Submitted by _caspar_ in Tech

Ive always had a 3G dumbphone with a basic carrier. apparently 3G is being phased out (? maybe you have more insight) and I might need to figure another option some point soon. Im sure what I was doing was insecure, but never paid it much mind since I dont send many messages especially sensitive ones.

anyhow, anyone got advice for a luddite who just wants to basically call and send texts occasionally through a simple cell? or is it just as simple as getting a 4G capable phone?

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catachresis wrote

Should be as simple as getting a 4G capable phone.

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celebratedrecluse wrote

Yes, just obtain a 4G phone.

You should be able to continue to use your existing phone until it stop working?

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yam wrote

Yes, just obtain a 4G phone.

As long GSM / 2G is around, which it still is and will be in many places, existing feature phones will be fine.

My advice would be to check whether 2G is also being phased out where OP lives.

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celebratedrecluse wrote

It will make the phone slower if it has to fall back to 2G, it bear saying, but I think it will still work

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southerntofu wrote

The phone will not be slower. Only Internet access through the mobile phone network, which many people don't use/need (calls/sms experience will be the same). Using only 2G network will also greatly help for battery life!

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Dooi wrote

I don't understand what the problem is to buy a smartphone with 4g

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southerntofu wrote

Buying a brand new phone in general is an ecological problem. As much as the industry tries to shift the blame on end-users saying bloated mailboxes are the ecological problem, the truth is producing new hardware is a process involving a lot of resource extraction and refinement (taking/polluting a lot of water and soil), and all work from extraction to the factory is quasi-slave work (what comrades from a past century called "wage slavery").

Buying new hardware is only profitable from an economic perspective because lack of social, environmental regulations as well as really cheap electricity in some places means we as "consumers" get a better deal out of a cheap, new device than to repair and maintain an old device. However, this is only because ecological/social concerns are entirely set aside, otherwise it would be orders of magnitude cheaper to maintain old hardware.

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[deleted] wrote

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southerntofu wrote

Sure, i just assumed you knew about that ;)

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[deleted] wrote

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southerntofu wrote

Well my other argument in favor of second-hand hardware is that hardware that's already survived several years has better chances to still be alive 5 years from now, than any device you buy brand new.

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[deleted] wrote

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southerntofu wrote

This one was not an argument based on ecological concern. It was another argument in reply to "I don't understand what the problem is to buy a smartphone with 4g", which was implied in OP's post as buying new hardware (whose durability is therefore questionable).

Are you trolling me? Seriously though i don't have anything against people asking questions but you seem to ask questions we both know the answer to just for the sake of asking questions. But maybe i'm just reading too much into it?

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