I always keep Google Store deactivated. It did automatic updates and that took alot from my 250 MB pre-paid

Many phone packages now include SMS's (usually a 1,000 a month) so that may be more reliable if you're having any connectivity problems.

Alternatively, there is also Viber. It has a messaging service and a free viber to viber calling service Though not relevant to this thread, it is also possible to make very cheap mobile to landline calls.

The only thing I find slightly sad, is you no longer speak to each other on a daily basis (maybe you do, just not before 9am). I enjoy speaking to friends on a daily basis but so often find more and more we message or send voice messages. Shame really.

Simply stopping the app won't stop it from restarting; disabling it, if you can (normally needs root access), would mean you can't download any new apps. Better by far to simply turn off automatic updates.

Go into Google Play Store, choose Settings, Auto-update Apps, Don't update (or Update only over wifi if for some reason you do want updates without asking for them). Simples.

To me looks like network issue, other app would have same problem then.

Such a nice idea. I would suggest adding one more step, if there is no message by 9 UHr then turn off and on network connection(wifi or mobile data) in mobile.

So I dug up the information, there are two options:

Limmex - one off cost for the watch: 400CHF and then 29CHF per month


Smartwatcher - one off for the watch: 300 - 400CHF and then 30CHF per month

Hope this is of use to someone.

My mother-on-law uses the Limmex system and it works very well. She is in her 90s, so we've had a few call outs at this stage. On one occasion mid morning when all her neighbours were out and the service dispatched an ambulance and police, which arrived about 10 minutes after she fell in the kitchen. So I can definitely recommend it.

__________________
"There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living." - Nelson Mandela

Okay, fair enough. Let me try a different way. Here follow a number of posts setting out some of the background, and perhaps this will help you understand more of it, before your grandchildren visit to help you.

Please forgive me if I’m repeating parts you already know and command perfectly well.

To be able to make regular phonecalls with your phone, you must have a SIM Card. That’s the little plastic card with an embedded electronic chip on it. It slides into the back or side of the phone at the start, and you don’t need to see it again because it is covered by the casing. The SIM Card is what gives you your phone number.


Some SIM Cards are “pre-paid”.
That means you load them up, pay-as-you-go, buying in each next amount of phone credit, as you go along, according to what you need.
Metaphor: This can be compared to having a pre-paid electricity meter and a pre-paid water meter: you can use up your credit as quickly or as sparingly as you choose, and when it runs out, it’s over. Then you have none, until you buy some more and top up your credit again.


Other SIM Cards are known as “flat rate” or “subscription” or “contract”.
That means that you have subscribed (= committed to) a certain amount/stregth of the service, recurring automatically for a certain period, typically each month.
Some less expensive “flat rate subscriptions” do have an upper limit.
Metaphor: This can be compared to a library ticket that entitles you to take out 8 books per month, each month anew. If you stay within that limit of usage, it’s all fine. Some “flat rate subscriptions” are strictly capped and just go dead once you’ve reached the limit, and you can’t do anything more for the rest of that month. No 9th book for you, ever; it's just not possible. That’s not very usual, though. With other subscriptions, if you exceed the regular part of the subscription, you’ll pay extra costs, (from the 9th book onwards, as it were), sometimes rather a lot.

The deluxe “flat rate subscriptions” allow unlimited use, or very nearly so.
Metaphor: This can be compared to the Swiss railways annual travel card.


Which is better: pre-paid or subscription?
There’s a lot of discussion about this, and of course it’s different for every individual user's habits and requirements.
Some find that pre-paid are cheaper and help them to keep their budget, especially if they don’t use the phone or the internet much.
Others find that subscriptions keep their finances stable and are more convenient. The main disadvantage of pre-paid is the potential for running out, just when one needs to be in touch with someone.

Metaphor: The reason I drew the comparison to an electricity meter and a water meter is that you need two types of credit: one is called “airtime” and the other is called “data”.


What is "airtime"used for?
Airtime gets used up with regular phonecalls and sms.


What is "data"used for?
Data gets used up by being connected to the internet: anything you look up on a website, being on a forum, watching a film online, and also using WhatsApp.


