Burner Phones
- Thread starter lovelight
- Start date
Go to TARGET (or Walmart if you can stand the people there) and look at the Tracfones. I got the cheapest one - not because it it cheap but because it is very small (easy to hide in my car toolbox), looks like a phone I had way before the smartphones existed (the reason I would use to my SO why I have it in my toolbox - for 911 calls in case my smartphone is not available) and battery lasts forever. Ran around 10 bucks I think and had double minutes written on the box. I buy the 60 minutes (doubles to 120) for 90 days 20 bucks. Minutes roll over.
Pay cash for everything and you are untouchable.
I use my smartphone for browsing
Pay cash for everything and you are untouchable.
I use my smartphone for browsing
I'll second that on the Tracfone. Got a model T301G Samsung at Target several years ago. Small slider phone. Simple operation.
Not good for web surfing though. If that's your need, I'm sure there are newer models that handle this.
Unlimited double minutes feature is a bonus. Pay cash, as genius states.
Not good for web surfing though. If that's your need, I'm sure there are newer models that handle this.
Unlimited double minutes feature is a bonus. Pay cash, as genius states.
I got a flip from target for like 20 bucks for tmobile prepaid. Get the 100 refill card and you get the 10 cent per minute rate. The trick is that it has to be the 100 refill and the minutes last a year before they expire. After that, you can refill the smaller amounts to extend your minutes. Pay cash for everything. I had to buy the refill card at 7-11 bc target did not have the 100 card. Any questions, feel free to ask. Do some reading up on the plan. Its a good one imo. If you want a smart phone, there may be better options but i went with a dumb flip phone.
Texting has its own rate. With a flip/dumb phone, there is no email surfing. I use my regular phone for that. I dont email providers if that is what you do. Cash is the only way imo. Payment is made by purchasing refill cards for air time. Same way it works with all other prepaid plans. Does that help?
You guys are spending more time studying this than it is worth. I forget also the exact pricing for voice & text because it simply is not important. You do not use the burner phone for web surfing or emails so that cost is irrelevant (use your nonburner smartphone for that). You're not using a burner for long conversations or many texts back and forth - you're using it to set up an appointment -you keep it short and sweet. My total cost per year is around $80 for the burner once I spent the $10 for the phone. I really don't care if there is another plan that saves me a couple of bucks for my type of usage. If you're not happy with the phone you buy or the plan just throw it away and get another - it's not like you're signing a 2 year contract.
Also, on my tracfone, if you get someone who drives you nuts calling/texting you all the time, you simply do not accept the call and you don't get charged. You can change her name in your contacts to "reject".
Also, on my tracfone, if you get someone who drives you nuts calling/texting you all the time, you simply do not accept the call and you don't get charged. You can change her name in your contacts to "reject".
I go to Target, pick the minutes card for the amount of minutes I need off the rack, pay for it in cash. When I get out to my car I scratch off the material hiding the code and enter the code into my phone. I throw away the used card and the Target receipt for it.
There is almost zero trail tracing the transaction to you. The reason it is not a zero trail is that Target (and I would guess other vendors) has a video camera covering each cashier. My SO came home one day from Target and couldn't find something she bought (greeting card). She went back to Target, told them the cashier she used and approximate time of purchase. A employee went into a room behind the service counter and came back after a couple of minutes and said that the recording showed that the cashier accidently put the card into a bag by itself and my SO didn't take it - the bag was used for the next customer (based on the video they gave her a replacement). I don't know how long they keep the recordings (this is a lot of data to keep) or if the recordings are linked to transactions but other than some super agency like the NSA, I don't see how it is practical (or even possible) for local LE to trace back to you.
If this bothers you, just take a look next time you are driving and take notice of all the cameras that are literally everywhere at intersections (not talking about red light cameras). There are ways to reduce the data by orders of magnitude (that I won't go into) but there is still too much data to practically store for any significant period of time. This will change due to technology advances over next couple of years - IMHO, Orwell was only off by maybe 35 years.
There is almost zero trail tracing the transaction to you. The reason it is not a zero trail is that Target (and I would guess other vendors) has a video camera covering each cashier. My SO came home one day from Target and couldn't find something she bought (greeting card). She went back to Target, told them the cashier she used and approximate time of purchase. A employee went into a room behind the service counter and came back after a couple of minutes and said that the recording showed that the cashier accidently put the card into a bag by itself and my SO didn't take it - the bag was used for the next customer (based on the video they gave her a replacement). I don't know how long they keep the recordings (this is a lot of data to keep) or if the recordings are linked to transactions but other than some super agency like the NSA, I don't see how it is practical (or even possible) for local LE to trace back to you.
If this bothers you, just take a look next time you are driving and take notice of all the cameras that are literally everywhere at intersections (not talking about red light cameras). There are ways to reduce the data by orders of magnitude (that I won't go into) but there is still too much data to practically store for any significant period of time. This will change due to technology advances over next couple of years - IMHO, Orwell was only off by maybe 35 years.
Supermarkets have similar cameras at each checkout line. I'm sure that every gas station convenience store or card store has them, too. Store cameras are everywhere. They are used for the store's protection not only from customers, but also as a way of cutting down employee theft at the registers.
The only way to prevent your being photographed at the checkout when you buy your burner phone or additional minutes card would be to go in wearing your Batman suit.
The only way to prevent your being photographed at the checkout when you buy your burner phone or additional minutes card would be to go in wearing your Batman suit.
It will be a toss-up either way to what method has less of a trail.
The low-end gas station may just have a low tech VCR on
a loop that gets overwritten every x days and can't easily be accessed.
On the other hand - target isn't going to waste valuable employee time releasing
video to LE unless there are lawyers, warrants, and a serious crime involved.
For the road cameras- it is just a matter of time before some vendor comes up with
a system that allows even the most flakey town employees to easily search and
pull detailed camera history from the last x years if needed.
I have seen burner phone sim cards at cash only vending machines-
provided you sit on the sim long enough unactivated - it will be tough to
correlate any possible video to the purchase.
The low-end gas station may just have a low tech VCR on
a loop that gets overwritten every x days and can't easily be accessed.
On the other hand - target isn't going to waste valuable employee time releasing
video to LE unless there are lawyers, warrants, and a serious crime involved.
For the road cameras- it is just a matter of time before some vendor comes up with
a system that allows even the most flakey town employees to easily search and
pull detailed camera history from the last x years if needed.
I have seen burner phone sim cards at cash only vending machines-
provided you sit on the sim long enough unactivated - it will be tough to
correlate any possible video to the purchase.
It would be an extreme case for LE to go through all that trouble to trace a burner phone purchase. The only scenario I can imagine that happening for would be something like the LI Gilgo Beach serial killer, still unsolved to this day. For that case, they did dig deep. So deep that it caused the demise of another hobby board, although the stupidity of some its members was a contributing factor.
I believe that the company that makes that app will roll over on you so fast if they come knocking. I am sure the app will show a paper trail back to you. They will not even have the resources that google has and google will be the first one to roll over on you to a court order. You most likely dont have to worry as has been stated many times but if you wind up on the call log of someone that turns up not alive, they will be thorough.