
Request HN: Can Someone Make a Dumb Phone for USA? - sephoric
Last year I shut down all our internet services for everyone in my home (me, my wife and our kids), so that all we have now are a landline and radio, no internet or television or texting or TV or anything. Our lives have become significantly happier since then. We have so much more time to do anything we want, we feel so much less overwhelmed and distracted, and we&#x27;re starting to live full, active and fulfilling lives.<p>But we would like to text and make phone calls while on the go, without the constant temptation to be connected to emails, Facebook, and browsers all the time. So I have been searching the web for a month looking for a &quot;dumb phone&quot;, a phone that doesn&#x27;t have anything but text and phone, not even a &quot;home screen&quot;. Something like you would see in the 90s. But it just doesn&#x27;t exist.<p>Maybe there&#x27;s no market for it, but maybe there will be one if you make it and market it well. And that&#x27;s what you guys are good at.
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rossy
Are you sure this isn't a lifestyle you're forcing on your kids? I've known a
few kids from low-tech families and in my experience, it's rarely something
they'd choose for themselves, were they given the choice. Kids use the
internet to chat with friends after school and to arrange events. They also
tend to bond over videos and TV shows they've all watched, and in general,
they don't like to be different from their peers or to miss out on
opportunities to socialise or to bond socially over shared experiences.

In my experience, kids from low-tech families also tend to binge on their
banned technology when they get the opportunity, like watching TV at a
friend's house or spending lunchtime in the school's library/computer lab,
maybe because of a lack of learned self-control.

~~~
sephoric
It is a lifestyle I'm forcing on my kids, and that's intentional. Kids don't
always know what's good for them, and confuse wants and needs. It's a parent's
job to create a safe and healthy environment where their kids can grow and
thrive. We used to live the kind of life where video games and TV were
"bonding experiences" and it just created all sorts of problems inside them.
With this lifestyle, I see those problems vanishing one by one. And they all
see it too and are happier now.

------
hacktember
[https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/light-
phone-2#/](https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/light-phone-2#/)

~~~
sephoric
That looks over engineered and still not as simple as it could be. Think of
those cell phones in the 90s that had a single line (or two) of spaces for
text, and they had no features but calling and texting. That's perfect, it has
literally already been invented, it just needs to be resold, and perhaps put
in a pretty package again, but not like this. Not like this.

~~~
aaronmcs
> That's perfect

Is it? I'm a LP2 backer, and agree with you that I want a phone that does not
have a browser, or an App Store, or anything like that; however, I do believe
that the small set of tools LP2 is planning on coming with (simple directions,
ride sharing, alarm, in particular) are pretty much no-downside.

What bothers you about features like these? Or is it the pricetag?

~~~
sephoric
It's self sufficiency I want for our family, and those features discourage
that. My kids' schools don't teach them many things anymore, including reading
an analog clock. I'd rather my children know how to buy a map at a gas station
and read it to get where they want to go, or do most simple math in their head
instead of using a calculator. Alarms are built into most clocks made today,
even (perfectly good) ones you can buy for $3 at a thrift store, and most
microwaves have timer features. Using an app for ride sharing discourages
phone (or text) conversations that are naturally able to lead to many
unexpected places.

At the end of the day, I look at it this way: I'm able to live a full and
happy life without a smart phone, the only thing I'm missing is the ability to
call someone. That's where a phone comes in handy.

~~~
potta_coffee
People will hate when you try to go against the flow, but it's a good path.
We've recently cut pretty much all video games and television, and our family
is better for it.

Protip: Some people will feel judged by you simply because you don't do
certain things. If you want to avoid awkward conversations, you might not want
to bring up that you don't have a TV. It's stupid but some people get
seriously weird over it.

------
joegahona
There is no market for this, which is why you can't find it. The vast majority
of people who want a phone/text device but don't want browsers, emails,
MySpace, or app stores simply ignore those features.

~~~
sephoric
Or they try to not use those features but get sucked back into it, like I did
the many times I tried exactly that. I wonder how many people there are who
wanted to live a life like this but because such a phone doesn't exist, they
keep getting pulled back in and have to abandon having a phone altogether.

