Best plan for parents (2 phones)? One uses data, one doesn't

savergrant

Two questions for the op;
Does your dad use his phone for more than 250 mins per month on a regular or occasional basis?
Does your mum regularly use more than 250mb data per month?

My best guess is that the rwg 2 Year (or 1 year) one-off payment would be the best value for both, at around half the price of 1pmobile's offering. 

zagfles

PHK said:

Just to add, it’s worthwhile having a small data allowance for two reasons. 

All phones you’ve been able to buy for years are capable of using data in some form. The risk of inadvertently turning on and using data seems to increase as you age. 

Most phones need a data connection for housekeeping tasks and or security updates. (Even feature phones with buttons)  Without these the phone operation will eventually degrade. 

As data is cheap nowadays for piece of mind, I’d recommend a lowish data allowance. 

You don't need mobile data for that, you can use wifi.

savergrant

PHK said:

Just to add, it’s worthwhile having a small data allowance for two reasons. 

All phones you’ve been able to buy for years are capable of using data in some form. The risk of inadvertently turning on and using data seems to increase as you age. 

Most phones need a data connection for housekeeping tasks and or security updates. (Even feature phones with buttons)  Without these the phone operation will eventually degrade. 

As data is cheap nowadays for piece of mind, I’d recommend a lowish data allowance. 

Depends what you mean by "data is cheap nowadays". On payg you can get data for 1p/mb from 1pmobile or rwg, or you can pay £2ish a month for a bundle. It depends how much you want to use.  But wifi is free.

PHK

zagfles said:

PHK said:

Just to add, it’s worthwhile having a small data allowance for two reasons. 

All phones you’ve been able to buy for years are capable of using data in some form. The risk of inadvertently turning on and using data seems to increase as you age. 

Most phones need a data connection for housekeeping tasks and or security updates. (Even feature phones with buttons)  Without these the phone operation will eventually degrade. 

As data is cheap nowadays for piece of mind, I’d recommend a lowish data allowance. 

You don't need mobile data for that, you can use wifi.

You are of course right, but in this case we seem to be talking about a user who is unlikely to be tech savvy enough to ensure that they only connect to WiFi. Indeed in my experience the older a person gets the more likely the possibility of accidentally or unintentionally turning on mobile data and then incurring either out of bundle charges or pay per Mb charges (dependent on the tariff chosen)

So I think my point stands that a small data allowance is a sensible precaution. 

Edit: I should also add that we don’t know about the phone they use. Some feature phones have mobile data but not WiFi 

zagfles

PHK said:

zagfles said:

PHK said:

Just to add, it’s worthwhile having a small data allowance for two reasons. 

All phones you’ve been able to buy for years are capable of using data in some form. The risk of inadvertently turning on and using data seems to increase as you age. 

Most phones need a data connection for housekeeping tasks and or security updates. (Even feature phones with buttons)  Without these the phone operation will eventually degrade. 

As data is cheap nowadays for piece of mind, I’d recommend a lowish data allowance. 

You don't need mobile data for that, you can use wifi.

You are of course right, but in this case we seem to be talking about a user who is unlikely to be tech savvy enough to ensure that they only connect to WiFi. Indeed in my experience the older a person gets the more likely the possibility of accidentally or unintentionally turning on mobile data and then incurring either out of bundle charges or pay per Mb charges (dependent on the tariff chosen)

So I think my point stands that a small data allowance is a sensible precaution. 

Edit: I should also add that we don’t know about the phone they use. Some feature phones have mobile data but not WiFi 

Most phones/apps will by default wait till they're on wifi before doing updates. The important thing is to get PAYG and not a contract if they're not sure what they're doing. Then the worst that can happen is using up all their £10 or so of credit if they mistakenly turn data on.

savergrant

Just make sure auto topup is off.

PHK

zagfles said:

PHK said:

zagfles said:

PHK said:

Just to add, it’s worthwhile having a small data allowance for two reasons. 

All phones you’ve been able to buy for years are capable of using data in some form. The risk of inadvertently turning on and using data seems to increase as you age. 

Most phones need a data connection for housekeeping tasks and or security updates. (Even feature phones with buttons)  Without these the phone operation will eventually degrade. 

As data is cheap nowadays for piece of mind, I’d recommend a lowish data allowance. 

