Non-Smartphones [ Edited ]

[rbut]

I think it is silly that Verizon has an option for just basic phone, no smartphone required.  AT&T really needs to also add this. Not all of us want smartphone at this time.

<CM Edit - subject updated/new thread created>

[jamileh]

Hi rbut, 

AT&T offers non-smartphone options that do not require data plans. 

Here is a link to all of our phone offerings, you can filter this list by "quick messaging" phone to see some options: https://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/cellphones.html

[skateguy50]

I wish it was that easy, I'm looking to upgrade as well and searching for "quick messaging" left me with 3 potential phones. I picked from these and settled on the Pantec Swift being the best of them for my daughter and started the upgrade process. It did not require me to get a data plan as part of the process but on the final review page it removed my "data opt out" option on the line automatically. I cancelled the order and sent an email to at&t support about it in which I got this responce.

"The reason why the system is taking the data block off is because the
phone that you are trying to order (Pantec Swift) is a smartphone. Any
time the system is taking off the data block the device that you are
ordering is a smarthphone and all smartphones are require to have a data
plan."

So I STILL don't know what is or isn't a "smart phone" and am very close to cancelling my account of over 7 years. I have 2 of 3 lines with no contract and rather than start a new contract I would rather just pay the fee on the remaining one and switch carriers.
 

[wingrider01 ACE - Expert]

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skateguy50 wrote:

I wish it was that easy, I'm looking to upgrade as well and searching for "quick messaging" left me with 3 potential phones. I picked from these and settled on the Pantec Swift being the best of them for my daughter and started the upgrade process. It did not require me to get a data plan as part of the process but on the final review page it removed my "data opt out" option on the line automatically. I cancelled the order and sent an email to at&t support about it in which I got this responce.

"The reason why the system is taking the data block off is because the
phone that you are trying to order (Pantec Swift) is a smartphone. Any
time the system is taking off the data block the device that you are
ordering is a smarthphone and all smartphones are require to have a data
plan."

So I STILL don't know what is or isn't a "smart phone" and am very close to cancelling my account of over 7 years. I have 2 of 3 lines with no contract and rather than start a new contract I would rather just pay the fee on the remaining one and switch carriers.
 

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the swift is listed as a QMD device and should not be required to have a data plan. Something is messed up. If you have a att factory store near you or even a best buy store. Personally would pick the best buy store, they have it for 20.00 less and if the price drops with in 30 day they will refund the difference to you. BB can handle everything for you, from your upgrade, to moving contacts and anything else. Never had a problem with them. The only drawback that I see is, like ATT online it is a ship to store

[fivekampers]

Has anyone else experienced sporadic but continual trouble with receipt of replies to texts sent, lost texts, broken text threads?  I have a pantech phone, while everyone else on my account has a smart phone.  This problem started in mid August and only affects my phone line, but affects anyone I interact with, both within and beyond those on my account .  I have had new sim cards, a new device (by happenstance a Pantech also), and the problem persists through it all, and with   I have had three or four cases initiated with and closed by AT&T without resolution.  AT&T has insinuated user error several times, but there are 10 digits on all contact numbers. My customer service has been spotty at best in that I have to wait for them to phone me and not vice versa.  If I initiate the call then I must start at square one each time.  I currently have over 14 hours on the phone with AT&T to date with no resolution.  Does any of this sound familiar to anyone?  I am at my wits end after seven weeks of getting nowhere.

Thanks in advance for any help

[satyr9]

will you be offering better ones (other than the current 3 offered) with longer battery lives?

i think the max of these says 3 hours.

edit:  two of them are 3hrs and one is 5 hrs

[wingrider01 ACE - Expert]

---

satyr9 wrote:

will you be offering better ones (other than the current 3 offered) with longer battery lives?

i think the max of these says 3 hours.

edit:  two of them are 3hrs and one is 5 hrs

---

when manufacturers start making them, current redn is away from the QMD devices so the manufacturers spend their R&D on those and the qmd device is falling by the wayside

[Dcookie ACE - Expert]

I have to admit.....ATT does NOT offer a huge selection of dumbphones or QMD's...Why not???? Not everyone wants/needs a smartphone, even though, I myself, have one. 

Their selection of these devices and drastically dropped off over the years, sadly enough. I still have my previous Nokia Mural, which is a nice little dumbphone device...and will be my backup, should I ever need it. 

[satyr9]

and they removed the models appropriate for younger children...might have to go off the family acct to find them elsewhere.

[Dcookie ACE - Expert]

---

satyr9 wrote:

and they removed the models appropriate for younger children...might have to go off the family acct to find them elsewhere.

---

Have you considered a prepaid GoPhone??? There seems to be more of a selection..like I thought. 

http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/prepaidphones.html

[satyr9]

but can we just buy a go phone and use a family plan sim card in it and it'll work?

[Dcookie ACE - Expert]

Yes, you can use a postpaid SIM in a gophone. 

Take a look at what ilikewireless has to say about it in this thread.

http://forums.att.com/t5/Prepaid/Use-a-Post-Paid-SIM-card-in-a-GoPhone/m-p/3228841#M41785

[air1reb]

Hello,

I used the link but it only gave me 3 phones.  I have been an AT&T customer forever but am disappointed they dont have a filter just for non smartphones.  It couldnt be that hard and would save your customers having to search the web site for hours trying to discover on someones review if they happen to mention if it requires a data plan or not.  I have to call AT&T  today and a helpful rep told me if the phone I was asking about (Samsung Eternity) being a smartphone or not.  The rep was very nice but he had to check 3 different systems (about 5 minutes)  before he could tell me it is a smartphone. AT&T must remember its ok to push the smartphones but not at the expense of giving your customers the service they deserve.  I am not upset but only thinking why they cannot make me finding a new non smartphone easy for me. Thank you.

