Verizon Offers Seniors a Plan of Their Own
Tue Sep 11, 2007 7:34AM EDT
See Comments (6)
Get out your AARP cards. Verizon is introducing its Coupe, an inexpensive simple phone with a button to dial 911 and three programmable emergency buttons, its first entry into the senior market.
The phone costs just $19.95 with a two-year contract. The contract, designed for both single and family, are not for Chatty Cathy. The America's Choice 65 Plus Single Line plan offers 200 anytime minutes and 500 night and weekend minutes for $29.99 per month. The America's Choice 65 Plus Two Line Plan offers 450 shared anytime minutes and 1,000 night and weekend minutes for $59.99 monthly access.
The phone's standout feature is three red buttons that sit just below the screen. They read I-C-E (that's not grandma's screen name; it stands for "In Case of Emergency"). One button is for 911 and the others are for you to program. The phone design includes large white keys, a clamshell design (no ringing in the pocketbook), and color coding on controls like volume and battery. Tools include a tip calculator, alarm clock, calendar, and world clock. The display, as best as I can tell from photos, is no better or worse than your average cell phone, replete with cryptic icons. This could pose problems for seniors.
The only other phone that specifically targets the senior population is Jitterbug from GreatCall. It too stresses simplicity. It offers a special phone service that's senior-friendly. Comparatively, Verizon's offering is less expensive, but also less robust. If Jitterbug is the Rolls Royce of senior phones, then Verizon is the Chevy Coupe.
What do graying cell phone legions really want? According to a study by iGR, only 50 percent of the senior population has a cell phone today. Another 10 percent falls into the "don't have one but want one" category. The other 40 percent is uninterested—at least in the current crop. The study finds that seniors want functionality like camera phones and location based Internet browsing but don't want them to be complex. You can order the full study from iGR.
Why Verizon named the phone the Coupe is a mystery to me. Drop the "e" and you get a revolution. Pronounce it the way Americans do and you're a trapped chicken. Nice to see more companies paying attention to the needs of the growing senior population, though.
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2 Posted by ocean1228@verizon.net on Tue Sep 18, 2007 5:51AM EDT Report Abuse
Hey I am not a SENIOR but I really could use a more simply phone! Age 44! Sounds great to me too! With 2 very active kids in tow I could use the bigger buttons, one button to push to call my husband and an emergency ICE number ! I took the kids age 4 and 7 to there first NHL Hockey game earlier this year. The tickets were for a night game (hey they were free) - so I took the T train. When we were walking out of the game to the T train I was so nervous walking alone with the boys! I kept my phone programed to my husbands number -- and just ready to push talk if I needed to. Everything ended up fine -- just nervous Mom walking in dark to 2 little ones. But walking with an open phone -- holding 2 kids hands and bustling through crowds of people was just a pain. So this phone sounds great! Not Senior but I want this phone too!
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3 Posted by michaelshows on Tue Sep 18, 2007 5:43PM EDT Report Abuse
My dad is 60. He's worked in the tech industry most of his life, doing software. All he wants is a phone with big buttons and MAYBE an address book. To tell the truth, that's really all I need too. Why don't they make a phone like this? Simple, reliable, big buttons for seniors. The phone mentioned sounds like a good start though, and the ICE idea is a good one. Jitterbug is a crock. Who wants to go to a no-name service provider just to get a phone with big buttons? There is going to be a market for phones like this. I wish they would stop adding cameras and GPS locators and internet and garbage you don't need. Sell the service not the phone.
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4 Posted by johnnyt39 on Sun Nov 4, 2007 6:41AM EST Report Abuse
My spouse and I have a Jitterbug which is used in the Atlanta area, and I bought it for the simplicity of the thing. There are some coverage problems here, but my wife likes it. Generally it works fine with her problem of arthritis. Although retired, I still teach some college classes down the road. I carry her phone. Often the battery dies, and there is a major problem of the phone getting through. BUT- The stuff online about Jitterbug customer service being terrible is so true. Just assume it almost does not exist. I question their charges on minutes, and certain features advertised do not exist. When Verizon comes out with a similar simple phone, and the COUPE is not it, Jitterbug will be out of business. To be honest, I am going back to Verizon this week with a Nokia. I miss snapshooting my grandson too much!Grandma keeps the Jitterbug! I NEVER had a Verizon issue that was not quickly looked after. As a footnote, I tried an email alternative to Jitterbug to resolve a credit card issue on last month's billing. (The phoned-in wait time for customer service is basically...forever.) Two days later, no email response! Oh, you cannot get a statement of minutes! At least, I could not! So, beware of Jitterbug customer service.. Otherwise, to quote a noted correspondant, GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK!
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5 Posted by phdesque on Fri Jan 11, 2008 6:55PM EST Report Abuse
The Coupe is NOT a good phone for seniors either. The buttons are way too small and the voice activation feature does not work. The Verizon customer service technical people said that the voice activation software is not very good and you need to "train" the phone to recognize the names, unfortunately the phone seems un-trainable. Also the speaker is easily covered over so you can't hear the person speaking. In addition, the buttons on the side are not good for an older person with limited dexterity. And the instruction book is so poorly written, it took me quite a while to figure out how to do anything with it and I am pretty computer savvy. I think they need some new technical writers. Do I need to say more? We are returning the phone for a refund and my mom is going back to her ancient old cell phone. Glad to hear about the problem with the Jitterbug because we were going to try that out.
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1 Posted by renate_schuch on Sun Sep 16, 2007 9:14AM EDT Report Abuse
why dont they have that in Canada or do they, anybody knows