Samsung Messager - for texting without data plan

[a-]

The "Samsung Messager" seems like a great phone for texting because of the keyboard that isn't too small.  My wife's friend bought one like a year ago at Radio Shack which worked no problem on the AT&T network, and AT&T didn't require a data plan.  Now my wife wants one.  However, looking around now it doesn't look straightforward, needing a third party to unlock it and also it doesn't have a SIM card.  Is this a reasonable approach to take?  Would even the Samsung R451C prepaid phone from Straight Talk work once unlocked?  Thank you.

[a-]

Sorry for weird placement in this board.  I was getting repeated errors trying other boards.  I would "show all" and select one and then would get an error that I didn't select one.  Finally it worked selecting this one which was the only one listed by default.

[dmapr ACE - Champion]

As far as I can tell it's a CDMA phone and will not work with AT&T network. AT&T does sell some phones that don't require a data plan and are supposedly good for messaging: http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/quickmessagingphones.html

[a-]

Thanks, I decided on the Pantech Renue.