2 - Basic and Smart Phones
These iPhones are available.
These Samsung phones are available.
These Android phones and also available.
I used to be a Consumer Cellular customer for a while when I used to personally test some of their phones. After I stopped, they sent me this ad below a few years ago (as you can tell from the camera features). You can see the Readers' Choice PC Magazine award badge in the upper left corner of the ad.
Consumer Cellular carries a few other devices. One is the Grandpad, a tablet-like device which can also make phone call. It is designed to help seniors (grandparents presumably) keep in touch with their friends and family. The Grandpad is set up so someone else in the family can set it up remotely so that the person using it doesn't have to bother. This can include setting up the contacts.
Consumer Cellular carries two flip phones, the Verve Snap for $62 ($42 refurbished) and the Link II for $49. The Verve Snap has a Favorites button on the keypad to easily access your favorite contacts. They both have relatively large buttons to make it easier to dial, but I think the visual appearance of the Snap keypad is more legible. What do you think?
Consumer Cellular also used to offer these flip phones designed for seniors.
The Doro Phoneasy 626 was a successor to the Doro 410. This is an easy-to-use phone with large buttons. it is also available in two colors. It doesn't appear to be available anymore from Consumer Cellular, so if you're interested in something like this, you may want to consider the Jitterbug flip phone as well.
The Doro 826 was an easy to use Android smartphone designed for seniors. This means that it came with a separate easy to use interface similar to that of the Jitterbug smartphone. This, too, is not currently available from Consumer Cellular..
You can install their own Usage App on these Android phones, so that you can manage your account from the phone itself. If you receive a usage alert, you can upgrade your account from the phone itself (or limit your usage until the end of the billing period).
The Consumer Cellular Home Phone Base allows you to add your home phone line to your cellular account. You can keep your number and keep using your home phone handset.
You can use your phone for up to 30 minutes or 30 days (45 days and minutes for AARP members) and still send it all back and get a refund for everything.
You can now get a SIM card that you can use with an unlocked GSM phone. This means you're not limited to choosing from the phones they currently offer. The SIM card is free if you purchase online, and there's no activation fee. The SIM card kit comes with complete instructions and there's also a video.
There used to be a $35 activation fee which made the prices of the phones seem cheaper. These fees have been removed. Now the entire cost of your phone purchase is refundable if you cancel within the refund period. Earlier, the activation fee was non-refundable.
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