Best Hobby Phone?

Looking to get a hobby phone. Needs to be a prepaid/burn phone. Who has the cheapest ones?

Probably Walmart.

*Starting at $15 at Walmart, Frey's and Best Buy.

install skype on your phone and get your first month free. seriously its not hard to set up a dummy skype plus its like 3 cents a minute after wards.

other than that any department store haha

Or google voice, it's like a free 2nd line.

If you're technology inclined, I'd suggest Google Voice. If you have an older Wifi capable phone, you can have free phone calls and text easily. Couple that with Wifi tethering on your current smart phone and you hobby phone is always ready to go.

If you have one smart phone, you can have an app that, based on gps, can hide/activate certain apps. So when my phone sees I leave my house on a work day, it fires up GV. When it sees I get close to home, shuts it down.

i looked into google voice and read the many threads on that here in eccie land.
one thing that wasnt clear was if the calls you make/receive via GV show up on your phone call log [that the telcom company keeps, not what's on your phone].
if they show up, that might be a problem if you have to explain your phone call logs.

i went to my local kroger. Tracfone has a samsung quasi-smart phone for $10. unltd calls and text; poor web browsing cos it's got 1G not 3G or 4G. the phone has a 3x multipler so every minute you buy and add on is tripled! i bought 200 mins ==> 600 mins. you have to reload every 3-5 months. plus, mine had a coupon book for freebie mins each month if i buy mins that month.

if you might have to explain an extra phone, this might be a problem.

figure out your risks and choose the option [there are more than just the two i mentioned] that's least risky for you.

I've found that texting is the way to go. Free texting apps are a dime a dozen. Download one when you want to book an appointment, then after the appointment just delete the app. Leaves no evidence.

walkin' dude, which free texting apps do you use and/or recommend?
are you on an android, windows or iOS based phone?

after using the app, any traces left behind on the phone or on the phone's bill logs?

GV has text also

I may go with the tracphone. I need a completely different phone. Using google voice on my current phone is not cool because some providers like to randomly send a "hey" text out of the blue. Even ones I haven't seen in months do that sometimes. Don't need my gf seeing anything pop up on my phone.

You can keep GV in do not disturb mode online unless you're actively using it. That keeps GV from forwarding text or calls to your phone.

You can lock your GV app and turn off text and vm notifications. I enable the do not disturb as to not recieve calls as well. I change the settings when I want to make a call from GV but I can send and recieve text anytime.

walkin' dude, which free texting apps do you use and/or recommend?
are you on an android, windows or iOS based phone?

after using the app, any traces left behind on the phone or on the phone's bill logs? Originally Posted by pmdelites

I'll be speaking from Android experience.

*Most* text applications bury their text message database DEEP within system files. Under normal circumstances, they cannot be opened and read easily. If you have someone digging in this deep to get them, you're probably already boned.

You can keep GV in do not disturb mode online unless you're actively using it. That keeps GV from forwarding text or calls to your phone. Originally Posted by Adonis

You can lock your GV app and turn off text and vm notifications. I enable the do not disturb as to not recieve calls as well. I change the settings when I want to make a call from GV but I can send and recieve text anytime. Originally Posted by dongeykong

Woah now boys, back this train up. There are lots of things you can do to tweak GV. The idea behind this method (vs yours) is so that you dont' have to constantly have the GV running and risk someone seeing it active on your phone. One of the most important things to remember about it is, you can send texts over the internet without an app. You can do this via PC or you can browse to the below web address on your phone and send texts from your GV # via your phones browser.

(Android)

First, get you a GV #.
Log on to www.google.com/voice
Upper right hand corner, click the gear looking icon and choose settings
I'd suggest unchecking these two boxes you see.

The first is kinda useless unless you use Google Chat (meh).

The second will prevent ANYTHING being sent to your phone and number that is tied to the account. Using the GV App or browsing to the google.com/voice address will be the only way to use GV from your phone at this point.

what this means:
You can have your normal phone doing it's normal thing. Boot up your GV App and go through the steps when logging in, use the app, and enjoy. Log out of the app when done and no one is the wiser. There are no text traces, that I'm aware of, on your phone at this point.
***NOTE: Be sure to uncheck the 'send texts to this phone' popup when signing out of the GV app***

Also, when going through the steps you can select "Ask every time I make a call" and, before you make a call, you'll be prompted to make a call with or without GV. Without GV calls from your regular number. With GV calls from your GV number.
WARNING: These call logs are saved as under your normal call logs. Be sure to delete them when done.
***NOTE: I do not know if these calls show up on your actual bill/log.***

Other settings/tabs: You really don't need to worry about anything except for the Voicemail/Text. In this, you can opt to have texts forwarded to your email linked with GV. Use that at your own risk.
That said, Calls has the option on what to display when you get a call while having your GV active. This, however, is irrelevant should have have unchecked the option mentioned earlier about not forwarding anything to your regular phone.

How can this bite me in the ass?
You need to have your GV's email address tied to your phone under Google Accounts. If someone were to ever figure out which email is tied to a GV number and see that on your phone, they could put 2 and 2 together.

How do I save my butt?
"This is just a random email address I created to give out to spam places or random people. I keep it on my phone on the off chance I get something important." Who gives a shit about your spam email account? People will actually think that's a good idea. After all, who wants to give their most used/personal email to magazine sites to get a free magazine and constantly get spam!?

walkin' dude, which free texting apps do you use and/or recommend?
are you on an android, windows or iOS based phone?

after using the app, any traces left behind on the phone or on the phone's bill logs? Originally Posted by pmdelites

PM - I'm on iOS, and use an app called textfree. It just uses your data connection and doesn't log texts on your phone. You set up an account with a dummy email address and it gives you a local number. Every time I download I just log in and can send/receive texts. Then, when the fucking is done (haha) I just delete the app. Re download later when the urge strikes. Only downside is providers that insist on a phone call (this is getting rare in my experience). In that case, I have Skype. But I worry that leaves more breadcrumbs..