Mom's First Cell Phone

This past Christmas I bought a cell phone for my mother who is 79 years old. This is her first cell phone and the reason for the purchase, she is still driving and I didn't want her on the road with no access to anyone if something should go wrong. So the phone had to be simple and one she would be comfortable with. My mother would never do this on her own, as this is what she considers an extravagant unnecessary expense.

She was like a child with a new toy. She felt "hip". Couldn't wait to make the first call and have her bingo gals watch her flip the phone and make a call. Sent her the phone gave her all the instructions and assumed all was well. My sister-in-law called to inform me how unhappy Mom was with the phone and was ready to send it back. It wouldn't work.

So naturally the two of us discussed the fact that she probably didn't know how to use it. Sissy was on her way over the weekend to provide detail instructions.

Mom called to inform me she was not the problem. She took it upon herself to call the company where the phone was purchased. She lives in an apartment building with apparently very thick walls and parts of the building's access is blocked from receiving cell reception.

If I felt this was detrimental to her existence, I would definitely purchase a cell phone signal booster. But it wasn't. She has a LAN phone line in her apartment and because she is so frugal, would never use the allocated minutes for the cell phone. Lesson for me - it just maybe the technology and not the person.