Posted on 03/07/2026 6:10:00 PM PST by Jamestown1630
I'm wondering if anyone has experience with 'dumb' flip phones, the kind they suggest for seniors.
My husband recently bought us fancy new 'smart' phones, and it's the first one I've had in ten years. It's huge and much more complicated than anything I've used before.
As I've been figuring it out, I've thought I'd like to supplement it with something smaller, simpler and faster when I'm out-and-about, something that just does phone calls, texts, and maybe has a radio, and fits in my pocket.
We've been looking at Jitterbug, Iris and some others; does anyone have experience with these and can share their opinions?
Thanks!
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Again, I do all that just as quickly on the desktop.
I am not a phone guy but a simple explanation is cell towers and phones use spread spectrum to share the same bandwidth without interfering with one another.
I have a story to tell. I enlisted in the USAF in 1975 with a guaranteed job called Telecommunications Systems Control. When I got out of the USAF, I hired on with ITT U.S. Transmission Systems, then GTE Sprint, then MCI which eventually was bought out and became Verizon Business that I retired from. My 40 year career in telecommunications gave proof there is no such thing as a great god Electron. I have a smart phone that I completely ignore. I have email that I completely ignore. In my jobs I have listened to thousands of telephone calls especially in the night shift.
I have a shovel in the garage that I never think of until I need that tool. A cellphone is just a tool.
It is true that, (i)t’s kind of scary that people have become so dependent on their phones..., but it is all up to each person.
On 9/11, I was on several phone calls at once, for over 24 hours at a time. I have listened to a phone ringing off the hook for various reasons. It's not magic.
There has been an increase in usage. There's the focus on "intentional tech", where users don't want all the added clutter for something they use only for phone calls, texts, and possibly photos. Most flip phones have timers, alarm clocks, and calendars in them, and users don't want or need much more than that.
As more automobiles are built with screens and software, users realize they don't need duplication in their smart phone.
An increasing use is among kids whose parents don't want them to have a full smart phone until they're older but still want to be able to reach out to them.
There are those who realize that no matter how much they respect a smart phone and possible intrusions, others don't and the only way to maintain peace is to remove the access point. One of the first thing people who leave a job describe is the freedom from insufferable bosses and coworkers through the smart phone.
Dopamine addiction from smart phones is real and people know they need to break the habit. It's comparable to drug addiction.
Battery life is a factor as well. A flip phone can easily go a week or two without needing to be recharged as compared to a smart phone which often needs to be recharged more frequently than once per day. People started asking themselves, "What am I doing this for?"
Well, I enjoy the fancy smart phones for what they can do. But there are times when I just want to travel light and have a little insurance in case something happens. One of these little flip phones will fit nicely in my travel vest and provide all I need on some of my excursions.
Is yours the ‘Easy Flip’ or the older Iris Flip Phone?
I had a similar job classification in a different branch of the service about the time you served. For a period of time, I was mostly a patch cord jockey. During late night shifts we got bored and would do “QC” checks. Like clock work a military officer would use military comms to talk with his his wife back in the states and tell her how much he loved her. After hanging up, he would call his mistress in a nearby country and gave her the same line of BS. We never did anything about it, except have a good laugh....
Security. We don’t put any financial info into our cells. At home we have one desktop PC dedicated only to ordering, banking, etc. No surfing, email etc., on it. When finished with a transaction, order, check balance, we log out of every site, wifi is turned off, and system is unplugged.
Wow! I am glad I am not paranoid.
With all the scammers and hackers there are today, I don’t consider that ‘paranoia’.
That’s nice....
“With all the scammers and hackers there are today, I don’t consider that ‘paranoia’.”
Do you unplugged your computer and turn off your wifi when not using it?
I usually turn off the computer when I’m done with it. I don’t go as far as unplugging, but I’m not going to question someone else’s judgment on how careful they feel they should be.
Are you posting from the computer you bank on?
No,
TexasGator brought up a valid point about access to more frequencies. Some flip phones, by design are 4G only, and not 5G.
And even with 4G, some are band 2, 4, 5, and 13 while others add in others such as 25, 26, 41, 66, and 71. Older flip phones didn't have the additional bands because those bands weren't yet freed up. Newer ones have it but it's part of the difference between a $250 flip phone and an $80 flip phone.
https://www.4g-lte.net/about/lte-frequency-bands/
As for the rest pish.
A notebook with pen should provide you with everything else you need.
LG through Verizon
I am in a rural area and not all phones work here
I have the IRIS Easy Flip.
Thanks.
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