You're missing what I consider to be the most important part of the quote.


It appears to me that Larry's biggest problem with a smartphone isn't that it's a smartphone. It's the monthly plan cost associated with a smartphone. Pointing out that you can get a serviceable plan for $35, far less than half of what's expected, could be a win for everyone.

If Larry wants a featurephone, that's fine. But, the service won't cost less and the phone will be significantly less useful. Do you really think a teenage girl will use less than 60 minutes a month? Each text costs 0.3 minutes of airtime on Tracfone. I have no doubt that a teen can blow through the 60 minutes in texting alone without ever calling a single person.

The cheapest Tracfone plan that has a reasonable amount of minutes is 200 minutes for $39.99. If you go to Virgin Mobile, you get 300 minutes, unlimited text, and unlimited data for $5 less per month.

You might not like what I'm about to say, but Tracfone is for old people that primarily keep their cell phone turned off. They only turn it on when they need to call someone and aren't near a landline. They don't use it for incoming calls and texting is considered useless when you can use your voice.