[JansjoFromIkea]

This might be quite UK centric and is a very dry answer but old smartphones should be donated to asylum seekers.

I remember reading an article a year or so ago about how asylum live on the welfare afforded to them and their phone bills (a necessary expense) were a huge chunk of it, basically all of them paying well more than I do on my PAYG for similar service. What I see must be the issue is that, without a phone of their own, the cheapest short term option is to sign up for an option that provides a phone.

This immediately limits them from the ultra low budget GiffGaff/Asda/etc type options and will very frequently tie them down to a much less budget friendly carrier if not straight into a contract.

[rhcom2]

For the colonies there is https://securethecall.org/

"Secure the Call is a 501(c)(3) charity that provides free 911 emergency-only cell phone to Domestic Violence Centers, Senior Citizen Centers, Police and Sheriff departments."

[slavoingilizov]

I don't understand this. If their problem is that they HAVE TO use Giffgaff, I can't sympathise with that - I use it myself and love the service Giffgaff provides.

So this doesn't make sense to me - it doesn't feel they're forced into a corner at all. I'd rather sell the phone and donate money to asylum-seeker supporting charities.

[JansjoFromIkea]

Nah, you misread.

Their problem is that they _can't_ use SIM only options as they need a phone (potentially multiple) too, so it's cheaper in the immediate term to sign up to a £15-20 a month plan that provides a (really crappy) phone than a similar £7 a month one which doesn't.

Of course, on a purely rational level seeing as we're talking about iPhones as opposed to just phones in general, the best option would be sell the iPhone and use the proceeds from it to buy and donate multiple cheaper (but sturdy) Androids