Since you probably make regular phonecalls, but also use WhatsApp, you need both “airtime” and “data”.


How to you get "airtime" and "data"?

• If you are using pre-paid, then you can buy “airtime” and “data” (typically from a kiosk), each separately as you need them, and you can then top up your credit of each onto your phone, by typing a code from your kiosk receipt, into your phone.
• If you are using a subscription, it will typically have a pre-defined amount of “airtime” and “data” included, for each month, for which you pay a flat monthly fee, according to a contract.

There is another way to be connected to the internet.
Instead of using your own “data”, your phone can connect to the internet by Wifi.


What is Wifi?

Wifi is a way for your phone, (and other pieces of equipment such as your pc or your television) to be connected to the internet.

Wifi is an installation in your home, (an “internet line” if you will).


How do you get Wifi?
Similarly to how a landline telephone connection had to be installed and plugged in, so, too, someone needs to set up the Wifi (using the relevant box and cables and plugs).

To have Wifi at home, you will have to get a contract to a Wifi subscription, which will cost you a monthly fee. This is a separate service and fee from your phone's "pre-paid" or your phone's "subscription".


What are the advantages of Wifi?

• Wifi is usually much faster than your phone could manage when using its own "data".
• Whenever your phone is using Wifi, it does not need to use up your "data" credit.
• A Wifi subscription typcially allows more or less permanent access to the internet throughout the day and night, at no extra charge (over and above your monthly Wifi fee).
• With a Wifi connection, you can connect several different pieces of equipment, including phone, pc and television, and use them all at once.

You can use your own Wifi at home, if you have it.

With their permission, you can also set your phone to connect to someone else’s Wifi. Some restaurants, libraries and hospitals offer this for free. To use it, you ask a staff member for the Wifi code, type that into your phone, and you are connected.

Your phone is versatile. It can connect to the internet using up the “data”, but it can also connect to the internet through the air, through the Wifi, instead. You can choose which way your phone connects to the internet, by learning how to switch this on and off. That's good, because sometimes you need to be connected to the internet in a place where there is no wifi.

Whatsapp

WhatsApp lets you send written messages, spoken voice messages, and to make calls.
Those feel the same as an sms, a message left on an answering machine, and a phonecall.

The big difference between WhatsApp on one hand, and phonecalls and sms on the other:

• for an sms, a message left on an answering machine, and a phonecall

• you don’t need to be connected to the internet
• you use “airtime”.

• to use Whatsapp,

• you must be connected to the internet
• you use up “data” (or not, if you are connected through Wifi).

The main reason to use regular phonecalls and sms:

• one is independent of the need of any connection to the internet.

The main reasons to use WhatsApp:

• “data” is typically cheaper than “airtime”,
• you can use WhatsApp when connected to the the internet via Wifi (thereby spending no "data" and no "airtime")
• it is quick to send photos.

What could go wrong, to prevent your and your friend’s successful WhatsApp communication?
Either your phone or her phone or both:

1. The battery could be down.
This can be a result of a habitual behaviour. If, for example, someone is watching videos for ages in bed and falls asleep without charging the phone, nothing will work in the morning.
Solution: charge the phone.


2. The phone could be charged, but switched off.
Solution: switch the phone on.

Why would anyone ever switch off the phone?
a) To have some peace and quiet
b) To avoid disturbing others, e.g. in a concert, or on a flight
c) To conserve the battery charge.


3. The “data” could be used up.
Solution for pre-paid:
a) Connect to the internet via Wifi, instead of by using “data”.
b) Go and buy some more “data” credit, and load it onto your phone, or
c) Phone someone else who has agreed to do this on your behalf. From wherever they are, using their phone and their credit card, they can load a new amount of “data” credit onto your phone. (This works for “airtime”, too.)

Solution for a subscription:
a) Connect to the internet via Wifi, instead of by using “data”.
b) Teach yourself to use the “data” allowance of your subscription more frugally or evenly, so that there is always enough left throughout the month for your morning WhatsApp, or
c) Consider getting a bigger, stronger (and probably but not always more expensive) subscription which will give you more freedom.

