Will there be a 4G Basic phone with QWERTY keyboard?

[vzw_customer_support]

We definitely want to ensure we satisfy all of our customers! However, I'm afriad, we do not have information on when a new basic phone will be made with a QWERTY keyboard. Our sincerest apologies for the inconvenience! We can always browse all of our options to help fulfill your budget range, and get a phone you know you'll love. We're eager to hear back from you. MichelleH_VZW

[cmoo]

You really don't get it "Company Man".  We don't like smartphones and we don't like contracts. Going full circle now. Folks drop landlines because cummunication became cheaper with the cell fone. Now, we will reconnect them because cummunication became more expensive with the smart fone!  And, money isn't growing on trees out here like it is in your back yard...

[AquaJK]

A petition asking manufacturers to make qwerty flip phones is at Change..org: https://www.change.org/p/lg-ask-manufacturers-to-make-a-4g-qwerty-flip-phone?utm_medium=email&utm_so...

[Chaimn2636]

The only option is if we can change a3g phone to 4g 

[IDRX]

I agree. I will even like one that isn't a flip phone. 

[Waverly8940]

I have the same issue. I cannot seem to find a solution besides switching to ATT which delays the switch to 2022.  He's not alone, there will be a bigger market force for simple / old than people realize.

3G sunset key dates Verizon and ATT 

[vzw_customer_support]

We'd be sad to see you leave the Verizon Wireless family, Waverly8940. We want to make sure that our customers have nothing but the best devices to choose from. You can always stay up to date with our latest basic phones by following this link https://www.verizonwireless.com/basic-phones/. KevinR_VZW

[NB2012]

I've wondered the same question. I know there are smartphones with physical keyboards (Blackberry Key 1, 2, maybe others? ) but they're not basic slider phones.

[vzw_customer_support]

Making sure that you have a phone you like is important and we want you to have as many features as possible. You can review our current devices by clicking the following link:http://spr.ly/66081DKHI You can also click the following link to sign up for alerts:http://spr.ly/66011DKHF This will make sure you're always getting the most up to date information regarding our newest devices.

JesusG_VZW

[hearmenow123]

I signed the petition on change.org!

Good to see this thread is staying alive. I have it bookmarked to come back periodically.

There are several new keyboard phones under development, however they are not basic phones and not sold through Verizon. As I understand it from Verizon CS, you can bring in a non-Verizon smart phone and use it on a basic phone plan. 

FxTec CS wrote me the following about their Pro1:

"""

Thanks for your message.

The Pro1 supports all major US carriers. However, you need to be aware of a little process required to have signal on Verizon or Sprint due to their more complex setup. In order to have signal on Verizon or Sprint, you’ll first need to activate the SIM card on a previously known approved Verizon device. Or you can simply swap your SIM card to the Pro1 from your current phone on Verizon. This does not apply to T-Mobile or AT&T - those should work natively out of the box.

The device supports band 13 and the full list of bands can be found at https://www.fxtec.com/pro1/#specification 

Feel free to let me know if there’s anything else I can help you with.

Kind regards,
Team F(x)tec

[email address removed per the Verizon Terms of Service]

www.fxtec.com

""""

I also spoke with the makers of the Cosmo Communicator. Frankly I think this is the more desirable phone because 

1) It's a clamshell flip phone so it protects the keyboard and screen like the LG enV series did

2) It supposedly supports Sailfish OS which (again supposedly) doesn't have the bloat and spyware that Android has.

3) That keyboard looks really really nice, almost like a 1/4 scale laptop.

From Cosmo: ""As we have communicated in previous updates, we decided to make a dedicated Cosmo edition to support Verizon customers.

The Cosmo Communicator Verizon Edition (VE) is the same as our world-wide edition, except that it has one LTE radio frequency band added for Verizon (band 13) and one band removed that is used by T-Mobile USA (band 71). These two bands interfere with each other and, if they two bands were on the same PCB, the signal reception quality would be reduced.""

Both these phones are being made by smaller companies that don't have the resources the big-name phone companies have, so I paid for a pre-order on *both* these phones in order to help subsidize the development. The FxTec was $700 on pre-order and Cosmo Communicator was $500 on pre-order but now in production it is also $700. Unfortunately the days of buying a QWERTY flip phone for $15 off Amazon or eBay are over. 

Both these phones are slated to start shipping in the next month or so. I will post an update as they come in. I have good confidence in the phones themselves, the biggest question is whether Verizon will be difficult about the BYOD phone. They have an official BYOD page and CS confirmed that it is officially supported , so it *should* work , but for now I keep a "see it to believe it" attitude. Maybe it will work out of the box, maybe it will take some calls to CS.