Cellphones, Providers, and Plans → [Mobile] Looking for inexpensive mobile plan for grandma

Hi,

I am looking for an inexpensive mobile carrier for grandma. She is in zip 30024. She has an older Motorola Razr which is unlocked. She does not need Internet or texting. Voice only. I am looking for a wireless plan at around $10 a month. Around 500 minutes a month, 1000 minutes would be great. Carrier does not matter because the phone is unlocked. Appreciated.

Obama phone.

I looked at that, I don't think she will qualify. I found $15 for 500 or $20 for 1000 minutes which may work. Thanks for the link.

Carrier does matter, cdma, and gsm are not the same when it comes to the phone. Since you say it's unlocked it's a gsm phone? You might have to buy a new phone.

Here's a list of providers you might check out, but when not dealing with the major carrier, just a mvno, look into them a little more first.
»www.prepaidphonenews.com ··· ans.html

You may want to look at the H2O $3.33 a month plan for talk/text. You get 200 minutes/texts for 90 days at $10.

H2O is a GSM carrier and they use AT&T towers.

If she doesn't use many minutes this is the least expensive plan available as PAYG.

If she needs more minutes, for $20 ($6.66 a month) they'll double it to 400 minutes/texts and you've still got 90 days of coverage.

As a bonus, on both $10 and $20 90 days plans, H2O includes calling to 50 international countries at the same rate as a domestic call, if that matters to her.

Off hand, the closest one I can think of is probably US Mobile who uses T-Mobile towers. If price matters more than coverage, then hybrid Freedompop or Republic Wirless (Sprint towers) could be an option. These last two would require purchasing a supported phone.

Fairly certain there are no At&t or even Verizon options that would fit your unit requirements.

A Jitterbug phone would probably be what you're looking for. It's a phone geared more towards Seniors. »www.jitterbugdirect.com/

Try Consumer Cellular. Not only do they have great rates, they have great customer service and (in my area) great coverage. They also don't tack on a ton of additional 'fees' (ala AT&T).

Consider Ting »ting.com/ $6 per device then tiered usage based pricing from there.
0 minutes 0$
1-100 minutes $6
101-500 minutes $9

My wife has her smartphone on Ting and is averaging $22/month

Is it the flip phone or is it a smart phone? If it's a smart phone, stay the F away from Sprint and any of their mvnos, that includes Virgin, Boost, etc. If it's just a regular old dumb phone to talk on, then it should not matter where you go as long as the device is compatible with that particular network.

I would also look at republic wireless $10 plan. Unlimited text/data, and grandma won't be worried about talking too much. You need to buy a new phone ($99) but the monthly fee is low. Many old phones do not work on the newer voice and data frequencies.

If she travels, you can add data to the plan for another $15/mo.

Technically the program started during the Reagan administration and was expanded under bush in 2005.. No clue why people like to call it an Obama phone...

Is the obama phone the cheapest in terms of monthly plan? I'm new in town

heh, well if your on foodstamps, its free, but you get no data.. If your on social security you may qualify as well..

Its provided through a company called safelink, which is basically a reseller of tracphone, which as most of us know is a reseller of att/verizon

»www.safelinkwireless.com ··· dex.html

Did you check out the Jitterbug I recommended?

Nobody has mentioned Page Plus. I have my mom on it as an emergency phone. $10 (can be found online for less -- from Page Plus directly will cost a bit more due to included taxes) buys you 100 minutes or 100 10-cent texts or any mix thereof. No reup required for 120 days. They deduct 50 cents per month as an account fee for this kind of PAYGO account. Thus, at the end of 4 monthly cycles, you end up with 8 bucks. Works out to 20 minutes or texts per month for each of 4 months for $2.50 per month. This is for a Verizon-compatible flip-phone (my old VZW CDMA RAZR), but you can also use an older Verizon-compatible 3G smartphone and have data available at 10 cents per meg.

Who will be paying for grandma?
The reason I ask is that if you are paying I then have to ask what service you are on....
Cricketwireless a 100% sub of AT&T has unlimited talk (and text) plans starting at $25.00 per month... But if you add a second phone you get a $10.00 pm discount. 3rd and 4th also get discounts. So dependent upon your situation the math might work and it's a good network.
»www.cricketwireless.com/ ··· ne-plans