When did having a smartphone become compulsory?

I love my doro. The doro tablet can be used for parking. You’ll need to upgrade your phone to a 4g one because your phone will stop working soon.

Personally I’d go for a doro 7080 and a doro tablet.

I have been offered second hand smart phones by various young members of my extended family - but how much a year will it cost me to hook it up to the internet?
I am 84 and don't have much money - if this goes on I'll soon become housebound.
I'm sure ordinarygirl and I are not alone.

A SIM card only contract should not cost too much and you generally get free phone calls, texts, WhatsApp etc.
Have a look at a price comparison site and you might be pleasantly surprised.

£8 a month for instance.
Not advertising, other providers are available

Depends on how much data and add-on services you’d want.

For example, I pay a tenner a month on a 10GB SIM only contract, but that includes free roaming in Europe, worth it to me since I’m there quite often.

My other half is with 02, gets 5GB data, and limited Europe roaming for £5 a month.

Money Saving Expert has providers priced by GB amounts www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheap-mobile-finder/sim-only/

or you could look at USwitch, or Compare the Market.

MayBee70

I don’t have a smart phone ( can’t even use the phone I do have) but use my iPad for everything. It broke down last week and I couldn’t function….contacting people, buying things, paying bills, reading the news. But I’ve realised I need to get a good phone and learn how to use it. But they’re @ £1000 and I assume I’ll have to pay a monthly fee too?

I think you will only need to pay that for a pretty "upmarket" phone.
My husband has this work bought an iPhone - 18 maths old I think for £350.
I bought a Samsung last year, directly from Samsung. I chose an A52s which is excellent for me. Samsung have regular offers on and as I bought a screen protector for £9 (buy 2 products and get 30% off) I got a massive discount - and used a voucher code too (and Quidco). It came to about £230 in the end.

There are android smartphones new for under £50