Cell Phone Advice.

[Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor]

@purplehorseshoe

I’ve seen ads for Jitterbug, which is supposed to be very low on the frills and bells’n’whistles. I don’t know anyone with one though, sorry.

Interesting.

Anybody know about this?

[Dewey_Finn]

Jitterbug appears to be aimed at people like your grandmother who is really uncomfortable with technology. They make the phone really simple, so it’s set up just to call a limited number of people and they make a point of saying that they have “US-based” customer support. They also note that their phones have large keypads. Based on your activity here, I don’t think that you need something like their product. Plus it’s not that cheap; the least expensive rate plan is $15/month for fifty minutes of nationwide calling. I think a prepaid phone like Tracphone would be cheaper and perhaps more appropriate for you.

[snowmaster]

@Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor

Interesting.

Anybody know about this?

Yes I do. Don’t walk, run! They count on you seeing their ad and having no idea that what they sell is available an order of magnitude cheaper.

Plans are much more expensive, they charge an activation fee which is unheard of in the prepaid industry, and their phones are EXTREMELY expensive. $147.00 the last time I looked.

The moto W376 I recommended, and numerous other models available in the $10 - $30 range are only slightly more complicated. Generally, if you have a “kid” or your own private geek to set it up the first time for you, operation of the device it self is not substantially different.

[Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor]

@snowmaster

Confusing thing about prepaid is when you buy a card, you’re buying 2 things: minutes of talk time a days of service in which you can use those minutes. Watch the details on any plan you look at for expiration dates/service days, etc.

I’m a dealer for a number of prepaid carriers. What I invariably recommend for people in situations similar to yours, so long as this will not be a short-term thing:

Tracfone W376 $19.99 - simple flip phone, has their “double minute feature”, comes with 20 minutes talk time and 2 months service length.
One year card - $99.99 - comes with 400 minutes, doubles to 800 with the double minute feature on your phone.

If you activate it yourself, look at tracfone.com for a promotional code. If the store activates it for you, make them look. The code changes, but its always there. Gives you an extra 200 minutes or so with your one year card for $99.99

End result is you have around 1020 minutes and 14 months to use them in. This gives you 72 minutes per month at a cost of $7.14 per month (not including cost of phone) and a little better than 10 cents a minute. Tracfone owns net10, and net10 is simpler mathwise, but you get a better deal in cost per month with Tracfone.

I went with Tracphone.
My thanks for all of the kind advice offered in this Thread.

[Taenia_spp]

@Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor

I went with Tracphone.

Great, I have a Tracfone too. I don’t know if you got one with a Double Minutes thing built in, but that is definitely worth the money. Also, if you ever add additional minutes, ALWAYS check websites for bonus minute promotional codes (I’ve never had a problem with them).