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Comment by _yb2s | Hacker News Reader

I recommend it- with a month prepaid it unlocks and you can then use it on any carrier, and still costs less than half what it costs new from Apple. For example, a new SE3 is $189 right now from Tracfone.

Much cheaper than even the cheapest Android burner if you factor in the relative software update lifespan- most burners are locked to not get updates at all, but Apple doesn't allow carriers to do that. The SE has the same fast cpu, and long update lifespan of a high end iPhone.

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Define "burner phone" in this context?

Phones that come with low cost prepaid no contract plans, and are boxed to sell from a display rack in a department store, but can also be purchased online. “Burner” because you can set them up with no personal details- popular for criminals, teenagers, etc.

I honestly don’t understand why anyone would not use prepaid plans- I use visible for example, and it has full unlimited data on the Verizon network for $25/mo with an iphone that cost me under $200. It doesn’t seem in any way inferior to a high priced contract plan to me.

I always thought that (as well as the things you said) the word burner means it is cheap enough to discard (burn) after a single use.

But you can still play DRM content on them?

Yes, they're regular iphones, not different in any way.

I think your definition is a little different from what others are thinking. I think of a burner as an alternate phone you can toss (burn) at a moment’s notice. For that, even the iphone se you described would be pretty expensive.

This isn’t to say you are wrong. Just that some of us are thinking something different when we see “burner phone”.

Tracfone will give you a year of service AND a very good Android phone for 60 bucks. Sixty dollars!

It's only a really good deal if you don't use much of the $10/gb data, and also don't really make calls ever. I use enough of that that switching to another prepaid carrier with unlimited data and minutes was cheaper.

Also, I've had a few androids from Tracfone and they were all already a year or two behind on security updates when purchased, and could not be updated. The iPhones they sell can all get updates still.

You mentioned Tracfone so I assumed your use case was what Tracfone users generally are. The phones are throwaway but they're very good throwaway devices. I don't know about your security updates comment being the case given I get plenty of security updates on the Tracfone I am using.

That might have changed, it was an older high end Samsung I had with updates blocked. I used Tracfone for years, but the block on tethering was particularly annoying. Visible is basically the same service also owned by Tracfone, but unlimited everything for $25/mo, worth it to me.

Correction: they’re both owned by Verizon

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