$10 emergency cell phone

[theksmith 5,778]

picked up a pay-as-you-go cellphone from biglots today for $10 bucks!

 

why? - to put in my bug-out-bag of course...

 

but why??? don't the minutes expire? don't the minutes cost a crap load??

 

well for $10 bucks i just got a secondary way of calling 911 in case my main cell phone was dead, or what if i leave my main cell phone in the jeep when that flash flood came and all i had time to grab was my bug-out-bag? then when i hike back to the highway, i can call 911 to rescue the other guy that is stranded in the jeep in the middle of the wash.

 

pay as you go phones usually have minute cards that only last 30,60,or 90 days... but you can always dial 911 on the phone, even if you don't have any minutes for it. that's my plan, it's just another redundant form of communication to have that takes up no space and only cost me 10 bucks. i'll take it out and charge it every few months and other than that, it can just sit in the bug-out-bag turned off all the time.

 

this is the phone, motorola w260g:

 

[dzJeepChic 2,897]

Wow, smart idea.

 

d

[Jomax 0]

Very old post, but VERY smart idea!!! will be using it!

[theksmith 5,778]

i hadn't looked at this in a long time, but there are a couple companies now that claim to sell pre-paid GSM SIM cards with minutes that never expire. i didn't read the fine print yet though:

https://www.worldtravelsim.com/proddetail.asp?prod=World.Travel.SIM

https://www.phoneshark.com/Showoneitem.cfm?f=11&t=11&p=9065

 

this company looks a little more legit and has cheap pre-paid plans that are good for a year:

http://www.roammobility.com/compare/us-sim-cards

EDIT - nevermind on this one, looks like you have to schedule your usage window ahead of time.

 

something to consider instead of just having a secondary phone for 911 use.