Wifi-only phone for using at stores etc.?

[nine9s]

I have no smart-phone. I use an old cellular phone for emergency needs etc. and have a minimal subscription to Verizon.

More and more stores, where I shop, have coupons, other benefits etc. on smart phone applications. I regularly shop at Whole Foods, and Amazon Prime will have a shopping rewards program there. I assume it will be done through a smart-phone application. My banks also have similar applications that might be beneficial to me.

I do not want a smart phone carrier subscription.

Is there an option to get either a smart-phone with no carrier or a mobile tablet like the Google Nexus just to use at those store and would those type of application work on wifi only at the stores (is there any requirement to have a cellular carrier for applications)? What would my choices be of small mobile tablets or phones? Price ranges? Also, are mobile tablets a better choice (from my reading so far, I think there is a risk that an actual phone, with no carrier, might not get important updates)?

 

[core2slow]

I'm assuming that for any store rewards program would require you to have at least a smartphone/tablet with an HTML-based browser (and not WAP-based like the dumb/feature phone you have) or be able to access the playstore/appstore to download said rewards program.

Any smartphone or tablet within the last 7-8yrs would have sufficient wifi-capability, so to answer your question without diving deeper into the rabbit hole, go on Craigslist or eBay and find any device with a touch screen greater than 4in would satisfy your needs and you don't need to get a cellular plan to go with it.

Now depending on the store rewards program (and I don't know what those are), those probably require some recent Android/iOS phones and tablets to run, so you need to find out what those requirements are before buying a $50 device off the internet.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

If you have Xfinity cable/internet/phone then you can get a smartphone plan with unlimited minutes/texts for only the cost of taxes and fees (<$3/month). Data is $12/GB, but if you turn off mobile data on your phone it's $0 extra.

T-mobile has a pay-as-you-go plan for $3/month which includes 30 minutes/texts, no data. Additional minutes/texts are 10c each.

The biggest expense will be the phone itself, so keep an eye out for specials.

 

[WelshBloke]

Get cheap android smartphone, dont insert SIM card, profit?