Phone Options for Parents?

[NoBite]

My parents are in their 80's and are not real tech-savvy. They have never had a cell phone. Since they still insist on driving to visit friends in other towns, I want to get them a cell phone for them to take with them on trips. I will pay for the phone and minutes.

What are the best options? Criteria:
- The phone plan needs to be by the minutes used since they will not use the phone regularly.

-The phone itself needs to be extremely basic and easy to see (larger numbers preferred!)

-I need to be able to purchase additional minutes and load their plan on occasion.[/LIST]
Since I am an AT&T customer, I thought maybe their GO phone would work. What other options are there and which one(s) do you recommend?

TIA.

[MOTOhooligan]

Jitterbug.

[NoBite]

THANKS! I had never heard of that company. I'll give it a good look!

[NFrabbit]

I know a lot of people in their 80's who are as active as your parents seem to be. They all have cell phones and are quite capable of using them so don't sell your parents short on what they are capable of. Since you are concerned and want to help the following are possibilities might be worth looking into.

1. If you have a family plan consider adding them to it. Just watch their usage you might find that one or both of them are bigger talkers than you expect.
2. Get them their own plan but make sure you have access to their account online. Again that way you can check on their usage and make sure they don't get into trouble.
3. The phone itself might be the biggest problem. My wife is in her mid 60's and she has problems with the phone's keyboard. The best I've been able to do for her is to try and find a flip phone with the absolute minimum of capability (other than the obvious one of making a call) That way you don't have extra buttons for cameras, mp3 players or the like which gives a little more space for the regular buttons.
4. If they really are low minute users then the GoPhone is another option. You can check the account online and you can buy and add time to their phone either from the web site or another phone.

Good luck and tell your parents how lucky they are to have a kid like you.

[NoBite]

Hey, I hadn't thought of simply adding them to my family plan. That would/could work out to be the least costly option, especially initially. The challenge would be to find a phone with bigger numbers and the least amount of options, as mentioned. I could easily monitor their usage.

Currently, it is just my wife and I on the plan. We have rollover minutes that are always expiring because of lack of use! This actually sounds like a wonderful option. It's one of those "why didn't I think of that" ideas!

Thanks!!

[Simon5282]

Originally Posted by MOTOhooligan

Jitterbug.

Very good phone design. I like the phone but the service is so expensive, and you cannot use the phone with anyone else. It would be to expensive for many people.

[Telekom]

Originally Posted by NoBite

My parents are in their 80's and are not real tech-savvy. They have never had a cell phone. Since they still insist on driving to visit friends in other towns, I want to get them a cell phone for them to take with them on trips. I will pay for the phone and minutes.

What are the best options? Criteria:
- The phone plan needs to be by the minutes used since they will not use the phone regularly.

-The phone itself needs to be extremely basic and easy to see (larger numbers preferred!)

-I need to be able to purchase additional minutes and load their plan on occasion.[/LIST]
Since I am an AT&T customer, I thought maybe their GO phone would work. What other options are there and which one(s) do you recommend?

TIA.

Phone: A phone like the Nokia 6030 which comes with prepaid offerings from both T-Mobile and AT&T on their prepaid plans. Easy to use buttons, large display numbers.

T-Mobile's T-Mobile To Go has refills as little as $10 which will last 90 days. You need to add a refill before the end of 90 days to keep the account active. Once you reach the $100 is refills you become "gold reward" level and you will only have to make a refill once per year.

AT&T's GoPhone is 25¢ per minute on their no charge per day plan. They also have a plan that charges $1.00 per day on days when the phone is used and also offers free mobile-to-mobile calls to other AT&T subscribers and 10¢ per minute.

[Fire14]

Adding them to your exsisting account is a good and cost effective option, also AT&T and Verizon have special plans for seniors for around $20.00 a month (+ taxes) so if there is a reason not to add them to your current AT&T plan, this maybe another option that's inexpensive amd maybe even more inexpensive then a Go Phone or To Go phone.

[springer22]

I am in the same boat as you. I am getting a pre-paid phone for the in-laws and was looking into The Net10 option. They seem to be a good deal and my in-laws are so stress that they will have outrageous phone bills I thought this way I could monitor it. Check them out and let me know what you choose!
NET10. No Bills. No Contracts. No Evil.

[Quint101]

Originally Posted by NFrabbit

1. If you have a family plan consider adding them to it. Just watch their usage you might find that one or both of them are bigger talkers than you expect.

I did this last year on Verizon. I converted from a individual plan to a 2 line family plan so I could reach mom... she never answers the landline LOL. At first, she used less than 10 minutes per month... when I considered moving her to a prepaid plan, her minutes of use increased; for now, I will continue to pay the $10 + tax/month to keep her on my plan.

The phone itself might be the biggest problem. My wife is in her mid 60's and she has problems with the phone's keyboard. The best I've been able to do for her is to try and find a flip phone with the absolute minimum of capability (other than the obvious one of making a call) That way you don't have extra buttons for cameras, mp3 players or the like which gives a little more space for the regular buttons.

