Video Calling for Granny?

Cuilean

My sister has announced she's emigrating. We're all very excited for her, and we know that when we're not popping over to visit for holidays, there's Skype and FaceTime.

However, we have grandparents in their nineties, and we're not sure how to keep them in touch. They have a basic Doro mobile phone on Virgin Mobile, and just about manage with that, plus a BT landline with their light user tariff (I think they've changed that now, but it gives you an idea of what their current level of connectivity is). We'd like to set them up with some sort of video calling so that they can see the great grandchildren and have a chat with my sister, but we're not sure of the best elderly-friendly way to do it. Whatever we decide will have to be fairly simple, and appropriate for two elderly people with arthritic fingers.

So far, we've considered
1) A cheap tablet with a mobile wifi dongle
2) Getting them onto an internet + landline bundle
3) An iPad with data SIM

Can anyone help with more ideas or thoughts?

NiftyDigits

If they are on Virgin PAYG, the cheapest option is to get this Lumia 535 as a PAYG upgrade for £39.99.

victor2

One of the entry level broadband offers on the landline with WiFi (do any not have WiFi capable routers now?), then something like the Tesco Hudl to run Skype? The Hudl is £99 and if you have a clubcard with vouchers, you can double their value against a Hudl.
They are fairly easy to use. What data allowance they would need obviously depends on how often they would make video calls. You would have to try it to see how much data is used, but something like 40-50MB for a 1 hour video call seems to be realistic.

PasturesNew

Can you leave granny out of it and just do calls when you visit, with your equipment? See how they get on, then make the next plan of what to do once you've seen how they manage it while you're watching over 2-3 months.

fiendishlyclever

Buy a UK number for Skype or a UK phone number from sipgate. Then grandparents can phone on a UK phone number from their landline. Otherwise a cheap tablet or mobile with free WiFi from somewhere like Tesco or McDonald's....?

[Deleted User]

I think you might struggle to video-conference, using a tablet, through a MiFI Dongle.

NiftyDigits

fiendishlyclever wrote: »

Buy a UK number for Skype or a UK phone number from sipgate. Then grandparents can phone on a UK phone number from their landline. Otherwise a cheap tablet or mobile with free WiFi from somewhere like Tesco or McDonald's....?

Video Calling for Granny?

Video calling with Skype
.
Skype calls look fantastic on the Lumia 535. Want to turn a regular phone call into a high-quality video call? No problem. Just tap the Skype video call button. And with the wide-angle lens, your Skype video calls will show more of what's behind you – get more friends and family in the call at one time.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/mobile/phone/lumia535/