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Ask Slashdot: Unlimited Data Plan For Seniors?
New submitter hejman08 writes with a question probably faced by many whose parents, grandparents, and other relatives rely on them for tech support and advice, specifically one about finding an appropriate data plan for his grandmother, of whom he writes: She is on her own plan through Verizon with 1GB of data, and she literally blows through it in three days or less every month, then complains about having nothing to do. They have Wi-Fi at her senior center, but only in specific rooms, and she has bad ankles and knees so she wants to stay home. Internet service would cost 80 a month to add where she lives. What I am wondering, is if any of the genius slashdotters out there know of a plan that- regardless of cost of phone, which we could manage as a gift to her, once- would allow her to have at least 300 minutes, 250 texts, and truly unlimited data (as in none of that Unlimited* stuff that is out there where they drop you to caveman speeds within a gig of usage), all for the price of less than say, 65 a month? The big 4 carriers don't seem to have anything that would work for her. What would you recommend? (I might start with a signal repeater in a utility closet, myself, or some clandestine CAT5 from a friendly neighbor's place.)
If speed isnt an issue: Try Straight Talk. $45 prepaid Available at Walmart http://www.walmart.com/ip/1544...
A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned to walk forward. -- FDR
It's $80/mo.. you can't get anything near unlimited for that.
Be glad you're not in Canada.
..don't panic
And last...
This tagline was transcoded to result in at least one smirk. If you experience failure to smirk, please consult your Gen
...than the $65 you already stated you are willing to spend to get her internet in her room.
Enough said.
First, get rid of the junk eating up her bandwidth.
The idea of anyone's grandmother literally blowing anything is disturbing.
Is everything that uses a lot of bandwidth necessarily "junk"? For example, normal use of YouTube or other video-heavy sites eats bandwidth. Is YouTube necessarily "junk"?
I know I am gonna get beat up here, but did you check into a bundle with cable TV service? Maybe she already has cable, and could upgrade? I use cable service here just for internet and they offer phone too. Forget about cellular companies, unless you can use somebody like T-Mobile?
Work with the senior center to bring the wi-fi to her room. certainly, the investment will pay for itself within few months
(at the rate of 65 USD, you are wiliing to pay)...
Internet service would cost 80 a month to add where she lives
Uhh what? Normally where I'm at paying over $50/month for internet means you're getting ripped off.
Unlimited text/talk/data
http://www.t-mobile.com/cell-p...
Get a directional wifi antena and a DD-WRT or the like router and set-up a repeater in her room using the free wifi of the nearby areas?
Well, you could try and scan for wifi signals at her home and see if a neighbor has wireless internet access already set up that is accessible from your grandmother's house. You could then approach them and suggest you pay half of their service, say $40 a month, for access. You might need to install a repeater to improve signal strength throughout your grandmother's house. If there is no wifi signal, and she is on good terms with her neighbor's, she could see if they are interested in cost sharing and you could set it up at her house.
I'm not saying do it surreptitiously, but find a neighbour on that $80.00 plan and shoot them $40.00 a month to use it. It may be illegal to the provider, but screw them.
1GB in 3 days is around 10GB/month.
Cricket prepaid is $60 for 10GB of high speed data with fallback to slow speeds if you exceed it (so she can still email you, but can't watch video). You can choose to pay $10/GB for extra data.
The least you can do is give us a ballpark location so we can look at a coverage map. Sprint or T-Mobile have have deals going with unlimited data.
Personally I'd go with Sprint, but I know their coverage can be spotty in certain places, though it has gotten a lot better since I signed up for it 5 years ago.
T-Mobile.. $80/mo Truly unlimited: http://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/individual.html
Sprint - $60/mo Truly unlimited ($50/mo is you get iPhone 6): http://www.sprint.com/landings/datashare/index.html?INTNAV=ATG:HE:UnlimitedPlan&view=unlimitedtalk
Of course you need to know if they have good service at the Center. I had 'unlimited slow Sprint' that more often than not just didn't work and switched to T-Mobile on a 2.5 Gig per line plan. Even when over the cap the experience is better than Sprint's pre-LTE network.
