.
Of current Verizon phones, my brother-in-law swears by the Casio G'zOne
phones for their durability and voice quality. I think he's using the
"Boulder" model currently. I only know this because he lost his the day
before my last visit and we ran around from Verizon dealer to Verizon
dealer all morning looking for one that stocked it. Apparently it's a
little more expensive than the typical dumbphone, and therefore less
popular, so few stores in his area bother to stock it. He's tough on his
phones, and has some high-frequency hearing loss, so I'd give some weight
to his endorsement. They might be worth a look next time you're shopping
for a handset.
Richard B. Gilbert wrote on [Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:09:28 -0500]:
> On 2/21/2012 1:39 PM, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
>> Per Richard B. Gilbert:
>>> Alright, I give up!
>>>
>>> *** is a "feature phone"
>>
>> Thank You!..... -)
>
> In between the mud balls aimed in my direction I've learned that a
> "feature phone" is less than a smart phone and more than a dumb phone.
Maybe you should have called your travel agent and asked them?
Oh, that's right, you don't seem to know how to use a search engine
"Todd Allcock" <elecconnec@AnoOspamL.com> wrote in message
news:ji064o$sjf$1@dont-email.me...
> At 21 Feb 2012 06:01:15 -0500 crkeehn wrote:
>> When you look at VZW's current phone offerings, the selections of
> feature
>> phones and messaging phones continue to dwindle.
>>
>> Are people turning away from the feature phone to go to smartphones or
> are
>> the companies deemphasizing feature phones because they don't use data
>> plans?
>
>
> Yes.
>
> Seriously, the majority of phones sold today are now smartphones, so it's
> not surprising the selection of less popular phones if getting thin.
>
> In addition, if you need little or no data, prepaid cellular usually
> offers better voice and texting plans, so you probably shouldn't be
> buying feature phones on postpaid plans anyway, unless you have a
> particularly sweet grandfathered deal or some type of atypical plan
> (heavy corporate discount, etc.)
>
>
Unfortunately, there are still people who want to "make phone calls" and not
much else. Their choices are limited, even more limited if they want a
qwerty phone for messaging purposes.
In my particular case, prepaid is really not an option at the moment. The
messaging phones are for my sons and they are carried as part of my family
plan. My youngest would like a smart phone, just because. He isn't going
to get one on my dime. Both of them do just fine, talking and texting, I'm
amazed how many texts my account is generating every month.
> I have been buying old Moto handsets from eBay, it is the best I
> can do.
Nobody can do better than a Motorola E815 or V3M or V9M, those may be
the best cell phones ever made in terms of voice quality.
A friend convinced me to sell her my V9M but I still have the V3M and
the E815, I'll not be parting with either, I also retain my BB 9650 for
those times when the Android irritates me too much to keep using
it..... if only VZW would let me switch between the BB and the T'Bolt
w/o having to get a new SIM card each time I reactivate the T'Bolt I'd
be a happy camper!
On 2/22/2012 9:05 AM, XS11E wrote:
> arnstein@panix.com (David Arnstein) wrote:
>
>> I have been buying old Moto handsets from eBay, it is the best I
>> can do.
>
> Nobody can do better than a Motorola E815 or V3M or V9M, those may be
> the best cell phones ever made in terms of voice quality.
The V325i is in that same family. I keep one active on Pageplus for $30
a year. Out in the boonies it can receive and make calls in places where
smart phones have no signal.
I suspect that asking for some of these old Motorola phones on Freecycle
would also work, if the owner hasn't already discarded them.
The feature phones really have no future. They are not as good as "dumb
phones" in terms of voice quality or signal quality, and not as
convenient as a smart phone for use with Wi-Fi if you don't have a data
plan because almost none of them have Wi-Fi.
An Android phone on Pageplus with no data plan or with one of the
limited data plans (10, 20, 100, or 500 M is a much better deal for
those that want to stay on Verizon's network but that don't want to have
to pay a lot of money for a big data plan.
My son's feature phone stopped working during the past week (keypad
stopped functioning) and I replaced it yesterday with a perfect
condition HTC Incredible bought from for $100 (slightly worn ones are
even less). A poster in this group kindly did the ESN change for me at
no cost on a Saturday night so I didn't have to wait until Monday to
call Pageplus.
BTW, you can check ESNs online now, so you don't have to meet the seller
at a Verizon store to have them verify that the phone is not stolen and
on Verizon's hot list,
<http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/store/controller?item=serviceOnly&action=enterEsn>.
