When you hold sensitive information and you don’t want to reveal your exact location to anyone, a burner phone is the best option because it hides your identity and protects your privacy. This is by far one of the best options to remain anonymous, and whenever you need to talk, you can simply turn on the phone and communicate with others without revealing your real location or nearby location using the prepaid plan.
This is a phone that you can buy from local shops in cash without giving identity proof or any registration process. The buying process of this phone is very simple; go to the nearest shop and ask for, “I need a simple phone just for communication or text” in an affordable range. You can even use some more trusted words like, “I need a phone for my grandfather or grandmother.”
You can also say, “I want a very simple and long battery life phone for my car, so that I can easily track the car 24 hours or call the police station if someone steals my car. By filing a complaint, I can help in finding the exact location of the car.”
This gives a clear signal to the mobile shopkeeper that, “Aha! This is the right phone for you!” It is very cheap and quite affordable, and it also comes with a valid IMEI number, so you don’t face any issue while calling or texting throughout the country.
On the other hand, if you try to buy a smartphone like Android or iOS, then you have to give your identity proof, and these phones are expensive, and hence, buying these phones doesn’t make any sense. Additionally, in these phones with GPS, someone can easily track you, and there is no surety of data privacy. As these phones have internet access, ISPs might track your search history and based on that, they can find your location or sensitive information.
For privacy reasons, many companies such as KPMG and Deloitte have recently instructed their staff members to use burner phones instead of smartphones. According to the Financial Times, employees have been advised to use burner phones, when visiting China and Hong Kong.
Apart from this, another report which was published by Business Insider states that the step of using burner phones has been taken due to geopolitical tensions and increased surveillance in the region.
So, if are in a situation when privacy is priority and you would like to use a phone to make some calls and later want to throw it away, then a burner phone is the best option. It is an inexpensive phone, and it doesn’t burn your pocket.
Below, I’m going to reveal some of the best burner phone options that you can easily buy in India while traveling and without exposing your identity.
Before going to reveal the burner phone brand list, I would like to highlight that in India, there are a ton of brands available that offer burner phones. Normally, these phones are keypad phones, and the starting price of these phones is just from ₹500.
In this ₹500-₹1000 price range, you will get bar-type phones or flip phones with plenty of features that fulfill your need, like:
- The phones have a color display of 1.7 – 1.8 inches.
- You can check the SIM signal.
- You can check the remaining battery status.
- You can view time and date.
- You can store contacts in the phone’s memory.
- The radio FM facility is also available.
- Comes with an 800 mAh to 1000 mAh battery.
- Light in weight, easy to carry.
- Provides a battery backup of 7-10 days.
As these phones are just the basic phones without GPS or internet facilities, hackers or secret service people can’t track you easily, and you can freely move from one location to another without fear.
Now, let’s take a look at what options we have available right now. Here are a few brand lists that offer keypad featured phones under a budget of ₹500-₹1000.
First, we will let you know about made in India or made in China phones. These are affordable burner phones, offer decent quality, having 4 star+ customer rating and battery backup with 1 month to 6 months warranty. The local made cheap burner phones are:
- Tara T6 (the cheapest one)
- Lvix L1 ICE 1
- MTR M310
- GFive Guru+
- MTR Orchid
- Lvix Power 2, Power 5, and Power 8
- Angage Falcon, Elite
- Snexian Rock R11, Bold 40
- iTel Ace2
- Lava Hero Glow (Best made in India)
- iAir D22
- Jmax Bright
- Ringme 2163
- SIAVantage PRO
- Mircomax S116
- Mupphone M3000
If the above brands don’t make sense, and you are a little hesitant, you can buy phones from known and trusted global brands. These brands are – Nokia, Samsung and Motorola, and all of them offer warranty ranging from 1 year to 2 years. Price range of these brands will vary from ₹900-₹1200
- Nokia 105 Classic
- Nokia 106
- Motorola Moto A10E
- Motorola A10g
- Samsung Guru GT
The benefit with global brands are that you can get sale after service. In case of any bug or malfunction you can visit the nearest center and your phone issue will be fixed in 2-3 business days.
So that’s all about the burner phones and common brands that you can buy from local mobile shops in India. The reach of these phones is nearly at every location, and by paying cash, you can get one or more.
