Can you reccommend an unbelievably simplistic cell phone for mom (pay as you go)

[testcase]

AARP was pushing a super basic cell phone with oversize keys some time ago. :oldfogey:

[space-time]

[quote=hal]
... She wants something that is as basic as possible - something that makes phone calls - absolutely no other features required NOR desired.

...quote]

several people mentioned that she might carry around a phone with a dead battery. if all she wants is to MAKE phone calls, but not receive phone calls, she could keep the phone OFF and thsu the battery will last a very long time. She would turn it ON to make that emergency call, then back off. If she wants to RECEIVE calls, then this plan doesn't work. Look for some of those phone with 20-day battery life.

[hal]

thanks for the recommendations, but charging is not a problem. When she leaves the house, she unplugs the phone, puts it in her purse and goes out the door.

When she comes home, she reverses the process habitually.

[MitchJi]

Hi,

I use a Virgin Mobile plan which is $0.18 per minute (ouch!) but I'm only required to pay about $15 every 3 month's. This applies to the minutes which roll over.

I only use it instead of phone booth's while driving, when traveling, and so my wife call me when I'm driving and on the road.

I got the cheapest simplest phone that Virgin Mobile supported (about 3 years ago). A Kyocera Oystr, something like $30. My only complaints are the battery life (I'd probably choose another phone for that reason) and the audio quality when playing ring-tones.
Kyocera Oystr Review

So unless they have improved the battery life I'm recommending the plan more than the phone.

[$tevie]

Here's a weird question: can't she just ignore the other features?

My 88-year-old mother has a Virgin Mobile flip phone (don't remember the brand) which she got on sale and it takes photos and everything. However, all she does is dial numbers, save numbers, and talk on it, it's like the other features don't exist as far as she is concerned.

[DaviDC.]

Set a password so that she doesn't accidentally access the browser by hitting that dedicated button on the keypad. The rest of the 'features' are very easy to ignore.

Net10 or Tracfone are probably going to be the cheapest cell phones out there.

[hal]

Yes, but the fewer features to ignore the better...

every now and then, she'll hit a key and something happens... something utterly befuddling...

her biggest complaint is the noises the thing makes when turning on and off and other unexplained times in between. She was much happier with a phone that was nothing more than a phone.

And she can't go into the store for help - when an 80 yo woman walks into such a place, all of the help gets scarce suddenly. If she grabs one - they are unable to find a language in common. mom speaks english (and spanish) but the people in these stores speak hipster-ese...

[OWC Jamie]

I wish my AT&T phone was a bit simpler. All the bells and whistles just mean drilling down thru menus is a PITA ( and the most common used items never seem to be on tops of lists) - and you gotta drill thru menus just to find missed calls.
Not the greatest phone software-wise. And that PTT button on the side constantly getting hit is a PITA. No way to disable it, either.

When I switched from Verizon they stated I wouldn't get the battery life of a verizon phone. Due to constantly looking for a better network connection according to them.
Never noticed it until I started roaming in Europe and on private pay per use repeater networks. Phone battery would be dead by morning if I didn't shut it off at night.

[davester]

hal wrote:
her biggest complaint is the noises the thing makes when turning on and off and other unexplained times in between. She was much happier with a phone that was nothing more than a phone.

Perhaps she should get her son to go into the settings and mute all the sounds and disable all the optional features.

[hal]

Well, that's certainly an option, but instead, I'm doing what she is asking of me. And I've hardly used anything but an iphone - I don't get crummy phones at all...