Cell phone for elderly parents

[D L and K's Mom]

I was going to add my mom and dad to our cell phone plan but since they live in a different state etc DH would rather get them their own plan and phone. Well, my Mom is worried that the phones are to hard to see and to difficult to use....... The phone will on ly be for when they are traveling and when they are in the car so they do not need a plan with lots of minutes etc...anyone have any greta ideas?????

 

[starwood]

I got my mother the simplest t-mobile phone I could find and I got pay as you go. I put 100 minutes on it. That is good for a year. As long as you add $10 in a year the minutes rollover. So every year around the time I got the phone I put $10 on it for her. I have no idea how many minutes she has on the phone now but she very rarely uses it. It's just for emergencies.

 

[beckanoah]

I've seen commercials for cellphones for the elderly, and they have big buttons and stuff. Call around, I don't remember the company that has them...

Also At*t (cingular) has a 25.00 a month plan here for Senior citizens... Good luck!

 

[Tink's Pixieduster]

I've seen Jitterbug http://www.jitterbug.com/?utm_sourc...term=senior+cell+phone&utm_campaign=Jitterbug advertised as being very useful for seniors. They are supposed to be very user friendly and according to the website the phones have large print on their screens, large buttons for dialing, and the website says they have operators who will place calls for their customers. The site even says there is no contract. I have no personal experience, but I haven't heard anything bad about Jitterbug.

 

[D L and K's Mom]

Now that you have all helped me out and I going to give info to hubby and he can do research and get the phone. see how simple that was!!!! hee hee

 

[Breezy_Carol]

I was going to say Jitterbug too.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I added my elderly mother onto our plan and got her a basic cell phone after she got a flat tire and had to use someone else's. She's since given it back to me saying she never uses it. I suspect part of the reason is because she doesn't know understand the technology. She wanted a Firefly but our plan doesn't carry them anymore. I'd say if you can get a Firefly or something like it, get that. The simpler the better.

 

[PlutoPony]

Thanks OP for asking this question, I've wondered about something like this for my mother. Has anyone had experience with the Jitterbug phones? Am wondering how long they hold a charge if they aren't used and what the battery life is like..... Do they use another carrier's network (i.e. Verizon, T-mobile, etc.)?
Thanks!

 

[littleteapot]

I was going to add my mom and dad to our cell phone plan but since they live in a different state etc DH would rather get them their own plan and phone. Well, my Mom is worried that the phones are to hard to see and to difficult to use....... The phone will on ly be for when they are traveling and when they are in the car so they do not need a plan with lots of minutes etc...anyone have any greta ideas?????

My mom has my Grandma on her plan, her number has an AZ area code and ours (my mom pays for mine too ) is TX. Grandma shares minutes with us, but now all her kids have changed to Sprint so we aren't charged minutes when we call each other. My grandma probably spend 1500 minutes a month talking to three of her kids. My mother and she talk several times a day. This is a blessing since my Grandmother lives alone and my mother recently lost her husband. They keep each other company.

My Grandma was 85 when she got her first phone, she is almost 90 now. She took long distance off her phone line and only uses her cell. She LOVES her phone. She especially seems to love being the only one in her circle who seems to have one. She likes whipping it out and offering for her friends to use. She is the cutest.

Once my Uncle tried to explain to her that she had to be careful about roaming. My mother told him to shut it because she wanted her to feel like she could use it whenever she wanted to use it. I think there may have been $25 in roaming charges in the last 5 years. Occasionally she will accidently do something to it (turn it off usually) and she'll have to ask someone to help her with it at church. I'm very proud of my Hi-Tech Grandma.

 

[Jen_in_NH]

We put my grandmother on our plan for a while (she was in FL, we're in NH). We had the no roaming, no long distance plan, so no issues with the numbers. We got her one of the phones for kids, where there are only 4 numbers they can call. She wasn't using it for personal calls, but just to have in her purse in case she needed something.

Jen

 

[Tink's Pixieduster]

Thanks OP for asking this question, I've wondered about something like this for my mother. Has anyone had experience with the Jitterbug phones? Am wondering how long they hold a charge if they aren't used and what the battery life is like..... Do they use another carrier's network (i.e. Verizon, T-mobile, etc.)?
Thanks!

I suggest you visit the website. There is information there about the plans that are offered. If you don't find the answer you're looking for, I suggest you contact the company and ask.

And here's the site (in pdf) that describes how the phones work, including the battery http://www.jitterbug.com/pdfs/dialuserguide.pdf. Plus it gives details about how the Jitterbug phone plans work, which I suggest you read carefully so there is no misunderstanding.

 

[Plantlady]

we added my grandparents to our plan two years ago. They practiced using the phone, and called everyone from every place they thought they might need it. I don't think they've used it sense. It does have tiny buttons, but they would manage, if they had an emergency. They are in their 90's, and my grandma LOVES technology.. so, that probably helps.


Anyway, we live in Kansas, they live in Missouri, but we just added them to our plan, not worrying about the area code. I know they don't care. It costs us $10 a month. My parents were so relieved to know that they were taken care of, that they've offered to pay that for us. I told them, I thought we could handle it.