------
DiJu519
[https://www.punkt.ch/en/products/mp02-4g-mobile-
phone/](https://www.punkt.ch/en/products/mp02-4g-mobile-phone/)

Sounds like it might work for you.

~~~
mtnGoat
i feel like these have been "coming soon" for a couple years now. its a great
idea, wish it had more traction.

~~~
khm
I have one. They're real.

------
howard941
The Alcatel flip phone at Consumer Cellular looks like it's strictly text and
phone except for the bit about downloading wallpaper suggests it has some kind
of web client inside.
[https://www.consumercellular.com/Products/813/Details](https://www.consumercellular.com/Products/813/Details)

~~~
sephoric
I have that exact phone and it has a browser built in. It's lower quality than
usual but it's good enough to waste a few hours with.

~~~
howard941
Ahhh bummer. One of the old Motorola Star-Tacs would have been perfect if it
were available and compatible.

~~~
aleister_777
Until the damn antenna broke off...again.

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Liber-Abaci
Buy any android phone and uninstall the browser/everything else. Put custom
software on it without GAPPS. Moto e⁴ plus has a 2 day battery life, probably
longer if you're not using a browser. LG still makes flip feature phones but
they have a primitive browser which you don't have to use by not signing up to
any data plan.

No internet is too extreme though, library genesis and sci-hub I'd be lost
without them as I can't afford $100+ texts or journal subscriptions. Youtube
videos by mathematicians I also wish I had when I was in highschool.

------
tannhaeuser
There used to be dumbphones for elder people with big buttons at retail stores
not too long ago (at least at my place). Maybe these aren't advertised on the
web.

Edit: don't know about US, though

~~~
_trampeltier
[https://www.amazon.com/cell-phone-
keypad/s?k=cell+phone+keyp...](https://www.amazon.com/cell-phone-
keypad/s?k=cell+phone+keypad)

On work we have also two rugged cellphones with a keypad. They have a color
screen, but you can't really use the web, I guess .. I never tryed ..

------
chris5745
I used to own a Just5 Brick phone for a simpler phone experience. I don’t know
if they’re going to continue selling them though, as they’ve been marked “sold
out” for some time now.

[http://www.just5.com/worldwide/en/brick/brick-
red](http://www.just5.com/worldwide/en/brick/brick-red)

------
runjake
This gets asked all the time. Rather than rehashing some good prior
conversations, check out past discussions at:

[https://www.google.com/search?q=dumb+phone+site%3Aycombinato...](https://www.google.com/search?q=dumb+phone+site%3Aycombinator.com)

------
3g-tom
how did you write this message if you do not have internet?

~~~
sephoric
I'm at my local public library which has wifi. It's also how I download new
NPM modules, email my client, deliver my work to him, etc. But I do 90% of my
work offline at home.

~~~
tuesday20
Are you a dev? If yes, how do you refer to documentation without internet??!!

~~~
antongribok
I too am curious about the workflow.

Also, kind of off topic, but I found it fitting that your (original poster)
website is hosted on AWS.

~~~
sephoric
Aside from my other answer, the local library has internet access, so I'm able
to use AWS as needed.

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mtnGoat
My aunt and uncle got one recently for when they are traveling, i think they
picked it up at 7-11. its a prepaid, but if you dont use it much, i figure
thats the best way to go anyhow.

------
IronWolve
Search ebay for mini cellphone, they have dumb phones thats basically credit
card or lighter sized with a keypad.

~~~
sephoric
It looks like you mean the M5 phone, which from what I researched, used 2G
towers and thus no longer works since those have all been decommissioned. It
also seems to be cheaply made and commonly have a ton of problems.

------
dalerus
Are Nokia phones still sold in the US? We have plenty in Asia that are nothing
but a phone and texting.

------
sloaken
Walk into best buy. I bought one last summer. Texting is slow.

~~~
sephoric
Which model did you buy? Does it have an internet browser or apps?

~~~
sloaken
I do not remember which it was. I do remember asking the salesperson, 'just
need a simple phone for calls and messaging, no need for data'. Like 'MAGIC' I
was handed what fit my need.

No internet, some apps but I never used them.

