It shouldn’t need restarting once set up. It may need a reboot once a fortnight, but it should do that itself. Why do you say it needs restarting?
As far as your more general point goes, it’s an awkward one and I can see both sides of the argument.
The old analogue phone system is now of an age where it is starting to fall apart, and no one makes spares for the equipment anymore. So, what do we do? Just wait for it to stop working altogether or start updating it?
90’s admittedly is getting on, so I would have thought it appropriate for a tech to be sent out, to set it up for her. Once set up, it should work like the old phone. Mine was no different to the old phone once up and running.
If you’ve not already done so, it might be worth contacting BT and registering her as vulnerable. I believe a tech would have been assigned automatically if she was already registered. (I might be wrong on that, though).
Then again, a lot of older people do cope quite well with this. My own mother passed at 87, but she was quite capable of pulling down recipes off the internet and sending emails etc. Admittedly, if something needed fixing that would be my job. But then again even I’m an OAP. And I know young people that have more difficulty with this than mum would have done.
I think it is difficult to know what to do for the best in these situations as it varies with the individual. I hope you get it resolved soon.
