Hi,  

I was wondering, where can I buy a good burner phone? I've never bought one before and need to know where and how to set one up.

Thanks!

phones other than the carriers themselves (not AT&T, Sprint, etc.). I have purchased burner phones from Best Buy, Walmart, Target, etc.

Register the phone online with a fake name, hobby email address, etc. and pay for the phone and minutes cards with cash.

Thanks!

you don't need a separate phone. if you have an iphone, you can download an app from itunes. you can create as many numbers as you need.

Just use an old phone of yours and activate it with a pre-paid plan - I think all carriers have the pay-as-you-go plans.

Or buy one on eBay.

Well, almost, depending on how secure you want to be. Every cell phone has a unique IMEI number that is recorded as part of the phone call. It is necessary to activate the IMEI for use on the network usually when the phone is purchased.  If you bought the phone non-anonymously, they can trace the IMEI back to the point of purchase and you. Likewise, if you buy a phone on eBay, it will not be anonymous.  
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Cash money at brick and mortar is, IMO, the way to go. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, ... your picture will be on the store video surveillance, so wear a broad brimmed hat and park a mile away and wear a fake mustache and ...).

Buy the phone from CL.

I use a regular phone with burner apps and so far they've worked great.

Or buy a phone. if worried about surveillance then let a few months elapse so that store video is no longer archived as my understanding is that a store video is archived only for a month or two, not forever and then use the phone

Does anybody know how burner apps mask the IMEI of the phone hardware?  Sure, they will give you a burner phone number, untraceable by whoever you are calling but what about LE and courts digging into the electronic records?

In the early days, using VHS recordings, tapes were recycled daily, then maybe every 3 days. Then, as storage prices dropped, weekly; then monthly. We are now completely digital and terabytes can fit on media no larger than a credit card.  I wonder what the current security practice is for different venues?  (Airports probably hold surveillance records far longer than the Mom and Pop Market down the street.) I think I'll ask someone to chime in.

on your 'real' phone can always be traced, it only depends how hard they want to look.