Easy to use mobile phone suggestions please

Surely you could visit her and help her Or find someone to visit her. On the other topic people are complaining about children not visiting them. This appears to be the seems to be the same.

I am sure if teenagers were asked to visit care homes and visit the people. They would discover a wealth of knowledge.
Instead of old people being incarcerated in care homes with no care, poor diets and generally inhumane. It seems a very unkind society

I got my neighbour an Alexa. She’s 82. They get on great. They’re both cantankerous and like to have the last word. Great sparring partners.

Seriously, she loves Alexa. She chats away to her all day. Asks her about the weather, the news and thinks Alexa is talking to her personally when she gives her the fact of the day!

Says ‘call Pearl’ when she wants to chat to me and switches lights and lamps on and off (we also got her smart bulbs and plugs) as she pleases.

She knows she can tell her to dial 999 in an emergency without scrabbling around for the phone.

I can phone her on her tablet, (another prezzie for her birthday) and see her on screen. It interrupts her playing her Mah Jong, but at least I can check in her and see she’s ok.

Give Alexa a go. Your Aunt might just love her.

Shandy57
Has your mother got dementia she sounds a lot like my mother in law can't use landlines as she has forgotten how, cannot tell the time panics every time she hears a beep,
And doesn't use the cooker now.

DORO phones are recommended by Which.co.uk. specially for seniors. I have one and find it very easy to use with plenty of helpful hints appearing or you can ask it a question. I have told mine I don't want football results. Success. no football results.

Hello all,thank you for all your comments.

My aunt is 84 and lives 350 miles away, and she has a lovely neighbour that does try to help her.

She does have a Doro in the house but it is 'dead' and she doesn't want to have anything to do with it again.

I've just spent two hours on the phone to TalkTalk and because my aunt hasn't activated her POA they cannot talk to me. They did do a line test, and it progressed to needing an engineer - but I can voicemail my aunt through Facebook, and she is receiving email, so who knows. I have told my aunt to go next door to use her neighbour's landline to phone TalkTalk and arrange for the engineer.

Even with the tarpaulin I have snow melt pouring into my lounge and am having to empty the bucket every 30 minutes, I'm not doing anything for anyone else until it stops

Hi Shandy57 seems you have a lot on your plate, just a thought would AGE UK be able to help your aunt if there is one in her area perhaps set phone up for her or have a look at her own Doro see if they can get her up and running.
I do like the sound of the Alexa idea

@ BRAVEBETH that wasn’t a very pleasant message to OP. I’m sure that if she was local to her aunt then it would be quicker and easier to call round and sort the problem but she may well live hundreds of miles away so it will have to be sorted by post !

BRAVEBETH, why not try reading earlier posts before you wade in with your nasty, ignorant comments. I’m amazed at the lengths OP is going to in order to help her aunt given the personal difficulties she’s trying to cope with.

Someone got out of bed the wrong side today!

Sweeping generalisations made on topics you clearly know and understand very little about, may make you feel better, but are otherwise of little utility.

I thought a Doro phone may have worked for my mother but found that, when she ended a call, she held the button down too long - this turned the phone off! I went as far as writing to Doro to suggest they separate the 'end call' button and the 'turn off phone' button. Did this happen? (I've never checked - Mum died some time ago.)

I don't know how Shandy57 can help at a distance but also agree Alexa or Siri mught be a better bet or perhaps Facebook Portal if the OP's aunt has reasonable eyesight.

As someone who used to help support people (voluntarily) with their IT in their homes, I have seen how difficult this is for many. I also have also had to stop visiting because I am CEV.

My only other thought would be to look on Facebook groups local to Shandy57's aunt. There may be voluntary groups online where she could make enquiries. Also, I get referrals via our Village Agent. Perhaps there is an equivalent where the OP's aunt lives.

I sympathise with Shandy57.