LOL @ Straight Talk. Your data just stops working at the cap with Straight Talk.
"Internet service would cost 80 a month to add where she lives" - You are not going to find any truly unlimited service for anywhere even remotely approaching that.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Big ass antenna on a repeater would be cheap and only have to pay once.
Preface: I worked in telecom for years...
Anyone who thinks there has ever been "unlimited" is a fool. There hasn't been and never will be. Internally, dating back to 2004, most mobile providers would call "unlimited" 5 gigabytes. I mean it's a huge like. There is no unlimited plan, and won't be until consumers stop being chumps.
Oh yeah, there's also no such thing as 4G currently-- 4G as defined by the standards board that makes it, says it's "1 gigabit per second." Anything less is 3G.
the sneaky caveman-speed ones they put on their "unlimited" data plans for mobile. Your Government Inaction (tm) is finally getting around to this.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
390 megs of windows updates to download (and no easy way around it, thanks Microsoft)
Based on my limited experience, the telecom and internet at these assisted living and nursing facilities is inhumanely bad.
We are in an era where someone with no technical knowledge should be able video chat with their grandchildren. Incoming calls just requires touching a screen which is easier than picking-up a phone. Making outgoing calls is easier than dialing a telephone since there are no phone numbers: you just get a list of people on the screen, with their picture, and you touch the picture to call them. Yet everyone treats this as though it requires a computer science degree.
I tried to set this up for my wife's great grandmother, but the otherwise modern facility had no Wifi and no 3G. We could barely get a cell signal of any kind in her room. The only internet in the facility was on a few dedicated computers. Cell reception was just fine outside though.
Is this experience typical?
Great place for mesh. Just find some old guy at the center that used to work at Cisco.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Since there is wifi but only in specific rooms, maybe this will work:
http://www.engeniustech.com/in...
I have an older version of one of these and mounted a bigger antenna on this. On Holidays I take this along and receive wifi points 2 miles away. Possibly she could receive the available wifi.
Mine works well in both Windows and Linux, don't know about the newer ones
---
That's a lot of naughty bits of David Hasselhoff.
https://www.metropcs.com/cell-plans/plans/details/GSM60.html
Sorry to sound like an advertisement, but Republic Wireless has been pretty amazing for me thus far.
$5, $10, $25, and $40 plans available to suit your needs (I'd recommend the $25 and $40 since you don't need WiFi)
https://republicwireless.com/info/plans/
No contract plans, unlimited everything, a flexible plan that lets you change midway through the month, and a lovely WiFi link that is entirely optional and can be disabled if you like.
Small caveat is that they do throttle speeds past 5GB of on network data (uses Sprint towers), and at 25MB of roaming (Verizon).
Got her hooked up with Republic Wireless and she loves it. Go with the Moto X bigger screen more functions and at $25/month its perfect for a retirees budget. And since it uses a hybrid VoIP/ cell on sprints network she'll always get calls when on her home network. Its been 6 months and she still tells me how much she loves her phone.
This sounds like you're talking about a mobile data plan. Why does she want to use mobile internet at home? Just get regular home internet: fiber if you can get it, otherwise DSL or even (bleccch) Comcast or whatever.
Alternative to the cut the cord mantra. Seriously.
I find it rather difficult to burn through data unless I am just doing something overtly data intensive that isn't even well suited for mobile broadband.
At that rate... you need to look into getting her connected through some traditional broadband or something. Get her a Roku attached to a TV or Monitor (the Roku stick model is actually awesome... $40 and no need for HDMI cables as the connector is built-in), then get connected up to something better over Wifi. They have a Roku remote app for phones that won't leave her phone useless.
welcome to my blogger
http://softic-net.blogspot.com/
There's probably an offshore criminal running a child porn server from her machine.
since she's blowing through 1GB in 3 days. For at-home internet, 10GB is nothing. Comcast's notorious data cap is 250GB or 300GB.
