subject: Cell Phone For The Elderly [print this page] A cell phone for the elderly can be a real blessing for them and for you. There are a lot of options available, all geared for the senior citizen and their less hurried lifestyle in mind. With these phones, the entire notion is to give them something easy to use and simple to setup.
These cell phones are not like the cell phone you likely use. They are simpler, with less bells and whistles. While your phone may have Internet connectivity and a Facebook app, these senior phones will only make and receive calls for the most part. Senior citizens for the most part, do not want to be connected to the Internet and to other media channels like younger people do. They are satisfied with keeping those avenues open but they do not necessarily want them on their telephones.
To keep things simple, cell phone makers for the senior citizen market concentrate on several things to service their base...
They have big numbers and keys - These phones have very large buttons and keys. Also, the numbers are very large and stand out to someone with poor eyesight. This is a big advantage for senior citizens who wear bifocals. With some smaller phones they are constantly having to take their glasses on and off to be able to see the numbers on very tiny keys. With a senior phone however, the buttons are very large and the numbers are equally as large, so you don't have to do that.
You do not have any GPS or Web Surfing - As we said, these are bare-bones phones. There are no nifty little features like being able access the Internet or having a phone tell you directions to your restaurant. If you want a product that has these features you'll have to buy a traditional phone and suffer the consequences of not having the features that are designed for seniors.
You pay for the whole phone at the beginning - This is totally unlike the cell phone packages available from AT&T and Verizon right now. What you get when you going into a cell phone store these days is a basically free phone with the price rolled in to the monthly payments that you make for service later. With the manufacturers' cell phone for elderly marketing plan you pay for the cell phone up front and then you are charged a monthly fee from then on.
Super-tiny monthly fees - The monthly fee that you will pay is a lot smaller than the monthly fee that is typically paid by people who have a regular cell phone package. That is because there is no Internet or GPS tracking capability in these cell phones for seniors for the most part. The fees will range from $30-$40 a month and will include on average, about 500 min. They usually also have free minutes if you are talking to someone else with the same cell phone service.
The main thing you will see with cell phone for the elderly products is their ease of use. They are designed for seniors who really do not want to learn anything new and challenging at this stage of life.
