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Piggybacking on this, but what's everyone doing with their 3g phones? My family has like 5 of them that will supposedly no longer have service in '22. Can we

Piggybacking on this, but what's everyone doing with their 3g phones? My family has like 5 of them that will supposedly no longer have service in '22. Can we donate these somewhere? The newer ones can still install android apps, send and receive email, etc. I thought about donating them to a shelter but I'm not sure if they'd have a use for them.

Scoundreller 5y ago
Just throw them on eBay and some intelligent broker will harvest them for parts or ship them off to the part of the world that still uses 3G and values them the most.
ugjka 5y ago
I'm thinking of turning my old phones into webcams
rob74 5y ago
I'm using an old Android phone (Moto X) as a "two-factor security dongle", i.e. I have the M$ Authenticator app installed on it for VPN and Exchange access from home office - unlike my "regular" mobile phone, which I may forget to take with me while I'm at home, it's on my desk the whole time...
tablespoon 5y ago
> Piggybacking on this, but what's everyone doing with their 3g phones? My family has like 5 of them that will supposedly no longer have service in '22. Can we donate these somewhere? The newer ones can still install android apps, send and receive email, etc. I thought about donating them to a shelter but I'm not sure if they'd have a use for them. What would a homeless person do with a phone that can't connect to a cellular network? Obsolete tech eventually becomes practically useless, even if it "still works." At this point, I'd say 3G phones are a (very small) white elephant, mainly only useful for weird hobbyist stuff or quirky retrocomputing. I knew a refugee who was given a 68k Mac laptop in about 2003, it was more of a burden than anything. It was impossible to get online with anything close to a then-modern browser (IIRC, too little memory). It made a lot more sense for him to just use one of the computer labs.
luke2m 5y ago
Security cameras.
dsr_ 5y ago
Download a bunch of MP3s that you don't like, get cheap long USB cords, and set them up as programmable musical alarm clocks. (Why music that you don't like? Because any music that forces you to wake up will eventually become music you don't like.)

Scoundreller 5y ago

Just throw them on eBay and some intelligent broker will harvest them for parts or ship them off to the part of the world that still uses 3G and values them the most.

ugjka 5y ago

I'm thinking of turning my old phones into webcams

rob74 5y ago

I'm using an old Android phone (Moto X) as a "two-factor security dongle", i.e. I have the M$ Authenticator app installed on it for VPN and Exchange access from home office - unlike my "regular" mobile phone, which I may forget to take with me while I'm at home, it's on my desk the whole time...

tablespoon 5y ago

> Piggybacking on this, but what's everyone doing with their 3g phones? My family has like 5 of them that will supposedly no longer have service in '22. Can we donate these somewhere? The newer ones can still install android apps, send and receive email, etc. I thought about donating them to a shelter but I'm not sure if they'd have a use for them. What would a homeless person do with a phone that can't connect to a cellular network? Obsolete tech eventually becomes practically useless, even if it "still works." At this point, I'd say 3G phones are a (very small) white elephant, mainly only useful for weird hobbyist stuff or quirky retrocomputing. I knew a refugee who was given a 68k Mac laptop in about 2003, it was more of a burden than anything. It was impossible to get online with anything close to a then-modern browser (IIRC, too little memory). It made a lot more sense for him to just use one of the computer labs.

luke2m 5y ago

Security cameras.

dsr_ 5y ago

Download a bunch of MP3s that you don't like, get cheap long USB cords, and set them up as programmable musical alarm clocks. (Why music that you don't like? Because any music that forces you to wake up will eventually become music you don't like.)