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

[hal]

My mom HATES cell phones, but needs one. She DOES NOT want an iphone nor any substitutes. She wants something that is as basic as possible - something that makes phone calls - absolutely no other features required NOR desired.

Used to be lots of tmobile deals (no contract, pay as you go with refill cards) with really, really simple phones... did those dry up?

Any reccs?

[mattkime]

googled "jitterbug" and came up with this - http://www.greatcall.com/

[C(-)ris]

Newegg had a motorolla something or other that was just a basic phone with a keyboard and a numeric layout.

[cbelt3]

The ONE basic problem with "My kids made me carry this damn thing" phones is that.....

It will never be charged. It will be in the purse or glove compartment. With a dead battery.

The only real solution is for the cell phone to become the ONLY Phone, and then she will take care of it. Just my $0.02 (0.015 EUR)

My Mom keeps a prepaid phone in her car. Damn thing is always dead.

[hal]

well... My mom is smarter than your mom - she knows how to keep the thing charged. She just HATES the phone she has. Makes too much noise - has too many features...

I'm not making her carry it...

[rgG]

T-Mobile.com, online only, has several prepaid phones right now with a free $30 prepaid card. Great deals, depending on the type of phone style she likes, and if T-Mobile has good coverage in your area.


http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/prepaid.aspx

[Paul F.]

Fond of my absolutely-no-frills Trac Fone myself...

Cost a whole $9.99.
$20 every three months to reload it with more minutes than I'm going to use in a year...

[Numo]

We gave my 88 year old dad a Jitterbug phone, but he never really got the hang of it. I wasn't impressed with the quality of the calls. My only suggestion for the dead battery problem is to make sure there is a car charger in the glove box.

[rgG]

cbelt3 wrote:
The ONE basic problem with "My kids made me carry this damn thing" phones is that.....

It will never be charged. It will be in the purse or glove compartment. With a dead battery.

The only real solution is for the cell phone to become the ONLY Phone, and then she will take care of it. Just my $0.02 (0.015 EUR)

My Mom keeps a prepaid phone in her car. Damn thing is always dead.

I solved that problem, I bought my mom a car charger at the same time as her phone. She used to plug in her phone as soon as she got in the car, when she was going on a trip, usually driving to my house, so that it would be charged. Now mind you, she would never turn actually turn the phone on so that I would be able to actually call her, but at least she had it for emergencies.

Also, with the older basic phones, you would be surprised how long the battery stays charged when the phone is off and just sitting in her purse. I usually check it when she comes up, forgot to last time, darn it, and the battery is usually almost fully charged.

[rgG]

As I usually do, let me recommend Page Plus as a great prepaid service. They have some basic phones for sale on their website, or you can use just about any Verizon phone, except for a Verizon prepaid phone.

They use Verizon's network, and if your mom uses very few minutes, you can keep a phone active for $10 every four months. This is the service I use for my mom and she has an older Verizon flip phone that was a hand me down from a relative. At least with a flip phone, I know if she closes it the call is disconnected. Yes, she is that bad with a cell phone.

http://www.pagepluscellular.com/Online%2...hones.aspx

Edit: in case anyone wonders, I am not affiliated with Page Plus in any way, I just think they have the best deal going for people who need Verizon service. Just wanted everyone to know that I don't get paid for promoting them. I wish I did.