Please, hive mind, advise best PAYG sim only deal for my elderly technophobe mum

[sparkysparkysparky]

Hi, I've bought my mum an unlocked DORO phone but need to work out the least fuss best value sim only payg deal for it. She will very rarely make calls on it. I predict she will never send a text (although she'd love to and I will teach her) . I'd rather she didnâ??t have to keep topping it up every month just when her credit is low.
I used to have such a deal many moons ago. Is such a deal still available? who with? Thanks.

How about a rolling PAYG with giffgaff.

www.giffgaff.com/goodybags

'Topup when your credit runs out' type deals are very hard to come by now. I don't know of any (not that I'm a world expert - it would be great if someone could prove me wrong). Most seem to expire after 30 days.

Giffgaff starts at £5.

Thanks for the tip

Asda still does 'top up when you run out' AFAIK, as does Three (but depends on whether the DORO is 3G compatible... I suspect when it was 15 to 20 quid it wasn't, but if you have the exact model number it should be possible to check on www.gsmarena.com

Most if not all networks insist on a chargeable use every 90-180 days. I'd suggest asking your Mum to text you on the first of every month, or call (if texting isn't likely) (and you will call her back), so you know the phone is definitely being used once a month and the credit will only gradually be used up.

Some firms charge a stinging 30-35p a minute for chat, where Three charges 3p (2p for a text), and Asda is probably in the 10p or 8p a minute for chat, and a little lower for texts. Asda uses the EE network now.

Sainsburys may offer some alternative (they use Vodafone network) PAYG deal.

I would strongly avoid any firm which ties the user to 30 day "use it or lose it" PAYG restrictions. - there may even be some SIM only deals which would be better than having a minimum 'tenner a month' lock on them...

Aha - have seen a 3G Doro so know they can be found, which means hopefully the model you have is also 3G...

ASDA PAYG 8p/minute for voice, 4p per text. So with a 5 quid top-up, that'd mean (~ 30 months x 2 min calls) before a fresh top up would be needed...

ASDA not the cheapest but may have better coverage where your Mum lives... With Three you'd get up to 160 months (2x 3p x 160 ) because minimum top-up is a tenner I think.

Thanks, network guy.

Try www.thepeoplesoperator.com/ run on EE 5p per min 1p for data 3p for texts. Jimmy Wales from Wikipedia is behind it. I have my Mum on this. NO 3G necessary as it runs on EE network