Just a bit of advice (from a complete technophobe) about buying new mobiles. I bought my first ever smartphone from Carphone Warehouse and they set it up for me. Took it home and it said I wasn’t connected to the network (Vodaphone). It wasn’t that there was no reception, it just wouldn’t recognise my phone. I spoke to Vodaphone chat line who tried to help but they sent me a message with a special code that I couldn’t access because I couldn’t use the phone! Having checked out Dr Utube I took the SIM card out and put it back in again and it worked. The phone version of ‘turn it off and turn it back on again’. I didn’t want to go back to the shop as I’m still avoiding shops as much as possible and we’re still recovering from the storm damage.

MayBee70
That also applies to your smart tv. If it’s ‘playing up’ just turn everything off, the. switch on again.

Morning all, woke up to another chunk of ceiling on the floor, just off to buy more buckets in case, but thought I could also use my clean recycling bin if it came down to it.

I think my aunt is sorted. She went to her neighbours, held on for 45 minutes and finally spoke to someone with a 'foreign' accent (I know - but she's only been to Germany and Jersey) and the engineer is coming on 6 December. I think she must have given my mobile number as I've just received a text from Openreach asking me to confirm the appointment.

Her Nokia 130 arrived yesterday and I've charged it, once I've walked the dog I'm going to do some simple instructions for her . Hopefully the SIM will arrive while I'm out and I can post it, but she won't get it before the 6th. I think I've already mentioned I paid £36 for a SIM that should last a year to avoid 'top ups.

I did ask her on FB Voicemail to action her health and welfare POA for incidents like this, it was so frustrating to get to the engineer booking part and be refused.

Have a good day everyone

I sympathise very much with Shandy, and I only have to go over the road to sort out my elderly neighbours tech problems.
That includes not mentioning the word internet as she’s adamant that she doesn’t have it.
Don’t ask ? it’s complicated.

Shandy, I have the utmost admiration for you, having so much trouble yourself and still finding time to help your aunt. I hope you get that roof sorted out soon.?

Thanks for your kind comments. SIM arrived and an hour later I'm still waiting for it to load with the package so it can be used.

Stupidly I forgot you can't post an item with a battery actually in it, so I've asked my aunt's neighbour to pop in to put the battery in. I could send it with the back off, but worry the SIM might be damaged. My aunt seemed to be having trouble with her hands when I voicemailed her to take the plug out of the telephone socket, I could hear her huffing and puffing in frustration. I'm sending the phone on Monday, and if she can't use it, I'm changing my phone number

I've been reading your thread Shandy but I didnt have anything constructive to say. Especially in the wake of all the good advice others have given you.
I just wanted to say how heart warming it was to see the commitment you have to your Aunt.
The problem with the leak sounds horrendous, and struck a cord with me. As we had something similar a month ago. Although the ingress of water only lasted 3 days, the coping and tidy up was stressful.
I hope you get it sorted soon.

I've just phoned my aunt and asked her to ring me on the mobile phone so I can help her record my number in contacts.

'It's not working, did you put any money on it'.

So maddening, she just isn't pressing hard enough to turn it on. I give up, it's too hard trying to help long distance and now my roof is off, I can't fly down. I hope her ever patient neighbour will go in and help her.

Your Aunt could be turning the phone off again. I can't understand why the 'disconnect call' button is the same as the 'off' button on so many push button phones. Mobile phone manufacturers need to separate the functions. My mother turned her phone off when ending calls because she held down the button for too long.
It's makes phones like these unsuitable for the purpose for which they are often bought (i.e. to stay in touch with elderly relatives).

Thanks Missedout, I chose the Nokia to avoid that. To switch off you do use the same button, but have to choose the 'switch off'' option from the tiny screen by using the selection button.

She is going to ask her neighbour in to help her next week when she finishes work for Christmas. I do have a box of old phones somewhere buried in the piled up spare room but can't get to them at the moment, I might have a Nokia 3310 in there, might be better.

I've now asked my aunt to ask her neighbour to put the SIM into her old phone, desperate measures!