Need SIMPLE phone and plan for elderly relative

[Avit56art]

Pure TalkUSA is the best for seniors. I should know, I am one and I have their service. I switched from TracFone because it was too expensive (hidden fees that they don't tell you about in their ads.) Pure Talk's great for me because its simple, and very affordable. My bill is a flat $10/mth will no extra fees. I hope that helps. www.puretalkusa.com

-H.J. Brown

[experiment626]

Pure TalkUSA is the best for seniors. I should know, I am one and I have their service. I switched from TracFone because it was too expensive (hidden fees that they don't tell you about in their ads.) Pure Talk's great for me because its simple, and very affordable. My bill is a flat $10/mth will no extra fees. I hope that helps. www.puretalkusa.com

-H.J. Brown

Looks like Pure Talk USA runs off AT&T's native network.Nice plus that it's GSM so you have that SIM card swap out option. So this is where all those old Siemens phones went to die.

[dennism3]

Why would puretalk be better than t-mobile prepaid? $100 gets you gold and then $10 a year or a topup.

[mobileFonPhile]

I agree with dennism3 regarding minimal cost of service... T-Mobile Prepaid only requires $110 versus Pure TalkUSA's $240 for 24 months of service. $4.83 versus $10 per month, which is ideal for a "glove box" emergency type of phone.

On a total minutes basis, the two carriers are roughly equivalent. At $10 for 101 minutes per month, Pure TalkUSA provides 2,424 minutes over the 24 months. New customers get 50 free minutes which bumps the total up to 2,474 minutes. The average cost per minute is 9.7 cents.

In order to provide equivalent "whenever" minutes under the T-Mobile PAYGO plan, the following refills need to be purchased: $100, $100, $50. This provides 1,000 + 1,000 + 460 minutes for a total of 2,460 (note that the $100 refill is exempt from the 15% Gold Rewards bonus). The average cost per minute is 10.2 cents.

I'm not an expert with optimizing the T-Mobile PBTD plan at $10 a month, but it appears to me that the best/worst case monthly scenarios are as follows: (1) 10 days' access with unlimited 7pm-to-7am T-Mobile-to-T-Mobile calling; (2) 1 day's access with 90 unrestricted "whenever" minutes (and unlimited 7pm-to-7am T-Mobile-to-T-Mobile calling).

Given that T-Mobile Prepaid allows 1 free plan switch (from PAYGO to PBTD or vice-versa) per day, this can be exploited to provide a fair amount of flexible usage combinations available. Depending on usage, a minimal $110 buy-in using a hybrid 7pm-7am PBTD & 7:01am-to-6:59pm PAYGO plan-switching arrangement just might suffice...

I'd say that head-to-head, the Pure TalkUSA service is slightly cheaper on a per minute basis, provides the ability to automatically add $10 minutes bundles (at incrementally cheaper rates from 8.8 to 6.6 cents per minute) to cover overages, is simpler to manage, and has a bigger AT&T coverage footprint (YMMV).

But T-Mobile Prepaid offers more functionality to the savvy customer with its unlimited 7pm-to-7am T-Mobile-to-T-Mobile feature, the "t-zones" portal and free "##########@tmomail.net" email service. Not to mention the flexibility that plan switching affords.

I'm kinda going out on a limb, but please let me know if my analysis is sound or flawed...

[macpro4life]

I have Pure Talk and did a fair amount of research before I switched carriers. At first glance they are similar but I found that the biggest issue for me was rollover minutes expiring. Pure Talk's rolloever minutes never expire as long as you pay your bill. I could be wrong but I don't think T-Mobil even offers rollover with their prepaid phone. (Obviously because its prepaid). Without getting into too much detail I would say Pure Talk is just too simple not to use. I set a $20 max for both my wife's phone and mine using the Flex Plan. Since the levels are in $10 increments we usually dont even get into the $20 level for each. So, my bill for BOTH phones has never been over $20. And if you refer a friend, which my wife does more than me, you get 202 minutes for every referral. I think my wife has built enough referral and rollover minutes to never even get into the $20 level. Its almost a game to her to see how many rollover/extra minutes she can get.

I'm also only paying .05/text and T-Mobil is .10/text. I dont text much but my daughter likes to text me occasionally. My wife does most of the texting so its good to have cheaper texting.

Also, I got the free phone for her to start out but she now uses our son's old AT&T phone. Not sure what it is but it was free so I didn't ask.

