This is a stupid thing to post in the happy thread: What is even a good deal for a cell phone? My free safelink phone got deactivated, and I was like "Well I didn't like you anyway" and I've been without a cell phone for about 2 months now. I could probably get another one, but there are apparently a good number of hoops to jump through for what is a piece of crap unreliable phone.
SO I've been living disconnected for a while, then there was an emergency, my Mom's house burnt down, fortunately nobody was hurt (except for my Mom's cat Bugsy, rest that poor stray's soul), actually my Mom was already living in a new apartment at the time (it's a long story...) and she was utterly hysterical trying to get a hold of me for the better part of 20 hours after the fact. Honestly, had she been able to get a hold of me, it wouldn't have changed anything and her stupid house would have been burnt down all the same, but then my otherwise good day would have been ruined.
That, and my workplace really wants me to get a cell phone, because they simply can't contact me at all through any means at the moment. Atleast my Mom can personally visit me, which is what she had to do, they can't even do that.
So I've been doing my own research, but there apparently isn't any cell phone information or advertising in the world that doesn't trigger my "This is Bullshit" alarm in my head. Even personally visiting cell phone retailers myself, just the way the stores are set up with minimalist displays and everything so carefully placed in an almost mathematically precise and well-searched artistic design rubs me the wrong way, as if the places are trying so extremely hard to give themselves an undeserved and pretentious sense of legitimacy; which just strikes me as something inherently deceitful and forces me to distrust them. Though while I'm saying that, I'd probably distrust them no matter what if only because I'm aware of how ignorant I am of the product they're selling.
So can someone please point me in the right direction? I feel I can atleast trust this forum a bit more than a salesperson or a potential shill on the internet. Obviously, as someone who has gone two months without a phone, I don't intend on using it very much except for when I truly have to, and the idea that society is set up in such a way as to make it almost mandatory to have one pisses me off, but if I do HAVE to get one, I would like to make it as painless and inexpensive as possible. Much thanks in advance.