this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2023
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Showerthoughts
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I've heard the single most important purchase incredibly low income people can make is a phone, because without it they can't apply to new jobs or network with people because all applications are done online these days
I've seen homeless people with smart phones. There's definitely affordable ones out there
You can buy a Xiaomi phone that will last you for 4 years for less than $99, and there's some "functional" phones for much less than that but they will be unusably slow for casual use and more like emergency devices. Then there's the 2nd hand market...
Fortunately smart phone access is not that difficult
Then you have to work out a data plan. At least in the US, free wifi is t as ubiquitous as it is in Europe (at least in my experience).
Do you not have purchase-once prepaid cards? Internet access is expensive on them but they could work for emergencies when there's no free wifi
Maybe not ubiquitous, but it's in a lot of places like fast food restaurants and libraries where they are okay letting people spend long amounts of time loitering on their device.