I guess in general its easier for me to have my credit card charged each month knowing that no matter what it wont go over my max that I set. I really dont even look at the bill anymore. There aren't any fees on top of the $10 and tax is included so my bill literally says "amount owed $10.00"

As far as the breakdown of minutes, it gets pretty confusing but I think you did a pretty good job mobilefonphile. All I know is that with Pure Talk the higher levels you get into the more minutes for your dollar you get. But like I said if you do a little bit of work your rollover/referral minutes can really add up.

I guessing Avit56art uses the same $10 plan. I dont know if you use flex or not though. I know there are other plans that get you more minutes, I just haven't had to use them yet. Sorry that doesn't help much.

Don't know if that's helpful but let me know if anyone has any questions. I have no complaints with Pure Talk so far.

[Telekom]

my grandmom who is 78 use a cheap nokia tracfone .I can't rember the model but its silver with blk buttons and we got her the double minues for life card . she has no trouble and its very basic .

For the life of me I can't think of any other phone that looks like that! I mean with buttons and silver and like that. Never seen anything like that before

[Avit56art]

In any effort to keep me technologically advanced (and better connected,) my grandkids bought their grandpops an iPhone for my birthday. I didn't know what to do with the thing but they know their stuff so figured out a way I can use my Pure TalkUSA service with it. They signed me up for the unlimited plan for now (because they taught me how to text and I am doing well with it!) It's a straight $48/mth. My golfing buddy has the same phone and says his bill is around $98/mth with only 450 minutes--- I am glad to be saving that much money! Depending on my usage, I may go back to flex plan and save even more.

I know iPhone is not a "simple" phone per say, but I was excited to get the phone and motivate any "old" folks like me who thought that they couldn't handle this technologically advanced phone (you can do it if I can!) and let them know about the Pure TalkUSA deal with it.

Good luck,
-H.J. Brown

[billzhou]

ZhiZun Communication develops and manufactures stylish mobile phones which are simple to operate and tailored to elder's needs.
Our phone have specific features, for example; an SOS button for emergencies; a larger keypad; larger letters on the display; and even a built in flashlight.
Feel free again with our easy to use mobile phones and stay in touch with friends and family or make that call for a taxi or take-away easily. And if an unexpected emergency occurs, help is on its way by just pressing 1 button!
The phone allows you to program up to 4 numbers which are connected to the SOS button on the back of the phone.In the event of an emergency you can press the SOS button and the phone will automatically begin dialing the 4 numbers you have preset (like 911 or your doctor, etc..)until someone answers. When they do answer, the phone automatically goes into speakerphone mode so you can communicate quickly and get the help you might need. Also, when the SOS button is activated, an alarm sounds to let those around you know you need help.

We are local in China.We are the professional manufacturer of elderly mobile phone.Our phone with CE,RoHS certificated.We welcome OEM&ODM services.

Please feel free to contact us g.jing2005(at)gmail(dot)com[/FONT]

[billzhou]

ZhiZun Communication develops and manufactures stylish mobile phones which are simply to operate and tailored to elder's needs.
Our phone have specific features, for example; an SOS button for emergencies; a larger keypad;
larger letters on the display; and even a built in flashlight.
Feel free again with our easy to use mobile phones and stay in touch with friends and family or make that call for a taxi or take-away easily. And if an unexpected emergency occurs, help is on its way by just pressing 1 button!
The phone allows you to program up to 4 numbers which are connected to the SOS button on the back of the phone.
In the event of an emergency you can press the SOS button and the phone will automatically begin dialing the 4 numbers
you have preset (like 911 or your doctor, etc..)until someone answers. When they do answer, the phone automatically goes
into speakerphone mode so you can communicate quickly and get the help you might need. Also, when the SOS button
is activated, an alarm sounds to let those around you know you need help.

We are local in China.The elderly mobile phone professional manufacturer.
please feel free to contact me at g.jing2005(at)gmail(dot)com
We supply OEM/ODM services
Our phone with CE&RoHS certificated.

[StarGSM]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all suggestions and give related information .
as we know that anyone likes the mobile SIMPLE phone and plan.
StarGSM Provides DUAL SIM DUAL Talk, GSM 900/1800, 2.2"TFT Big Screen, FM Radio, MP3/MP4/AVI, 3GP, High Resolution Camera, In Built Battery Works 60 Hrs, Blutooth, GPRS, Hindi/English, Web Cam, Phone Book Transfer in Memory Card, Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Shaker,3.5mm Jeck Switch Wall Paper, 2 memory card slot, Expandable Memory up to 2GB, Auto Call Recording