Forum Topic

Connecting elderly relatives overseas

We have elderly residents on both sides of our family self-isolating.  They are both great talkers so we thought it would be an idea to put them in touch. One of them is not in her normal home in the UK and only has a mobile. The other is in the Republic of Ireland and only has a landline. I am finding it difficult to get my head round what phone charges they would face and if it is better to get the landline to ring the mobile or vice versa. Can anybody help?

Tricia Arbuthnot ● 1855d11 Comments

The last time I saw a trolley payphone at Charing Cross was over twenty years ago and it was being used by a chap with who I was sharing a 4-bed ward as a makeshift walking frame so that he could go down the corridor, down in the lift and out into the car park "for a fag". He was being treated for pneumonia and had been told to stay in bed!

N V Brooks ● 1835d

Agree about WhatsApp we have a family group organised for us so we can see grandchild growing up - lovely photos and clips of film.  Also have other friends who are on it that are far away and a uni friendship group organised since lockdown.Completely agree about the hospital phone system we last experienced.  Expensive and not particularly easy to set up (certainly for us at the time).  One parent couldn't see to use it.  The other couldn't hear it ring so couldn't use it.  Too fiddly and expensive and the staff (there are never enough despite how helpful they'd like to be) don't have time to help with that as well.  Room 101.  It was easier with the old payphone on a trolley I remember at Charing Cross years ago - except you couldn't be sure who last had that ie where it was!

Philippa Bond ● 1835d

Brilliant Tricia.
I had not used WhatsApp before this and have found it invaluable for keeping in touch 'face to face'.
Philippa, you are right and one thing that needs action 'after this' is the obscene cost of calling hospital phones. A service that started-up over 20 years ago and which, where those in hospital have no access to a mobile, is a vital lifeline but which is provided at charging levels that many simply cannot afford.

N V Brooks ● 1838d

A lot of things will need rethinking after this.  The problems of being shut off in care homes has become more obvious.  We all need to try and keep in touch with our friends and relations or we will find it is too late - either because the technology has changed and is too much of a challenge or because one or other of us is no longer around - and that includes me!Well done Tricia.  There must be other elderly who could be put in touch again because those of us who can use the internet can often find people who we've lost touch with.  I did this with FIL and a cousin and they then had a weekly chat for several years.  It is worth extending your friendship group as it naturally contracts as you get older and certainly by the time you reach your late nineties!

Philippa Bond ● 1838d

Get a three sim from supermarket 3p a min to ring mobiles or landlines in all of europe and USA etc. Make phone is unlocked.

Nicholas Beard ● 1839d

Thanks for all your help on this. After much angst and pulling out of hair we got them talking on WhatsApp.

Tricia Arbuthnot ● 1839d

And in hospital and care home there were never enough staff to do extras like this as they were so busy.

Philippa Bond ● 1852d

Good luck.  This is a brilliant thing to do.  I managed to get my elderly and blind FIL set up with a big button corded phone and friends and relatives entered on speed dial with a large print laminated list eg 1 = us, 2 = Fred etc stuck down with bluetack on the table.  We used a lot of blutack as things needed to remain in the same places to be found.  MIL had been doing the phoning before she died.  (One did the reading and one did the hearing.  This worked well for them as a couple.)  We had tried to teach and get them to use a mobile years earlier but had failed to persuade them.  We later tried a simple big button one but it was too late.  It would have been invaluable when on respite in the care home or in hospital where the facilities either didn't exist or were too complicated.

Philippa Bond ● 1852d

RLAH regulations are quite complex (not surprising given that it took the EU 11 years of negotiations to set them).
To get inclusive roaming the SIM card needs to be used for a qualifying period in the country of issue and usage while roaming (a maximum of 62 days in any 120 day period) must be less than the usage in the country of issue.
Some networks (giffgaff included) allow an initial 14-day period of inclusive roaming without the qualifying 'use at home' period, after that you revert to full PAYG roaming rates.

N V Brooks ● 1853d

Does that essentially mean that given the 'Roam as if at home' policy under EU rules which still apply here - you would get free international calls if you were outside the UK and it is included in your contract but have to pay for them if you are at home?

Andy Jones ● 1853d

Many mobile companies offer good rates to the Republic of Ireland. giffgaff (SIMs are available in virtually every supermarket and convenience store) charges 2p per minute to call landlines in Ireland and you are not tied into a contract.
The BT charge is almost 20p per minute so giffgaff is almost ten times cheaper.

N V Brooks ● 1855d