My mom is 53 and a technophobe... she freaked out when I told her that her Motorola V325 has a camera. Otherwise, she is pleased with its display. Occasionally, she misdials since the keys are flat on that phone. I would love to get mom a bare bones phone but she insists on having a Solitare game (the discontinued Nokia 2366i would have been ideal); so that is out... so I have to have a data capable device since Verizon phones have no freebies on them. Otherwise, I would have considered the Coupe/CDM8630(?) (available on ALLTEL and Verizon). I cant speak for AT&T's selection, but that Pantech C120 (on the Gophone page) seems like viable option, it's one of the larger bar phones with a reasonable size screen.

If they really are low minute users then the GoPhone is another option. You can check the account online and you can buy and add time to their phone either from the web site or another phone.

Agreed! Also as Telekom stated, TMobile to GO is also viable if it's available where your parents live. Too bad my mom is starting to use her phone more; so prepaid is out in my situation

Good luck and tell your parents how lucky they are to have a kid like you.

Or just give them the phone without the comment LOL

[NoBite]

Originally Posted by springer22

I am in the same boat as you. I am getting a pre-paid phone for the in-laws and was looking into The Net10 option. They seem to be a good deal and my in-laws are so stress that they will have outrageous phone bills I thought this way I could monitor it. Check them out and let me know what you choose!
NET10. No Bills. No Contracts. No Evil.

Okay, I see only one hitch to this plan. Correct me if I am wrong, but it looks like your phone minutes will expire in a set number of days REGARDLESS of if you actually make any calls! For instance, it seems that you can purchase a 30-day package of minutes for ten cents per minute. But, in thirty days you'll need to purchase another package, or your phone service is discontinued until you do purchase an additional package of minutes.

Now, for someone using their phone on a regular basis, this might make sense. But, if you want a phone for emergencies only or for very irregular use, this does not seem to make any sense at all.

What am I missing here?

[Telekom]

Originally Posted by NoBite

Okay, I see only one hitch to this plan. Correct me if I am wrong, but it looks like your phone minutes will expire in a set number of days REGARDLESS of if you actually make any calls! For instance, it seems that you can purchase a 30-day package of minutes for ten cents per minute. But, in thirty days you'll need to purchase another package, or your phone service is discontinued until you do purchase an additional package of minutes.

Now, for someone using their phone on a regular basis, this might make sense. But, if you want a phone for emergencies only or for very irregular use, this does not seem to make any sense at all.

What am I missing here?

There is no cellphone service that doesn't require you to do somthing! If you have regular service you need to pay the bill. With prepaid you need to be sure to add money or do whatever else is necessary to keep your service going. Some have different expiration dates, but they all expire eventually and you need to know when so you can do whatever you need to do to keep the service active whether that's adding money or making calls.

[Fire14]

Originally Posted by NoBite

Okay, I see only one hitch to this plan. Correct me if I am wrong, but it looks like your phone minutes will expire in a set number of days REGARDLESS of if you actually make any calls! For instance, it seems that you can purchase a 30-day package of minutes for ten cents per minute. But, in thirty days you'll need to purchase another package, or your phone service is discontinued until you do purchase an additional package of minutes.

Now, for someone using their phone on a regular basis, this might make sense. But, if you want a phone for emergencies only or for very irregular use, this does not seem to make any sense at all.

What am I missing here?

You are not missing anything, if you get the $100.00 card the minutes last for a year, with AT&T & T-Mobile. At least that's helpful in not having to worry about it for the year.

[Telekom]

Originally Posted by Fire14

You are not missing anything, if you get the $100.00 card the minutes last for a year, with AT&T & T-Mobile. At least that's helpful in not having to worry about it for the year.

And with T-Mobile you can renew for another year just by adding a $10 card/PIN.

[NoBite]

I have decided to add a phone to our Family Plan for my parents. Since my brother in AZ is also on the AT&T network, everyone will save in the long run.

I welcome your recommendations for a simple, large-number, phone within the AT&T network. I will look at the Nokia 6030, as mentioned above.

Any other good choices? My parents will be doing well to place and receive calls and even find the Address Book, so other options are not important and may well get in the way!!

[NFrabbit]

Originally Posted by NoBite

I have decided to add a phone to our Family Plan for my parents. Since my brother in AZ is also on the AT&T network, everyone will save in the long run.

I welcome your recommendations for a simple, large-number, phone within the AT&T network. I will look at the Nokia 6030, as mentioned above.

Any other good choices? My parents will be doing well to place and receive calls and even find the Address Book, so other options are not important and may well get in the way!!

If possible why don't you just take your parents into an AT&T store and let them look at the phones with you? Just tell the salesperson what you are looking for and make sure he/she doesn't try to push anything more than needed on you.

Also, one thing I think is very important on a phone is speed dialing. You can program the phone so that "4" calls you, "5" your brother, and so forth. Big help for everybody.

[NoBite]

Well, my parents are 4 hours north of me and I wanted to get this project off and running ASAP. I went to a local store to look at phones. Then, I got on the net and searched phone reviews. I settled on the Nokia 6085. Hope that is a good choice. I will use the phone for a week or until I know it well so I can be a good teacher to my parents! Did I make a good choice for a basic phone with a good speakerphone?