I'm guessing that there is no money to be made anymore to sell crappy phones. They're sold as disposable, but they must still be heavily subsidized by SO to sell them.

So being disposable, how can they sell the cheapest service plan and try to make their money back on the phones?

Simple answer is that they can't.

When was the last time you saw a decent cell phone model display at 7-11? I've been to many different locations, and they don't care about the phones any more.

It may be cheaper but are 100% sunking cost. Try to find some sub-100 prepaid android which IMO is the best bang for the buck phones for modern day data usage and they are usable on wifi network as well.

The C3 is not bad but still have lots of limitations like I have problem connecting it to McDonald hotspot(and a number of others). Given the less than 30 bucks difference, not worth it.

Beside, it is still possible to sell an android powered phone in say 12 months time for 50 bucks on craigslist but good luck with C3, especially it is locked hard to SO(this applies to other nokia as well).

My first Speakout phone in 2007/2008 was a No kia flip phone, sliver, which turned up its tootsies and died after a month's use. I probably should have pursued warranty on this, but it didn't seem worth the bother - it was a junk phone anyhow.

I had an idle unlocked Motorola V3 Razr flip phone, unlocked but previously used on Rogers and on a U.S. network, so I just moved the SIM to the Motorola phone and carried on. This was a secondary number; I also had an HTC Touch (CDMA) on a Bell monthly contract (and what a mistake it was to have ever dealt with them, but that's another story). The HTC had all sorts of bells and whistles, including moving-map GPS, e-mail, web browser, and text. I don't text much, but the browser and e-mail were moderately useful - when it worked. The Speakout number in the Motorola V3 has worked fine for 5 years.

I recently needed to add an additional phone for a family member. I had picked up a new-in-box Speakout Nokia 1620 without a SIM card for about $10 on Kijiji a few months back, thinking it might be handy if the Motorola developed problems.

I had no trouble getting a SIM card for the Nokia phone at the 7-Eleven at 107 Ave and 156 St. The store at 154 St. and Stony Plain Road also had SIMS in stock for sale, both places within the last two weeks.

What I have NOT been able to find are any Nokia 2220 or 2270 phones at any store in the greater Edmonton area - everyone has lots of Nokia 1616's, and some have C3's, but there seems to be no stock available or expected on the two "in-between" phones, the "Slingshot" and the "Eclipse".

I'm not wild about the C3, and am hoping to find something a bit better that will fully utilize the Internet and Web Browser capabilities now available on Speakout (which didn't exist when I first became a customer).

Any suggestions as to who has either of these two in stock, or on alternate hardware, would be very helpful. Hopefully the two locations I visited which were selling SIM cards are still doing so.

TR

If he is not there so tell the cashier to Speakout CS

Then you will get your sim card

...I did email Speakout about what happened, we'll see what their response is.

though everyone are entitled to do whatever they want to do, as usual