60/ mo for non capped 4g in the area of service. I no longer pay internet cable or landline. Must spoof user agent for tethering, but use hundreds of gb / month
http://blog.freedompop.com/freedompop-lte-unlimited-everything/
It gets reduced to 3G speeds after 1 gig, which isn't terrible.
I recently switched from Sprint to Cricket Wireless. My new plan gets me 10GB of data at LTE speeds on AT&T's network, unlimited voice, and unlimited texting. And the $60/month includes taxes and fees. The best part is that when I exceed my data cap, they lower my speed instead of hitting me for an overage charge.
The only downside is that they don't offer "upgrade" subsidies like the main four do. But as long as you haven't convinced yourself that you need a $800+ device for playing Angry Birds (and can live with something older or more reasonable), it's an all-around better deal.
I would look for a device that looks/feels like a regular cellphone phone but uses voip. Hopefully it would use a free service like Google Voice.
Then just buy her the internet access for her room.
Yes, I know that is $15 more than your maximum amount to spend but I doubt you are going to find unlimited data for less anyway. Then you can even give her a tablet or laptop if she is up to learning to use it.
find an android device that can be rooted, and start blacklisting advertising sites in the hosts file. I literally cut my data usage in half doing this. Make sure the device is set to connect to wireless whenever possible, and look around for municipal wifi or wimax where available. Unlimited data is $100 or more depending on how reliable and fast you'd like it, whereas skype and a tablet connected to $80 per month internet is still much more preferable. Find out exactly how much data she uses, calculate overages for various carriers, and compare this to total usage with a wireless connection. If you're a slashdotter with some tech skills, why not speak with the management and see if they'd be willing to expand wireless connectivity to other rooms in exchange for installation and configuration on your part (I once did this with an apartment complex i lived in.)
Good people go to bed earlier.
Since she's on 1GB, I assume she is on the old minutes/txt plan.
If she's not on unlimited minutes/text, find a business enterprise rep (not the store people). They can swap their data over to the "Good profile". Unlimited data for $27.99/mo. AND, it *will* transfer to a subsidized phone.
Don't know how much longer it will last. Or how it has managed to last this long.
I switched to H20 Wireless in the Houston area 9-months ago on my Nexus 5. They are an ATT backbone reseller. This has worked flawlessly for me. It is a prepaid, monthly, no contract service. I set up autobill through their website that hits my credit card automatically. I can log in and cancel without notice.
Plans start at $30 for 500 meg. The unlimited plan is $60 per month. You can buy an H20 SIM card online for $1.
https://www.h2owirelessnow.com/mainControl.php?page=planMon30
In Europe such a plan would cost something like within €25 range. Especificially applied for domestic rates calls, and within one's nation, not a state.
25EUR/month.
Only cap is the LTE is throttled to 50Mbps, and price doesn't include foreign calls or SMS.
But I guess you/your grandmother don't live in their service area, as pretty much evey carrier here has a similar offer, and its impossible to miss the ads.
...And plus €10 for the ubiquitous 1GB data cap sensuously delivered at 4G speeds.
Fix your broadband industry. You're being fleeced.
Sprint (Though may be spotty coverage as said before), will not throttle your usage after reaching a level (with 4g). T-Mobile will throttle you down to turtle speeds. I've been with them for 10 years, and can vouch they are much better. I average 50-100 GB per month no issues. Speeds for me average 1.4 - 1.7 MB p/s. My plan runs under $80.00 / month with free nights and weekends and over 400 minutes of talk. Free mobile to mobile also.
Using the Sprint network, check out ting.com. They have you buy the phone up front, or allow you to switch your current sprint capable phone, and only charge you for your usage each month. If you don't use all of what you pay for, then they will roll over the left over money for your next bill.
