Untraceable hobby phone?

I have skated by long enough using my regular phone. It is time to get an untraceable phone.

So, any recommendations on what to get and how to get it?

Here are the minimum requirements:

1) voice calls, of course;
2) unlimited (or very large number) text messages;
3) relatively small to fit in pocket;
4) must be able to pay monthly fee or buy minutes with cash;
5) NO requirement to show ID or give Social Security number.

In other words, I want to walk into a store, pay cash for a phone, and walk out with a fully functioning phone that is replenished with cash each month or as minutes expire.

In a perfect world, the phone also has web browsing capability and a camera. But those are not essential.

If you know it, please state the phone brand, the service provider, and the store that sells them. As in "BestBuy sells a Samsung XYZ phone with a T-Mobile pay-per-minute plan. They ask for a name, but don't check ID, so you can give a fake name."

Contributing something like "I used to have a phone like that from WorldCom before they went out of business" would be pretty fucking useless.

One other thing - in a PM, someone brought up a point about being required to enter information after you activate the phone. I don't want to buy a phone and then find out I must give a valid credit card number. That defeats the whole purpose. So, if you now anything about activation information or other post-purchase pitfalls, please give me a warning.

I'm not married and do not have a SO. But there are a thousand other things that can go wrong:

- A provider or agency getting busted and LE going through her black book and contacting me-
- Misplacing my regular phone at the office and having someone pick it up and see incriminating messages.
- Having my phone records subpoenaed for any reason and having my work-related and hobby-related phone texts together on the same account.
- who know what else

If I keep the hobby phone clean (i.e., delete texts regularly) and leave it in my car, I don't have to worry about all of that shit. If anyone outside the hobby sees the phone, I can always say I found it that morning in the parking lot.

Thanks in advance.

Ditto

I bought a Tracfone @ walmart, 10$ cash, had 10 minutes on it, also bought additional 60min. for 20$. Use a pay phone to register, and it's all automated when giving your information, and of course, give bogus info. I think all they ask for is another phone number in case they need to contact you along with another number like the last four of your SS# or your drivers license #, something like that and I made up numbers to give them. If you're really paranoid, register by phone that you know isn't in sight of video cameras.
I keep mine at work, but if I do have it in my truck and the SO finds it, I say I found it in the parking lot, but I always clear any phone numbers in the memory.
Hobby on.

and of course, give bogus info. Originally Posted by hd

I registered mine online. Definitely give bogus info, but remember what you gave, in case you ever have to do some kind of follow-up with the carrier. Also, if you refill with prepaid cards, rather than a monthly plan, there's no issue with using a credit card.

worse case, a computer could possibly be traced as would a credit card, maybe I'm just paranoid.


But I know someone is out to get me...........

Metro does not require you to use credit cards to pay.. unlimited everything for as little as 40 a month... and I've used the name Minney Mouse.

Of course... the various prepaid phones would work too... I have an att go phone... and didn't need any info connected until I decided to use it for more RL things, and put it on a cc for easier top up and better plan rates. I wonder if it is possible now with prepaid visa/gift cards???

I second the Metro PCS recommend: a certain provider of my very close acquaintance once asked me to stop off and pay her bill on the way, in exchange for an equivalent discount on the donation. What she didn't tell me was that it was registered to Tyler Durden: the first rule of Metro PCS, is you do not talk about Metro PCS...

D'oh


Forget I said that, m'kay?

Thanks for the responses above.

Does the MetroPCS plan include browser capability?

How good is the MetroPCS network?

ExNYer, I suggest a gophone from AT&T at Walmart. The Samsung model costs $15 dollars, there is a card you buy to load the phone with minutes. There is a plan that costs you $2 dollars unlimited calls and texts charged only for the days that you use the phone, and it has browsing capabilities.
They don't ask for any information and you can pay cash for the phone and the card. The only info required when you activate it is a zip code so that an area code may be assigned to the phone.

I have used the gophone in the past, but ditched it and got a verizon prepaid phone last weekend. So much easier. With the go phone, I had to either get online or call from another phone to activate. The verizon phone was bought at walmart for $15 with $10 in airtime on it, and I had it activated by the time I got home (10 minutes). It's a discreet flip phone, no qwerty, ect, but fine for my occasional hobby use. I selected the $2 a day plan since I don't use it every day, and texts are 2 cents each. I would recommend that one for sure. Less paper trail than even the go phone.

Virgin Mobile has a PayLo Plan. $20 can last you 3 months. use fake info and buy TopOff cards and you are good to go.

Cheapest plan i found.

Thanks for the responses above.

Does the MetroPCS plan include browser capability?

How good is the MetroPCS network? Originally Posted by ExNYer

depends on the phone you buy.
i did quite a bit of research and finally bought a LG Imprint at metro pcs for $49 plus 1st month's fees = $100+
http://www.metropcs.com/shop/PhoneDe...LGMN240(Phones)
[do a web search like <"name of phone" reviews> in your browser (no angle brackets). cnet's reviews are pretty in depth and good.]

it's a 1G phone, so although i can browse parts of the web, it's slooooooooooow. phone, text, basic access to some email providers for $50/month. scratch the email access and it's $40. in some parts of dallas, even the email access is slow. but acceptable to me. phone coverage has been pretty good.

buy a more expensive 3g or 4g phone and you can surf much more of the web. buy online or at any of their gazillion stores.
see the rest of their rate plans on their website.
http://www.metropcs.com/plans/default.aspx
"Talk-all-you-want Service; Taxes and Regulatory Fees included; No Annual Contract"

but, there is a trail if you're concerned about that.

Since there doesn't appear to be any laws about "straw" purchases a la gun purchases, I wonder whether it'd be worth 10-20 bucks to someone if an entrepreneur went to a Wally World and bought a pile of phones and then met at a social to sell them?

now there's an entremanure, err, entrepreneur!!!!