About a year ago on another forum I had recommended a
Jitterbug cell phone to several folks also looking for a phone for a relative as well as for personal use by one of the requesters...
http://www.jitterbug.com/ is the web site address for the phone where you may see photos and a detailed explanation of the phones. I use the plural of phone as they have a couple of different types; one to work like a regular cell phone with the buttons that a user can select phone numbers and the other is a 3 button phone which can be programmed for the user or they can program for themself - usually with an emergency button set for 911 emergencies, a button to home and perhaps the 3rd button to a family member that would usually be the first person the user would call for most help situations anyway.....
I haven't personally used one but I was advised that the users were extremely pleased with their selecition of a Jitterbug phone - it arrived quickly in the mail after being ordered, had comfortable big buttons for easy use and very good sound quality.......I'm really testing my memory here, but I recall that one of the buttons goes to a Jitterbug operator who can also connect the caller with a party, just in case the caller might have problems dialing....
Most of the cellular providers have become attentive to the needs of seniors as well and now are offering cell phones designed particularly for them (okay, I guess I should be inclusive and say us
) so buttons are easy to read and touch and sound boosting occurs to help out on the hearing in noisy and crowded places. I would suggest while out shopping at a mall to stop by one of the cell phone kiosks or any of the cell phone stores located in many shopping centers and check out the offerings from the different cell phone services for their phones and their different call plans so you can compare for yourself.
I don't think I could do a very good jitterbug dance, but I know that I could handle the pre-programmed 3 button Jitterbug phone just about any day of the year...
.. .. I had found the Jitterbug phone doing a web search in anticipation of getting a phone for my father-in-law but we subsequently had to place him in assisted facility so the need ended, but the responses I got back from others I had mentioned the phone to assure me that it would have been the right choice for us....... Hope this is as helpful for you. I would also be interested in responses from users of some of the regular cellular services to get an idea how the phone would compare to the different offerings from Verizon, AT&T, Nextel, etc....... Good luck....... BT