They let you choose customized plans for based on your expected usage. They allow you to add as many phones as you want to a plan, and everyone shares everything. They charge very reasonable rates after their highest preset plan package.
For your estimated 300 minutes, and 250 texts with up to 2GB of data a month, you would pay 49 dollars, plus the price of the phone for the first month.
For eery 1GB of data after that, you pay 1.5c.
As a rough guess, she uses 1GB every three days, so for the 2GB plan (30-6)/3=8GB over a month. 8x0.015=.12c a month over.
Ok, so lets assume that she really goes way over that, and assume she starts using 2GB a day. So her usage would be (30-1)x2=58GB a month over. 58x0.015=0.87c extra a month.
This still puts her under your 80 dollar a month plan for home internet. Check out ting.com for your area.
Every phine number added to a plan cost $6 a month more. They have a price calculator at https://ting.com/rates.
P.S. I do not work for, use, or am not compensated for this, I just spent a lot of time looking at cellular plans recently. Unfortunately, I live in the boondocks, and only have access to US Cellular out here. I do you a sister service at hover.com for domain names. These are from the company that created Tucows. I wished I could get this service.
Seems like Ting will cost you about $49 a month with 2GB data (1.5c per GB after that). Looks reasonable to me.
Of course, whether it services your area is another issue.
Euthanasia!
As I write this, there are over 60 responses to the OP.
Not one of them addresses the question about an "Unlimited Data Plan For Seniors".
I don't think such a plan exists. Our senior center has $14.99 internet available from Time Wanner and it is fine for YouTube, movies, simultaneous internet radio and just about anything else a non-commercial user would want. It's an excellent value, and when I see the crazy prices that others pay, I think TWC is doing a real service to seniors even if it's not a special discount. We download A LOT of movies and have never experienced any data cap.
TWC does have special internet phone service available for seniors, but that is a different issue.
What are the real costs for the home extending its wifi to another resident? Or for extending it to them all?
Family plan gets the cost down when shared. Otherwise spend more than $65 / month. T-Mobile is another option. Also consider WiMax or other wifi local ISP operators who do it for less.
Why don't you directly solve the problem and help them improve their Wifi coverage? It could be as simple as buying something more modern with more power and some repeaters. At least see if they would let you investigate it. A few hundred dollars might side step the mobile and make all of the residents live easier.
Maybe some local company would donate services or equipment to help you do this. Talk to their ISP. Who knows until you beg?
Not unlimited, but can be very cheap.
I set up one of their "Home" routers in my office.
It has ethernet and wifi and like 10GB/mo at $18.99/mo
The only time I went over 10gb is when I used device at home and we started streaming movies on it.
Other than streaming movies, I have never gone over the 10gb.
Since she obviously uses her Verizon data and has a good connection, you could do an AoL (Assumption of Liability) from a grandfathered unlimited data plan. People are selling the plans on various forums, ebay, craigslist, etc. A lot of people have recently been giving them away on macforums and the like since the new iPhone came out.
Though I personally would look into using a repeater as suggested in the summary.
mod up!!! I recommend getting two dd-wrt routers. Put Directional antennas in one and leave the other one alone. If you're good at Linux hacking you can get dd-wrt to work with a usb directional antenna and use one router, but honestly two routers are so cheap it's not worthwhile. I've seen new N300 routers for less then $20 a pop. I don't recommend using one direction antenna and one regular antenna with one radio in the same router I think it confuses the beam forming algorithm or something. If you're going to try a single router/repeater solution may I recommend just upgrading the router's antennas to 9db omni antennas, it's probably worth a shot if she isn't to faraway from the desired AP. Like you can see it on a laptop but not reliable connect.
PS, The best signal for directional antennas may not be the most obvious to due to bouncing signals, interference, etc Also, short leads to the antennas make a big difference for 2.4ghz and 5 ghz signals, Use ethernet or usb cables to give a good distance between the two radios to avoid cross interference if using a two radio solution.
