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Years ago my wife had a good friend that worked for T-Mobile, so we got T-Mobile phones.

I lost my wife just over a week ago, and have been trying to see how to get along without her, straighten out the mess of paperwork accumulated caused by seven months of nursing home care with six hospital stays mixed in. Lots of stuff to process, but with my daughters help, and managed to keep bills current, up-to-date and no late fees. I consider that in itself a minor miracle.

Today I have started to see what is available as far as cell phones go. I have no reason to text, and definitely so not want to access the internet from a phone. Just be able to make and receive calls and accept voice mail as needed. From my past experience, I feel that I need to move away from T-Mobile due to their lack of coverage when you get away from a large city or the interstate highway system.

Unfortunately I have to keep a land line at home. I have an implanted pacemaker/defib unit, which requires some support. I have a wireless receiver in the bedroom that picks up data from the pacemaker, whenever the pacemaker feels there was an event worth reporting. I do not when any of this communication takes place, but it is reported to the doctors office via land line and modem. So, I have, and need a landline.

I am looking for a basic bare-bones phone and phone company, that has more coverage than I am receiving from T-Mobile.

I discussed this with them this morning, and they were somewhat helpful. Deleted one of the two phones that were on our plan, reducing my monthly bill to $40.00 for 1,000 minutes. They further reduced the monthly bill by an additional $10.00 a month for six months due to our being with them for 13 years.

I may not be cheap, but I consider myself as being thrifty. The $30.00 a month is a good deal, but I still need better coverage. Was out of town over the weekend, still in South Texas, but could not make or receive calls due to a lack of signal.

Anyone know of a 'thrifty' solution to this?

Depending on how much you use your phone you may want to look at AT&T's Go Phone http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/gophon ... BWqr9nuMOP" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Or if the coverage is better look at Verizon or Sprint for their pre-paid phone plans. If you use very few minutes a month they can be more economical for a bare-bones phone than a regular post-paid plan.

There is alos the Jitterbug phone, but don't know much about it. http://www.greatcall.com/products/jitterbug" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My company has drivers using equipment that requires wireless signal all over the country: urban, rural, interstates, oil fields, etc.

Verizon is head and shoulders above anyone else for coverage. Not the cheapest, but the best coverage. We also use other less expensive vendors when we can get away with cheaper instead of better.

Very sorry to learn of your wife's passing. Please accept my condolences.

I also think a prepaid phone on Verizon or AT&T would be good for basic phone service with minimal usage. That's what my brother uses and he seems satisfied. Just about any of the basic phones should work. May want to see if you can test the one you are interested in to make sure the volume and ringers are loud enough.

Stew, I missed passing along my condolences as well. So sorry for your loss. May God grant you peace and help with your adjustement to your life change.

Please accept my condolences as well. As a Pastor I have helped many people loosing their spouse who have been married as much as 63 years. It is life changing and I will be praying for you.

I have had Verizon for 14 years. I guess I am stuck their because of our church phones and the staff who have phones. I do not believe they are anywhere close to being cost efficient, but their service has never failed me. I have thought about changing, but do not want the headache and I sure don't want something that does not have the coverage I have now because I do a lot of driving from the DFW area to the piney woods of East Texas.

Stew, I am so sorry for your loss.

We use Sprint. They and verizon seem to be the best when it comes to Texas. I like my bells and whistles when it comes to phones so I like my android. so I can't be of help there.

StewNTexas wrote: Anyone know of a 'thrifty' solution to this?

I've used Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T. My opinion of "best coverage" is solidly on AT&T - especially when traveling. Your immediate coverage may vary (at home) so you should check on it.

In terms of thrift, I buy plans, not phones. I don't like the subsidized model where I pay $100 for $500 phone, but I'm locked into over-paying for the next 2 years.

I use pre-pay phones, through Straight Talk. They are on T-Mobile or AT&Ts network, depending on which "sim card" you get. You bring your own phone or buy an UN-subsdized phone. What you need - lots of talk minutes, limited data and text is $30/month. You pay in advance for the service you haven't used, versus paying for the service you have used with a "contract". You can use anything from a very simple phone to the latest IPhone, Google phone, etc.

My only warning here is that the customer support off the scale stinks... Generally once you're setup and running it's not a problem.

My condolences. I use Straight Talk and Mrs. Oldgringo uses Tracfone. We have no land line and these phones suit us just fine for half the cost of Verizon....in Texas and in NW Montana and everywhere in between.

We have tried most all of them. By far the best 2 were AT&T and Verizon. We actually got better rates with AT&T but both provide better coverage than the others.

Sorry to hear of your wife's passing. It must be very hard to deal with.

The best deal in cellphones IMO is Tracfone. My wife had me abandon Tracfone after getting iPhones for both of us, but until that point we were very happy with Tracfone service and price. The last time I bought service from them, back in Mar 2012, I got two full years of service for $190 total or $7 bucks/month. It seems to me also that they use whatever service is available, though usually AT&T iirc, so the coverage was good. Yup voicemail too.

Oh, I forgot--you have to have an instrument! Ours were Motorola V170s. Flip phones with decent buttons, which these old eyes and fat fingers did appreciate.

We never had a single problem with TF.

I used to have a GoPhone. It had random areas where I had no service - quite annoying. I have a Tracfone now and have service even in rural areas of east Texas. I like the options it has, and since I use a tablet (wi fi) and have a phone at work (high school teacher) so I have no need for a smart phone. It's cheap, does what needs to do and convenient.

I bought a Samsung flip phone that additionally says Verizon printed on it from Walmart a few years ago for $20.00. So, obviously it's Verizon compatible.

It's used with a prepaid plan and it's got more features on it than I would ever care to use, i.e. camera, etc.

The plan costs me exactly $100.00 a year (I don't know if this same plan is still available at this cost as I got into it about 8 years ago but, they are still honoring the original plan cost) and if you don't use all the time in your account it rolls over to the next year. At this point, I have $280.00 credit on it as I very infrequently use it. I mostly carry it for emergencies.

It works well.

I've even used it to call my cousin in Taxachusetts a couple of times.

Good luck with your search and please let us know what you decide on if you go the prepaid route.

As usual, the guys (and gal) of this forum have responded in a very reasonable manner, with excellent suggestions.

I started to say 'responded in a responsible' manner, but it looked funny (strange, not funny HaHa)

Thanks to everyone for your responses/suggestions.

It may take me a few days to explore all the options listed, but I want each and everyone to know your posts are appreciated.

Thanks.....

My condolences for your loss.

Prepaid is the way to go for a basic phone. For low use I normally suggest T-mobile paygo because a $100 load gets you the 10 cents/min Gold rate and doesn't expire for a year. If you're really low use, a $10 reload in 12 months bumps the expiration date by another year. http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/pay-as-you-go-plans" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

However you said you don't get good coverage with T-mobile. My next suggestion is Verizon prepaid. The cost per minute is higher but Verizon has excellent voice coverage. Ignore the ALLSET plans unless you're a big talker or have a smartphone. Get a basic flip phone at Walmart or Target and sign up for the hidden per-minute plan. http://www.verizonwireless.com/prepaid/pay-as-you-go/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; $100 lasts a year, like T-mobile, but the cost is 25 cents/minute. Another option is the $1.99 daily plan, good if you have one phone call per week with your daughter but the calls average 8 minutes or longer, it's cheaper than the per minute plan.

On the other hand, for someone who talks a lot, and frequently, one of the monthly prepaid plans may be cheaper.