What makes you think you need a “smartphone” or an “iphone” to get the capabilities you need? I have a Tracphone that provides all the options I need without a contract or demands for personal info, but then again I do not LIVE (exist) on the phone as so many others seem to do.
Why pay 450$US for a phone when a “phone” is supposed to be for calling and speaking with someone, when a company such as Tracfone offers cellphones for essentially free with a minimum 60-day activation card (up to one year), and other options can be accessed with pretty much any relatively new computer (as in for the last fifteen years at least) out there today?
Pardon me, Utilizer, but did you bother to actually read the thread as well as the comments? If you did you would have discovered the answers to your questions.
I stated:
“The ‘contract free’ prepaid cell phones out there are not that reliable. I should know, I’ve been using em for years.”
Tracfones are not “essentially” free. You have to purchase the phone. The key word here is “coverage”. We have used Tracfones, and during one of our trips a while back we visited Las Vegas. We had absolutely zero coverage. No cell coverage at all. Coverage at our house wasn’t good as well.