$70 for truly unlimited (I regularly break 10 GB which would be her monthly usage) or $35 with 5GB then throttle (unlimited texts 25 minutes).
pitch in with a neighbor on the $80 to get it to the room, and get a wireless router.
$30 per mo. 300 minutes, unlimited data and text. That is the best deal I could find.
http://www.acetonestudio.com
Get a good wifi extender and attach it to the "free wifi" there and have it re broadcast to her room. A decent AP that can do it with external antennas and a high gain patch antenna should do the trick.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
You can already get an adblocking hosts file that installs easily as an app. and it blocks ALL ad's on the device... Makes it a breath of fresh air.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I would just go in for the extra $15 from $65.
But if you want to go on the cheap side, t-mobile's prepaid phone plans currently has something similar to what you asked for.
$30/month
100 min talk
unlimited text
unlimited data, first 5 gigs are unthrottled.
Maybe you could figure out a way to pay $60 for 10 gigs of unthrottled, or some sort of pay as you go data plan with them.
I am a senor dealer with a good track record of paying top dollar for today's senors. You're senor seams like she would be a good fit for working a semi-automated machine or possibly even the exciting world of MMO mining, captcha reading, etc. This can be quite profitable for you. Senors can ether be sold outright or simply rented out which ever would suit you best. If your senor has always wanted to travel the world, good news most of my buyers are in quite exotic locations. I can assure you that blowing through her data cap will no longer be a problem since her days will be filled productive work and not idle down time to waste. Truly a win-win for all involved
So don't delay your senor is only loosing value as time passes!!!
That sounds like service from a cable company.
If she has Comcast in here area perhaps she can qualify for Internet Essentials? $10 per month broadband service to low income families.
If not what about DSL?
If you are in a decent sized city, MetroPCS. They have BYOD, so any unlocked GSM (AT&T or TMobile) device will work.
For $60 (taxes, fees included) you get unlimited calling, texting and 4G data. In the D/FW area I usually average 10 Mbps download speeds on my N4 (that only has HSPA+), my wife can gets 15-20Mbps with her MotoX (4GLTE).
If you are using it as a hotspot though, hotspot costs an extra $5 per month, and that is limited to 2.5 GB per month 4G. The phone would still get unlimited though.
Why does adding internet service at her present location cost $80/ month?
Knowing approximately where she is might help.
Can you find her a better way to get to the senior center? Staying at home entertaining yourself on the Internet is possibly not the best lifestyle. Spending time around other people and possibly participating in some of the other activities, not to mention getting out of the house may all be better for her. Then again, depending on her age/health it may not much matter.
Selectel Wireless, a Verizon MVNO with free roaming using Sprint and US Cellular towers (talk only,not text), $15/mo plan for talk/text. Or check out Page Plus (no roaming) for $12/mo. Get either through Genius Wireless who have their shit in one sock with excellent service and will not leave you hanging. Take the savings & get Grandmother the net with wifi for true unlimited data.
While I'm not familiar with the logistics of taking over someone's plan, I regularly see people selling their accounts on eBay. So you pay $200-300 for the account which has a grandfathered unlimited plan AND you have to buy a phone. That said, I used 15GB last month on my unlimited plan (which I've had for years, I did not eBay it) and I just buy last year's phone. Of course, there is talks of Verizon throttling Unlimited customers (of course there is also an article talking about FCC involvement in throttling) so buying an Unlimited plan is not without risks!
Get her one of those chromebooks with free 200MB 4G data/month, last I checked they were between $300 to $400, YMMV, and they had them at walmart.
http://www8.hp.com/us/en/ads/free-mobility/overview.html
My recommendation would be a directional antenna and a neighbor with an open access point.
'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
http://blackwireless.com/
They have a $60 / month full unlimited plan. Uses AT&T's network. Been using them for nearly a year now with no problems, though I am not on the unlimited plan myself. As far as I know, their unlimited data plan really is unlimited data (but no tethering).
http://www.t-mobile.com/cell-p...
