Burner phone / 2nd device

[scooter247]

Ok so I will start by saying I am not the most tech savy! I have hobbied for many years and have gotten away with using my real phone and just using apps like google voice to communicate

I am thinking I want to switch to just getting a second device I can use just for hobby. I don’t really need or want an additional phone line. But just a simple android or something that I can text with and use internet apps like google voice / Kik...

Can somebody please break down best way to do this? I am kinda illiterate when comes to this. Can I just walk into like a cricket wireless and by a cheap android or something that will just connect to internet and use? Do burner phone last forever (or expire after like certain amount of minutes or texts?)

Sorry for questions and hoping somebody can just give me a simple breakdown so I can follow advice and steps lol

[Lil Oral Annie]

Get cash, go into walmart, buy a phone (whichever carrier you want), and buy the refill card. Turn the phone on, dial the # it tells you to add the refill card and the IMEI #, etc. That's how I did mine. Every month you'll have to take cash to buy a refill card to fill it back up.

There are so many threads on here about this stuff if you do a search on "burner phone" in the search feature.

I hope that helps.

[Cossetan]

I'm with Annie on this one. I use an old iPhone and an AT&T Prepaid chip. I buy a $45 refill card every month at Walmart using cash and that gives me talk, text and data. Had to set up a dummy iTunes account with one of my hobby email addresses. Works great for me and no tracing back. You just have to remember to keep the phone out of sight and never let your guard down.

[Arcane]

Are you married?

If not, an extra app on your phone won't mean anything. I recommend Burner or Hushed.

[scooter247]

Thanks for the info! Curious though. When u need to refill the card do u keep same number ? Or does it just give you like a temp generated number each time?

[dallasfan]

You don’t think they can track you but the can.

Unless you buy a prepaid loaded phone from the back of a car with cash in the middle of no where. They can find you. But as long as you didn’t kill anyone they probably don’t care.

[Lil Oral Annie]

You're refilling your account, which is the same phone number. You buy a refill card.

[right_now]

I use tracfone service for a hobby phone. Bought a decent Samsung smartphone for about $40 at Best Buy and get a three month tracfone usage card for $19.99 when needed.

Cash Only

[Lil Oral Annie]

I have cricket. $35 a month.

[pmdelites]

tracfone from places like kroger, etc.
get a basic 4G LTE phone for less than 50$, then buy a minutes/data card for 20-30$.
service w/ the data-only cards runs out after 30 days.
instead, buy a 60 or 120 minutes card (20-30$) - service runs out after 90.
just buy a data card when you need more data.
https://www.tracfone.com/shop/plans


when you buy it, they assign a number to you. you keep it until you get rid of the phone AND dont transfer it to another tracfone phone.

i use mine for texts, a few phone calls, some internet access (protonmail, Brave browser, etc).
text "usage" to 611611 to find out how many minutes, SMS units, data you have left.

[Go4it]

The only problem with a second phone is keeping it hidden. They are hell to explain if the wifey sees it. There is only ONE reason for having a second phone so be thinking of your excuse now!!!!

[scooter247]

Wife is wanting to put Life 360 on my phone to track where I am. Not to keep tabs on me as she isn’t like that but we all have it as a family. And she has been wondering why I am hesitant to put it on my phone. So think I might just download it to ease her, but then will be hard when I am traveling to providers.

So hence was going to get second phone. Plus don’t have to worry about hiding apps like google voice and Kik on my phone which have A lot of material that would be hard for her to see!

So I’m second phone I am basically only needing:
Internet access
Calling / texting ability
Able to download apps like Kik, google voice, waze...

Technically if I just make calls through google voice do you even need to get calling / data card?

[Lil Oral Annie]

Are you gonna leave your personal phone somewhere so she can't track you when you're on your way to a provider's incall? I guess you can always take the battery out of the phone while you're on the way to a provider's incall, but just remember to put the battery back in when you get a far enough distance away after. I think I would just decline putting the app on the phone, but then again, she could do it without you knowing.

Google voice uses what you have on your phone, except the phone number. Just remember to set it up correctly so you don't get notifications and stuff when you don't want to.

[FunMonday]

Use cash to get a burner as discussed. Google voice has too much shit that tracks you if you don’t know how to turn all that shit off and even then it can send you a monthly summary of locations you visited.

Burner phone only!!!!

[pyramider]

There are hundreds of threads on phones. The Search tab works.