Angry Old Man

If strong language bothers you, stop reading now.

If you're one of those "too long, didn't read" people, move on right now. Your negative bull sh*t isn't welcome here.

Thank you for your constructive advice. I'm very tech-ignorant, so please be kind and patient.

I need help shopping for a tablet and knowing the IMEI in advance of the purchase. I don't know where or how to go about doing that.

My eyesight is poor and I have arthritis. I struggle to use a cell phone.

My plan was to switch to a Tablet computer instead and use that as a cell phone. I think a ten/eleven inch screen would be "just right" size for typing and reading.

I have a powerful aversion to laptop computers, as the flat keyboards they use are not intuitive to me. I have decades of muscle memory built into the standard desktop PC keyboard style (angled and raised keys). If I can't have a traditonal keyboard, I at least need to touch screen to be much bigger than a typical cell phone; thus, the tablet.

I'm on social security disability of 1200 a month as my sole income. I need to be frugal, but I still want to cover my needs with what I purchase.

I live in zip code 20015, Washington DC. I don't spend much time talking on the phone, so I don't need an expensive network service. I selected Mint Mobile, which I don't necessarily like or trust, but they offered an introductory plan of fifteen dollars a month for three months, so I decided to give them a try.

Here is where the story gets a little complicated.

My current cell phone is a TCL brand, model 5102L.

I don't remember where/when I bought it years ago, but I didn't get it from a network provider, I'm sure of that. I remember thinking that one hundred dollars is outrageously expensive for a phone, but it had some decent reviews. I don't believe it said it came "locked".

When I shopped Mint Mobile, it said "you can bring your own phone".

The trouble is, when I have shopped online for a tablet computer, the listings do not include the IMEI code, so I have no idea how to find / buy a tablet that will work with the Mint Mobile SIM card I purchased. Mint Mobile tech support has been utterly useless / passive-aggressive on this issue.

I ordered the tablet listed below, installed the Mint Mobile SIM card and it said something like "not 4 LTE" or some kind of acronym thing that was meaningless to me. Again, I have nearly zero tech knowledge. This is all very confusing and frustrating for me.

Amazon:

Tablet 10 inch Android Phone Tablet with SIM Slot, 1280 * 800 HD IPS, Touchscreen, Octa-Core Processor, 2GB RAM, 32G ROM, Support 3G Phone Call,6000 mAH Battery, WiFi, GPS, Camera, USB C Tablet PC

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D9BM2KTJ?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

Well, I read that, and it's mostly gibberish to me. I don't know what USC C is, or what 3G phone call means, for example. Why should I need a degree in computer programming just to buy something that works right out of the box?

The table cost about fifty bucks, which seemed reasonable to me. I hope you can forgive a 62 year old man, but it appears to me that all quality of everything now is pure SH&T and everything costs ten times what it is actually worth. Even before Covid I saw this happening. All reviews of all products now say "it broke one day after the return period expired". Everything now seems to be a total RIP OFF scam.

You used to be able to go down to Sears and if it was a Craftsman tool or a Kenmore appliance, you knew for certain it was QUALITY and was going to last a lifetime. Who decided that style was more important than reliability? "Oh, all my friends like it, so it's KEWL, that's why I bought it!" What retard got that c^ap started?

I tried putting the SIM card into my TCL phone and Mint Mobile insists that the phone is "locked".

TCL tech support has totally ignored all my requests for help / information.

I installed out of desperation some weird "TextNow" thing, and it works, but only at home and it has installed all kinds of crappy games on my phone. I delete them and they resinstall themselves. The service is garbage, and I can't use the new number to register for anything online.

This all got started with Tello; my calls suddenly all automatically would not ring, instead I got an instant "Call Ended" message. This happened a half dozen times and tech support did some kind of reboot thing. then Tello stopped having voice tech support, and the email tech support completely ignored me.

I cancelled the Tello service....which turns out was stupid. You have to keep your old service, get a new service/number, because all the aholes like bank and amazon INSIST on sending a "confirmation code" to your OLD number to change anything.

That's massively F(cked up!!! What if my phone were broken, lost or stolen? Why as ID absolutely GOT to be linked to a god d%mn cell phone? Cell phones make people self centered, rude, lazy, hasty and stupid. They are pure cr%p.