$50 = 1 GB data, unlimited talk and text. NO OVERAGE CHARGES -- they just throttle you after you hit your limit. Isn't that nicer than being throttled at some mystery point by another carrier?
$60 = 3 GB. $70 = 5 GB. $80 = unlimited, and since they're honest about the other stuff, I'm *almost* inclined to believe them. Feel like experimenting? Sign up and post the results in a couple months.
Do the math: if she goes through 1 GB in 2-3 days, she needs 10-15 GB per month. Either pay for a lot of cellular data, or pay for Internet access in her room. I don't know why you're expecting to get 10 GB of data at a price no one offers. Are they all dicks for putting limits on what they call "unlimited" service? OF COURSE. Take your argument to the FCC, the FTC, and the supreme court if you want, it's not gonna do you any good. At best, you'll get them to stop calling it "unlimited" but they'll still charge THE EXACT SAME THING THEY'RE CURRENTLY CHARGING.
The best thing to do, of course, would be to pay for internet access to her room, then give her an AP and charge a discounted rate to a couple neighboring rooms. :D
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Coverage aside, I think it's going to be difficult to have your cake and eat it too here. You're going to have to pay more than 65/month these days for this.
Pony up the 80/month on T-mo and you'll get the unlimited she wants. Move yourself, wife, anyone else you can onto the plan and the costs per person drop. You can get it down to 25-45/person depending on how much data you each consume and how many you get on the plan.
... who thinks they are entitled to unlimited usage is naive. And wrong. ... who thinks they can get unlimited usage without paying a high price is a fool. And wrong. ... who doesn't read the contract to find out what 'unlimited' really means is just damn lazy. And probably a little bit of both of the above.
I rarely read replies, it's my opinion and if you thought about your opinion a little more, I'm OK with that.
While the situation with grandma *may or *may not violate Republic's Terms of Service - you should at least check it out.
Certainly anyone who spends more than 50% of their time nearer to wireless connections definitely SHOULD check out republic.
(With a smartphone - but it must be purchased from them)
Voice only $10/month
Voice and Data $25/month
5gb, then throttling. Uses a lot of wifi though. I'm not sure if they have wifi at home. If they do, this is a no brainer. $25/month.
OP clearly stated that she doesn't want to go to the senior center for internet - she wants to stay home.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=unlimited%20verizon&clk_rvr_id=721459472308&mfe=search
Get one of the old unlimited lines.... She will lose her #, but she will have unlimited... One time cost + cost of phone... maybe an ETF on her current contract
Black Wireless - blackwireless.com - They're an AT&T MVNO. LTE isn't supported, but HSPA+ is, and I've seen that exceed 10mbps. Have been using them nearly a year with no problems, though I am not on the unlimited data plan myself. I spoke with customer service and they claim that unlimited data really is unlimited data.
The idea of anyone's grandmother literally blowing anything is disturbing.
You filthy minded kid. LOL
I came here to post about MVNOs. I don't have any mod points, but this is definitely the way to go for single lines. I haven't used Black, but MVNOs are generally reasonable to deal with.
Hello there,
Get her on a lyca mobile plus plan for $23/month. Unlimited talk, text, and 3G and 500MB of 4G a month. You can use any unlocked GSM phone or tablet. I only have a 3G phone, but tests run in tethering mode show me a bidirectional data speed of 1.3 M/s when my laptop is tethered.
I am a heavy data user on my phone, and have never had an issue with lyca. I have been with them for about 9 months.
http://www.lycamobile.us/
lyca is an MVNO and has agreements with both Tmobile and AT&T in the USA. They are the biggest cell operation in Europe I believe. Their customer support is based out of London and seem to be, polite, good, and able to speak English.
Good luck!
I think you are misguided.
The idea for mobile data is mobility. If she has trouble getting around, then a mobile phone should not be her internet connection. If she is not mobile why a mobile phone? Does she also have a home phone? You are already paying $50 per month for her cell phone - does she have cable tv too? I can't believe you can't get her internet for less then $80/month.