You don't need mobile data for that, you can use wifi.

You are of course right, but in this case we seem to be talking about a user who is unlikely to be tech savvy enough to ensure that they only connect to WiFi. Indeed in my experience the older a person gets the more likely the possibility of accidentally or unintentionally turning on mobile data and then incurring either out of bundle charges or pay per Mb charges (dependent on the tariff chosen)

So I think my point stands that a small data allowance is a sensible precaution. 

Edit: I should also add that we don’t know about the phone they use. Some feature phones have mobile data but not WiFi 

Most phones/apps will by default wait till they're on wifi before doing updates. The important thing is to get PAYG and not a contract if they're not sure what they're doing. Then the worst that can happen is using up all their £10 or so of credit if they mistakenly turn data on.

I disagree, most phones with WiFi will ask you if you want to wait for WiFi if an update is above a certain size. 

And of course the OPs parents might well have featurephones that don’t have WiFi but do have mobile data. 

I stand by my view that a small data allowance is a wise precaution. 

zagfles

PHK said:

zagfles said:

PHK said:

zagfles said:

PHK said:

Just to add, it’s worthwhile having a small data allowance for two reasons. 

All phones you’ve been able to buy for years are capable of using data in some form. The risk of inadvertently turning on and using data seems to increase as you age. 

Most phones need a data connection for housekeeping tasks and or security updates. (Even feature phones with buttons)  Without these the phone operation will eventually degrade. 

As data is cheap nowadays for piece of mind, I’d recommend a lowish data allowance. 

You don't need mobile data for that, you can use wifi.

You are of course right, but in this case we seem to be talking about a user who is unlikely to be tech savvy enough to ensure that they only connect to WiFi. Indeed in my experience the older a person gets the more likely the possibility of accidentally or unintentionally turning on mobile data and then incurring either out of bundle charges or pay per Mb charges (dependent on the tariff chosen)

So I think my point stands that a small data allowance is a sensible precaution. 

Edit: I should also add that we don’t know about the phone they use. Some feature phones have mobile data but not WiFi 

Most phones/apps will by default wait till they're on wifi before doing updates. The important thing is to get PAYG and not a contract if they're not sure what they're doing. Then the worst that can happen is using up all their £10 or so of credit if they mistakenly turn data on.

I disagree, most phones with WiFi will ask you if you want to wait for WiFi if an update is above a certain size. 

And of course the OPs parents might well have featurephones that don’t have WiFi but do have mobile data. 

I stand by my view that a small data allowance is a wise precaution. 

Well if the phone doesn't support wifi but does support mobile data then perhaps. But don't think that applies to many phones these days.

Otherwise it seems pointless getting a data package for someone that doesn't want/need data. If they did occasionaly need a small amount of data they can PAYG, eg 250Mb would cost £2.50 on 1pmobile. Or buy a bundle. Pointless buying something every month that they hardly ever use.

savergrant

"Otherwise it seems pointless getting a data package for someone that doesn't want/need data. If they did occasionaly need a small amount of data they can PAYG, eg 250Mb would cost £2.50 on 1pmobile."

Can you think of a provider who offers a calls/texts package with no data?
Otherwise it is straight payg, but likely to cost more than £2 pm in usage.

zagfles

savergrant said:

"Otherwise it seems pointless getting a data package for someone that doesn't want/need data. If they did occasionaly need a small amount of data they can PAYG, eg 250Mb would cost £2.50 on 1pmobile."

Can you think of a provider who offers a calls/texts package with no data?
Otherwise it is straight payg, but likely to cost more than £2 pm in usage.

1pmobile do a £3 a month unlimited calls and texts package with no data, which doesn't require you to pay for a whole year, you can pay as when you think you'll make use of it.

But for a low user it's probably not worth bothering with any sort of package and just PAYG. With 1pmobile you can pay £30 a year and that gets you 3000 mins/texts over the year, so if like a lot of elderly people they hardly use their mobile while at home (because they have a landline) but maybe a lot when on holiday, they could eg use 1000 mins on a 2 week holiday and 2000 mins over the rest of the year and it would cost £30.

The mistake people often make comparing PAYG with packages is not accounting for intermittant use. Having 3000 mins/texts a year is a lot better than having 250 per month unless your usage is very consistent.