@variablepulserate In Australia 2G/EDGE is long gone, all three networks abandoned it at the suggestion of the regulatory authority, aka ACCC. It won’t be long before 3G is closed, too.
I had a similar dilemna with my late mother. I had considered a Nokia 3310 3G device (the modern one) but it was too flash for her. I eventually settled on a Telstra-branded ZTE flip phone that’s nigh on indestructible, a friend had given it to me when his wife upgraded to an iPhone.