Drop the cell phone, get internet for her, and some other texting method. You could even get her an Obi110 and google voice number for free phone calls (after the cost of the Obi) . She can even port her cell number to GV and use that for texting. She doesn't need a cell phone if she doesn't go out.
Any type of fee opposes the notion of free speech quite literally. if we have a constitution that assures free speech and then turn around and allow private companies to regulate the flow of speech we have a meaningless Bill Of Rights. Think of a short wave radio and a user that simply gabs all the time. We have never had laws that suggest that we can shut the guy down due to the air waves being limited and public property as well. So if we have a private company that can throttle free speech we are creating an uber class which somehow has more rights than the public at large. It is one thing to allow companies to install cables for transfer of speech for a fee but it is quite another issue when a private company is allowed to throttle content or the amount of speech that flows on the line. Concepts such as equality before the law are trashed when one entity has more rights than anyone else regardless of the needs or considerations of a corporation.
Your parents and grandparents took care of everything for you when you were growing up. $80 is a small price to pay to make grandma happy. You owe it to her.
by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
It's not unlimited, but, 10GB high speed per month and unlimited calls and text, for $55 if on auto-pay. Uses ATT network.
Been on Metro for a bout a year in the puget sound area, actually kinda boonies here, though.
Almost always get 24Mbps.
On the $60 unlimited plan myself & it truly is unlimited.
I average 60-90 GB/ month
Interestingly, when tethering a Linux box, you don't have to change the user agent.
You can also tether an android tablet or iDevice without resorting to tricks...
They also have several usable smart phones for $20 - outright. Bought 5 zte Concord IIs for friends. They're all on the lowest tier plan which is now 1GB of 4G & then unlimited 3G, & youtube videos are still watchable if you let then spool for a little bit. Surfing the rest of the internet works just fine. At $25 each/month (because there's 4 or more) it's the best deal out there for neophyte surfers.
My unlimited plan also gets $10 off for having 4+ lines, so it's only costing $50.
Only beef? They charge to take a payment at the store or over the phone. It's only $3, but still. You can avoid the fee by paying on their website...
Recently spent a couple months working for Verizon *spit*
Their grandfathered "unlimited" plans are throttled after around 5GB
They also "resample" any video or pictures sent over their network to "optimize for mobile devices" - that nice pretty HD screen on your Phablet is going to play movies in qvga, even when you request HD...
One time cost for you, with the senior center paying for the wifi service.
I've got the tmobile plan "unlimited" plan. It's not bad for unlimited data and browsing, but I don't think any wireless service with speed enough for quality video really gives unlimited bandwidth, at least in the US. Wireless and netflix really isn't economical for providers.
If you have a neighbor willing to let you share internet, that would be the best. You may work something out that you split the bill or something. My grandma wanted internet but couldn't afford the DSL connection. My aunt lived close by and said that grandma could share her internet if we could get it to her. I was going to run a straight CAT5 cable from my aunt's router to an AP at my grandma's, but it was about 400 feet of open field and I didn't feel like trenching a cable that far. I thought about doing a point to point wireless, but the only equipment I had on hand was more suited to 5-6 km and would have been overkill here. My grandpa had three out buildings along the way between the houses, with the furthest only 50-100 ft from my aunt's house; they were all wired with electricity. What I ended up using was an old wireless bridge I had laying around that was originally sold as an Xbox accessory to hook it to a wireless network. I hooked it up in my grandpa's furthest shed where it would pick up my aunt's wifi (about 50 ft from their house), hooked it to an ethernet to powerline adapter to send the ethernet signals over the existing electrical lines to the companion device in the house. From there, I connected an old wireless router in access point mode so she could hook up her laptop and iPad. The only thing I had to buy was the powerline adapters, about $100, but they haven't had any problems in their 3 years in operation.