4. The “data” could be sufficient, but switched off.
Solution: Switch on the data. How? This will be different from phone to phone. But essentially, somewhere in the “settings”, or in an easily accessible first visible screen (you could ask your grandchildren to show you where), there is a switch to switch the “mobile data” on or off.


Why would anyone ever want to switch the “data” off and on?
To be in control of how quickly it is used up.

You see, some services on the phone run in the background, even when you are not busy using the phone.
One of these background services is the so-called “updates”. Each little programme used on the phone gets modernised (by the programmers) to correct errors or to provide an improvement. The new version is called an “update”. Whenever a next “update” is ready (and there are lots and lots of them, frequently!), your phone will be sent a signal, and then the phone will automatically receive these updates.
For your phone to receive the “updates”, it must must be connected to the internet, either through Wifi or by using up some of your “data” (it doesn’t matter which).

Solution for pre-paid and for subscription:
a) Ask your grandson or granddaughter to tell the phone, permanently, to do the “updates” ONLY when connected to the internet through Wifi. With that set, your phone will never use up your “data” to do the updates.
b) Find out whether you have Wifi at home.
c) Find out if there is free Wifi in a restaurant or library you frequently visit.
d) Learn how to switch your phone’s connection to Wifi on and off.
e) Learn how to switch the “data” on and off.
f) Whenever you are connected to the internet by Wifi, keep the “data” switched off.
g) If you have a subscription, find out if it is perhaps already so big and strong that it really doesn’t matter if all the updates run while using up your “data”.

@Busby,
if this doesn't help you, then please just click past it, okay? Of course, I don't know you, so I can't be sure whether this is perhaps way below your level of knowledge, or way beyond.

With all electronic devices, some of the most common questions asked by the staff of support helplines are:

1. Is it plugged in?
2. If applicable, is it charged?
3. Is it switched on?
4. Have you tried switching it off, waiting 10 seconds, and switching it on again?
5. Did you write down what I explained to you last time you called, and try it out?

Question 4. is not just a clever trick of the helpline staff to get the distraught caller to do something else besides rave, for 12 seconds. It can, really, give the electronic device a chance to start up again, and then Get It Right, and is worth trying.

With regard to Question 5., if anyone teaches you some commands to type into your phone, then I recommend taking the time to write down the exact steps. The person who knows how to do this easily may overlook an interim step, or may not readily have the patience to wait while I jot it down. I've found it useful, though, when I learn/teach a completely new part of it all, to write down the steps properly, and then - before the helper leaves - to switch the whole thing off, and we start again, but with the learning person doing it strictly according to his/her own notes. If it doesn't work, that often reveals the gap in the instructions, and we can augment them.

I know that I haven't, of course, addressed your actual question, but only mentioned some common things that can go wrong and solutions to try, to get a clean base, as it were. In any case, I offer you these texts simply as a bit of background, so that, if nothing else, you may be better equipped (it if helps) for the conversations with your grandchildren.

There must be a ghost in the machine.


doropfiz about one hour ago I posted a very heartfelt thanks for the trouble you went to with all that wealth of information.
Now, checking in case of further responses I see that my thanks haven't gone through to EF either.


Odd.

Is there sleep involved somewhere? For example, her phone cuts its data connection or certain hours, or her router cuts internet access at certain times? Maybe her phone has background data disabled and the phone only reconnects when she starts using the phone again. These are just examples. Exactly what phone does she have?

So much advice that for sure has overwhelmed the OP. Totally exaggerated. Certainly it's just a simple thing and requires a simple solution!

Overwhelmed is the right word omtatsat, but really in a positive sense. The wealth of information, advice and suggestions have bowled me over.


I'm going to live with this problem now until my grandchildren get around to looking at the whole thing, whereby old granddad can now slyly insert a couple of problem-fitting questions!

Why dont you send message with WhatsApp to a Whats App user on EF to see if any delay. And get the same person to send you a message using WhatsApp?See what happens.

I think you are trying to find a good raison to install a webcam