<p>We have an old plan (we’ve been with T-Mobile for over 10 years), so it is still quite a bit cheaper for us to have ‘dumb’ phones as there is no data fee attached to them. </p>
<p>My DH looked at all the companies last year as we were coming up on a renewal date. He was frustrated with t-mobile and really wanted to switch. Well, turned out that the grass wasn’t greener anywhere else and no one could beat the plan we had pricewise, so we have stayed. We’ll keep reassessing every few years. </p>
<p>Artloversplus - you can still text with a dumb phone. </p>
<p>My kids would be lost without that! But they do not ‘need’ a smartphone and the distraction of the internet during school. And frankly, they have not clamored for it either. The youngest is saving his money for a car (an upcoming purchase) and the other one is working on a professional wardrobe. Smart phones are a luxury that can wait.</p>
<p>So if we’re happy with our plan but one of us needs a new phone can we buy an unlocked phone or a phone tied to our plan and just put the Sim card in it? In other words, can our plan provider tell or does it care that the Sim card is in a different phone?</p>
<p>Wellspring…my phone died. DH found me a perfect replacement on eBay. I bought it and popped my sim card into the phone. AT&T hasn’t said a peep…and that was two years ago.</p>
<p>If the phone you are switching is of comparable level, dummy for dummy, smart for smart, the phone company will allow it. However, if you put your dummy phone sim card in smart phone, they will start bill you a data plan you may not want.</p>
<p>Yes all phones can text, however, in my old old old ATT plan(cost $75 for three phones) from 2005ish, text message is charged 50c each. For 5 years, I turned off text capability on all my three phones in my subscription. For 5 years, until 2010, I lived with voice only phones.</p>
<p>50 cents a text message? Ouch!!! We’d be completely impoverished if our plan charged that much.</p>