Phone for ds

[bethben]

Since my ds will be attending a larger school one day a week and have to co-ordinate rides with his brother, I am looking into getting a phone for him.  We are with Verizon and they offer a watch that lets you call and receive calls for up to 10 people.  I'm wondering if it's too babyish because he'll be 12.  I am very hesitant to give him a smart phone mostly because he has had some trouble self-regulating with web based devices.  There seems to be no middle ground.  Either you get talk, text, and web access or you get a dumb phone that will only let you call people.  I would just like talk and text.  Can we get just that for him?

[anneinco]

I just talked to Verizon a couple days ago and they do have two flip phones that do allow calls and texts.

 

I want a third phone for the house when I am not here or for my daughter to take when she will be away from home a lot. She's almost 14 but I don't want her having a smart phone yet.

Edited July 28, 2017 by anneinco

[anneinco]

Texting on the number keypad though vs a keyboard...

[bethben]

Texting on the number keypad though vs a keyboard...

I've done that---annoying really.  My friend used to have a phone that had a keypad.  Why don't they make those anymore?

[Alessandra]

 

Since my ds will be attending a larger school one day a week and have to co-ordinate rides with his brother, I am looking into getting a phone for him. We are with Verizon and they offer a watch that lets you call and receive calls for up to 10 people. I'm wondering if it's too babyish because he'll be 12. I am very hesitant to give him a smart phone mostly because he has had some trouble self-regulating with web based devices. There seems to be no middle ground. Either you get talk, text, and web access or you get a dumb phone that will only let you call people. I would just like talk and text. Can we get just that for him?

One suggestion -- used, older model iPhone, 5s or later. Gazelle is reliable, or ask if your friends have leftover phones.

 

If you are concerned about wifi, you can disable iPhones Safari browser and also disable installation of new apps. Go to General, Restrictions, and follow the menu. Then Ds could not access wifi, even when there is free wifi.

 

ATT has a talk, text plan with no data, $30/month, or $25/month with auto pay.

 

One bit of advice -- be aware of what other kids have. In some communities, a flip phone would set a 12 year old apart, and not in a good way. The watch sounds problematic to me. Jmho.

 

I have Verizon too and decided not to add Ds to my plan. First, Verizon has a line access charge, $20/month, iirc AND Ds would use all my 'shared' data, lol.

 

So, just to be clear -- you can make a smart phone a bit dumber in terms of unsupervised Internet, but still have smart phone features like a great camera, plus music and apps (that you have veto power over), there is a middle ground!!

 

HTH

 

ETA

I was curious, saw the watch on the Verizon site, $149. You can get a used iPhone for that price. The watch got great reviews, excellent for little kids. But -- to state the obvious -- your 12 year old will be 13 next year, and so on.

Edited July 29, 2017 by Alessandra

[LucyStoner]

I've done that---annoying really.  My friend used to have a phone that had a keypad.  Why don't they make those anymore?

 

You can still get keypad phones and use them with many pre-paid or pay and you go plans.  My son's first Tracfone was kinda like the old blackberry curve with the qwerty keypad below a screen.  It was made by LG. We bought it new maybe 3 years ago?  It was $40.  I don't see that they still have it, but the old ones can still be used on Tracfone.

 

I used to have a Samsung Gravity and, IIRC, a HTC MyTouch each with the slide out keypad and both can be purchased used online and set up with pay as you go TMobile.  

Edited July 28, 2017 by LucyStoner

[LucyStoner]

One suggestion -- used, older model iPhone, 5s or later. Gazelle is reliable, or ask if your friends have leftover phones.

 

If you are concerned about wifi, you can disable iPhones Safari browser and also disable installation of new apps. Go to General, Restrictions, and follow the menu. Then Ds could not access wifi, even when there is free wifi.

 

ATT has a talk, text plan with no data, $30/month, or $25/month with auto pay.

 

One bit of advice -- be aware of what other kids have. In some communities, a flip phone would set a 12 year old apart, and not in a good way. The watch sounds problematic to me. Jmho.

 

I have Verizon too and decided not to add Ds to my plan. First, Verizon has a line access charge, $20/month, iirc AND Ds would use all my 'shared' data, lol.

 

So, just to be clear -- you can make a smart phone a bit dumber in terms of unsupervised Internet, but still have smart phone features like a great camera, plus music and apps (that you have veto power over), there is a middle ground!!

 

HTH

 

This is good advice.  

