What is best PAYG SIM only for an elderly low-user

warty_2

The only other thread I have found here dates from 2006.I am looking for some more recent recommendations.


My 93 year old Mum is in a care home and I have bought a Doro Easyphone for her. Mostly I will make daily calls to her, but she will make occasional outgoing calls. No data, no text.


I would simply top her account up as needed, hopefully online or by card, as she lives 600miles away from me.

She lives in South Devon, post code TQ12.






( a few years ago I bought a "3" broadband dongle and the service was appalling when visiting my mother. My own phone is a contract Orange, and I have a BT and EE data sim for mobile broadband, both of which are ok in her area)
What are the best recommendations these days, for PAYG user, low volume?


Thanks.

d123

warty wrote: »

The only other thread I have found here dates from 2006.I am looking for some more recent recommendations.


My 93 year old Mum is in a care home and I have bought a Doro Easyphone for her. Mostly I will make daily calls to her, but she will make occasional outgoing calls. No data, no text.


I would simply top her account up as needed, hopefully online or by card, as she lives 600miles away from me.


What are the best recommendations these days, for PAYG user, low volume?


Thanks.

It's hard to say without knowing where it is (coverage can influence choice).

If Three has coverage there, it is 3p per minute to call out and can be topped up from £5.

Sainsburys mobile (runs on Vodafone) has calls at 8p per minute.

bubieyehyeh

Cheapest is probably three's 321 payg, but you need a 3G phone which I don't think the doro is.

I'd suggest a giffgaff sim, not the cheapest but because you don't need to make calls to keep it active, it can be kept active by receiving calls.

grumbler

3p/min at '3' is probably the cheapest rate, but this phone isn't compatible with '3'.

http://mobilenetworkcomparison.org.uk/compare/

For "occasional outgoing calls" the price per minute is almost irrelevant and you can always call her back to save her credit. Signal in her location is probably more important for making the choice.

suejane50_2

I would be very wary of 3. Just had a bad experience with them. Rates are cheap but transfer and customer service is rubbish! I would strongly suggest try elsewhere. Sorry!

Farway

I would go for Sainsbury's PAYG, if the signal is OK, free SIM, and your mum will know & trust the Sainsbury name

PS I am on Sainsbury PAYG, it works for me

sparkiemalarkie

We went for Orange (EE) when my elderly dad was in hospital.
He didn't always remember to switch the phone off when the call ended as he was so used to putting the house phone down on it's cradle when finished.
EE allowed top ups of £1 at a time, so if he didn't ring off it was no great loss.


I live in London and had to walk 300m to the train bridge to get a good 3 signal.
I definitely wouldn't go with them again

sparkie

macman

As grumbler states above, the network availability at the location trumps all other factors. In this case, the cost difference will be minimal as a low user.
I'd suggest an account that allows you to set auto top ups: one less thing to remember. Sainsbury Mobile and Tesco Mobile don't, giffgaff does.

Silk

This is an old thread from April and the OP hasn't been back for almost 3 months