[PLUG] [OT?] Do functional cell phones exist?

[Rich Shepard]

On Tue, 22 Dec 2015, Richard Owlett wrote:

> I'm a senior citizen who has been referred to as living "out past
> Estacada, even." As a convert from Windoz(tm) to *nix I presume "do 1
> thing. Do it well." Elderly relatives demand that I obtain cell
> connectivity. I will cave in to their demands *IF* I can find a hand held
> object capable of placing VOICE telephone calls that is *NOT* a disguised
> main-frame of yesteryear.

Richard,

   Yes, there are many so-called 'basic' cell phones. A Web search will find
sources, including Amazon and eBay.

   You probably don't need the old Palm PIM capabilities built in, but if you
want that there are quite a few Treos and similar on eBay that run the
PalmOS rather than windoze. Or, you could buy an inexpensive so-called
'smart' phone and use it only to speak with others. Out here there are a few
carriers (I think that Cricket is one of them) that sell basic phones and
service, particularly to older customers, for $10/month. My sister has such
a plan but I don't know the carrier.

Happy holidays,

Rich