Just meet a a place with Wi-Fi.
For those uneasy about craigslist used phones there's
<http://digicircle.com> for smart phones, some new, many in excellent
condition, and guaranteed. They got a bunch of new HTC Touch Winmo
phones for $50 for those that don't care about Android.
Can you imagine anyone buying a feature phone or a dumb phone on Verizon
and paying Verizon $40/month for 450 minutes, and then paying inflated
prices for pay as you go texting and data, or for one of the smaller
texting plans ($10 for 1000 texts) and data plans ($10 for 75M, plus
taxes and fees, versus paying $30/month on Pageplus for 1200 minutes,
3000 texts, and 100MB of data? Verizon proper would be more than 2x the
cost. Well of course some people may do that, but by the time you're
paying that you may as well get a smart phone on Verizon.
> In my particular case, prepaid is really not an option at the moment. The
> messaging phones are for my sons and they are carried as part of my family
> plan. My youngest would like a smart phone, just because. He isn't going
> to get one on my dime. Both of them do just fine, talking and texting, I'm
> amazed how many texts my account is generating every month.
Bad daddy! "All my friends have smart phones."
As my kids (14 & 18) feature phones (on Pageplus) broke I replaced them
with HTC Incredibles (used), but they get no data plan and I warned them
about using much 3G data. I may switch them from simple pay as you go to
"The 12" $12/month plan eventually if they start using too many texts or
too much data. Funny thing is that they don't do a lot of texting. They
are much more into Facebook messaging, which is free.
I can't imagine a family plan being much less expensive than prepaid on
Pageplus, and on Pageplus you can have a smart phone for the same cost
as a dumb phone.
I calculated that a Verizon family plan with four feature phones, 700
shared minutes and unlimited texts, and no data, would cost me $120 plus
taxes and fees (less a corporate discount of 21%) for a total of about
$110/month. For $120 a month I could have four smart phones on Pageplus
each with 1200 minutes, 3000 texts, and 100MB of data. Of course there
is the initial cost of the handset to consider as well.
On 2/26/2012 8:46 AM, XS11E wrote:
> sms88<scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>
>> The feature phones really have no future.
>
> It seems they're gone from the VZW website now. They're just listing
> smart phones and basic phones.
True, but some of the basic phones are actually what used to be called
feature phones.
As an aside, I was looking at my CSAA "Via" magazine and saw a full page
ad for "Jitterbug." Is anyone really dumb enough to pay such a high
per-minute cost for a basic phone? 50 minutes per month is $14.99, about
30¢/minute, or 3x what Pageplus charges for their most expensive refills.
> On 2/26/2012 8:46 AM, XS11E wrote:
>> sms88<scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> The feature phones really have no future.
>>
>> It seems they're gone from the VZW website now. They're just
>> listing smart phones and basic phones.
>
> True, but some of the basic phones are actually what used to be
> called feature phones.
As far as VZW is concerned the difference between basic, feature and
smart phones was what plan you were required to have. It's simplified
now into "You must have a data plan" or "You don't have to have a data
plan" which, IMHO, makes it much easier to understand the differences.
On 2/26/2012 10:47 AM, XS11E wrote:
> sms88<scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>
>> On 2/26/2012 8:46 AM, XS11E wrote:
>>> sms88<scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> The feature phones really have no future.
>>>
>>> It seems they're gone from the VZW website now. They're just
>>> listing smart phones and basic phones.
>>
>> True, but some of the basic phones are actually what used to be
>> called feature phones.
>
> As far as VZW is concerned the difference between basic, feature and
> smart phones was what plan you were required to have. It's simplified
> now into "You must have a data plan" or "You don't have to have a data
> plan" which, IMHO, makes it much easier to understand the differences.
Yes, it's actually an improvement.
I can't imagine anyone that wanted a dumb phone or a feature phone
signing up with Verizon (or any of the carriers) for a postpaid plan
rather than for a plan with one of the many MVNOs. Verizon makes sense
if you're going to be using a lot of data and need the coverage that the
other major carriers can't match.
It's really a mistake to call plans on MVNOs like Straight Talk,
PagePlus, etc., "prepaid," they're more "hybrid" plans. There's one big
advantage too, if you go over your allotted minutes, texts, or data on
the hybrid plans, and you don't keep a big balance on your account, you
can't run up huge overages. If you do go over, the overage costs are
much lower than with the regular carriers.
Feature Phones Dead/Dying? 
is a much better deal for
Linear Mode
