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.)

Comments

T-Mobile or Sprint are your unlimited options

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:T-Mobile or Sprint are your unlimited options

[Anonymous Coward]

Also possibly MetroPCS, though I have no experience with them:

https://www.metropcs.com/cell-plans/plans/details/GSM60.html

Re:StraighTalk

[mrchaotica]

It's kind of a secret, since T-Mobile would prefer that you pay them more than $30/month. Here are some instructions: http://www.debtroundup.com/how-to-get-tmobile-30-plan/

I didn't screw around trying to do stuff online; I just took my phone* into Wal-Mart and they sold me a SIM kit and activated it.

(* The phone in question was a Nexus 5 bought directly from Google, so it had never been activated with any other service -- I don't know if that matters.)