[Alessandra]

You can still get keypad phones and use them with many pre-paid or pay and you go plans. My son's first Tracfone was kinda like the old blackberry curve with the qwerty keypad below a screen. We bought it new maybe 3 years ago? It was $40. I don't see that they still have it, but the old ones can still be used on Tracfone.

 

I used to have a Samsung Gravity and, IIRC, a HTC MyTouch each with the slide out keypad and both can be purchased used online and set up with pay as you go TMobile.

 

 

My ds's first phone was a keypad type that cost $29 when we started ATT go phone prepaid. Ds lost and broke so many things at the time that it seemed a good way to go.

 

This is good advice.

 

Thank you.

Edited July 28, 2017 by Alessandra

[Lanny]

I agree with others (and possibly the fear of the OP) that her DS not having a Smart phone might set him apart from his friends, and not in a good way.  Possibly consider an alternative to Verizon: An MVNO   (Virtual provider) like USMOBILE which offers a Cafeteria plan. Want minutes for voice? Pay for that. Want SMS text messages? Pay for them? Want Data? Pay for that.  I think USMobile runs on the T-Mobile network in the USA?      https://www.usmobile.com/

 

 There are many other MVNOs.  I would also suggest the possibility of one of those Samsung Android Smart phones Reg wrote about. His family has a bunch of them and he ended up buying one of those, for his 86 year old mother and putting it into "Easy" mode.  

 

With regard to devices for  texting.  I like to text (although now I do most of it on WhatsApp, which is free) and my favorite Dumb  phone was a Nokia 6800 Messaging Device which had a full QWERTY Keyboard.  It folded out, so it was much bigger than a Keyboard on a Candy Bar style phone like a BlackBerry.  I used it, until our cell phone doctor, who I really consider to be an expert, couldn't fix the connection between the 2 sections of the phone and then I had to replace it.

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

 

 

We used tracphones forever for the kids. They can call/text. We still have and use them but the oldest(17) has a smart phone now.

[solascriptura]

I bought my dd an iPhone, but with a talk and text plan through AT&T. I'm not locked into a plan but it's also not a pay as you go. In order to restrict access I've disabled Safari and her access to the App Store. She has games and can text her friends. She's happy with it and fits in with the other kids. Yes, I know that it's not always good to be like everyone else, but I wanted to ease her way into public school as much as possible. I also don't allow her to have any social media accounts.

[Alessandra]

I bought my dd an iPhone, but with a talk and text plan through AT&T. I'm not locked into a plan but it's also not a pay as you go. In order to restrict access I've disabled Safari and her access to the App Store. She has games and can text her friends. She's happy with it and fits in with the other kids. Yes, I know that it's not always good to be like everyone else, but I wanted to ease her way into public school as much as possible. I also don't allow her to have any social media accounts.

It sounds as though we have the same approach!

[Jkacz]

What about getting him a used iPhone and disabling data (under settings there is a way to turn off data). We just bought older DS who turns 11 this week a smart phone now that he is at the gym 4 days / 12 hours a week. A smart phone had the same $20 access fee as a dumb phone and, as a homeschooler, he is already different from his teammates (who all have smartphones), so I thought this was the best solution. I just told him that he needed our explicit permission to turn on the data.

[SebastianCat]

I also recommend a used iPhone with restrictions so it only calls, texts, and has the apps that you want to allow.   You can also disable the ability to add or delete apps.

 

We have a dumb phone that we use as a spare house phone since getting rid of our landline, and DS used it for a little while before he got a hand-me-down iPhone.  He was on several group chats with friends and the dumb phone made it impossible to follow the sequence of the chat.   The iPhone is 110% better for texting or any kind of messaging.

[LucyStoner]

Our son's iPhone is my husband's old 5s. We do the tracphone plan with a little data- enough so he can use One Bus Away and I can see his phone on find my iPhone. That way, it functions like a kid lo-jack. I have it set so he needs me to enter a password before he installs any app. I don't have Safari off but that's because he doesn't OD on internet time. He knows that his data is minimal so just uses the internet when he's on wifi. If he used it too much or inappropriately, we'd block Safari. We have google wifi so we don't have the wifi accessible from the kids devices after 8pm.

[LucyStoner]

Gazelle has the iPhone 5 for $68 and the 5s for $119 and up. I think the SE is low $200.

Edited July 29, 2017 by LucyStoner

[Spy Car]

Here anyway, phones are the way Middle School students organize their social worlds.

 

Not having a smart phone would definitely put a kid out of the loop (literally).

 

Bill