[wingrider01 ACE - Expert]

---

air1reb wrote:

Hello,

I used the link but it only gave me 3 phones.  I have been an AT&T customer forever but am disappointed they dont have a filter just for non smartphones.  It couldnt be that hard and would save your customers having to search the web site for hours trying to discover on someones review if they happen to mention if it requires a data plan or not.  I have to call AT&T  today and a helpful rep told me if the phone I was asking about (Samsung Eternity) being a smartphone or not.  The rep was very nice but he had to check 3 different systems (about 5 minutes)  before he could tell me it is a smartphone. AT&T must remember its ok to push the smartphones but not at the expense of giving your customers the service they deserve.  I am not upset but only thinking why they cannot make me finding a new non smartphone easy for me. Thank you.

---

they do

1. Shop All phones

2. Under "Filter by Style - Basic Phones(no data plan required)

http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/cellphones.html

[Wild Banchi ACE - Master]

You're limited to very few choices, but they're available. The phones don't have the greatest reviews, but all carriers are trying to push people towards smartphones, now. Don't give in to the pressure.

[callie.crk.kucz…]

I have noticed that AT&T is not offering as many quick messaging phones as they used to.  I have looked at other carriers' cell phones that they offer and they have a larger selection.  I hope that AT&T will add more quick messaging phones in the future.  

I have a Samsung Rugby 3 and I really like it.   

[Wild Banchi ACE - Master]

Yes, I can definitely agree with you there. AT&T will only likely to continue to phase out quick messaging phones and other feature phones, unfortunately.

[Dcookie ACE - Expert]

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Wild Banchi wrote:
Yes, I can definitely agree with you there. AT&T will only likely to continue to phase out quick messaging phones and other feature phones, unfortunately.

---

By eliminating feature phones and QMD's, they are also eliminating potential customers, too. 

[Wild Banchi ACE - Master]

That's right, Dcookie.

[Dcookie ACE - Expert]

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Wild Banchi wrote:
That's right, Dcookie.

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Don't know the thinking behind that idea....

[callie.crk.kucz…]

It totally stinks that AT&T is phasing out quick messaging phones.  I am currently not in a position to get a smart phone and I do not want one at this time.  I know I am not the only AT&T customer that feels this way.

[21stNow]

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Dcookie wrote:

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Wild Banchi wrote:
That's right, Dcookie.

---

Don't know the thinking behind that idea....

---

Follow the dollars...

[Dcookie ACE - Expert]

Yea, I kind of figured that....

[wingrider01 ACE - Expert]

---

21stNow wrote:

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Dcookie wrote:

---

Wild Banchi wrote:
That's right, Dcookie.

---

Don't know the thinking behind that idea....

---

Follow the dollars...

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what might be surprising is I don;t think that it is following the dollars (while a significat portion of it) more like following the trend of being 100 percent connected to technology 100 percent of the time. Basic phones are just that basic, they make phone calls and can text, some might be able to go into one of the social disease sites so the user can post what they had for lunch and the fact they are irregular becasue of it. Society is driving it, not the carrier, society wants to be connected 100 percent of the time in 100 percent of their locations, no matter where they are. George Orwell was right on the money in 1984

The carriers and manufacturers are just responding to what the customer wants - and they want connectivity in all places. People just don;t want to text, they want to post everything they do to no matter how trival ro facebook and any of the other of the sites. What they don;t realize is that prospective employers are seaching those pages when they put in a application for a job - it works both ways.

[21stNow]

Wingrider, I mostly agree with what you say, but would still weigh this at 70% of the reason that basic phones are disappearing is that the carriers make more money off of smartphones and 30% market driven.  True, people "demand" Internet connectivity on their phones.  But I think that carriers and phone manufacturers created this demand in a large part of the market.

I consider myself unusual.  As soon as I saw the Internet on a PC in the 90s, I wanted to be able to take it with me where ever I went.  I couldn't afford it until 2002, but jumped on it when I could.  My mother, on the other hand, doesn't like to pay for extra services on phone bills.  However, she thinks that she should get a 4G phone because it is "better".  She uses no cellular data services at all.  She has had a smartphone for three years.  The first because a carrier pushed it on her and the second because I gave it to her.  She didn't mind the smartphone because she never had to pay for a data plan (she's not on AT&T but I never did figure out how she accomplished that on her first smartphone).

My point is that my mother is more of a typical phone customer than I am.  If she is walking around with a smartphone, that shows that carriers try to push them wherever they can.  I admit that this is anecdotal evidence, but I know of other smartphone owners that long for a basic phone because smartphones are way too complicated for them.

[Dcookie ACE - Expert]

I agree with both of you...if I wanted to put my 84 year old father on my plan, there is NO way he'd handle a smartphone but a nice dumbphone would have been good for him and he could have shared our minutes.

Right now he has one of those free ones from Safelink Wireless that he still doesn't even know how to work properly, but that's another story in itself.  He had a GoPhone before that and hardly used his minutes but kept having to buy the cards, just to keep it active.