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Phone for a child--what kind? Pay-as-you-go? On your plan?


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If you have a phone for a child (the "emergency contact only" type phone), what kind did you get? I'm thinking of a pay-as-you-go phone, but DH is looking up all these specially designed plans with $200 startup costs and ridiculous monthly fees. He kind of mumbles and pooh-poohs me when I mention something like a Tracfone, so I'm wondering if that sort of thing even exists anymore!

 

Can you educate me on what you have and whether it works or not? We only need a very basic phone and minimal minutes, since it won't be for chatting or texting.

 

TIA!

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WE took our old phones when we upgraded and had them made into At&T Go phones. Go to Walmart or Target and get one of the $15 phones and go to an At&T store and they will do it all for you. Tracfone and the other brands will work just as well too. Our policy is that the phones stay put up and turned off unless they are going somewhere a parent decides they need a phone for. This is mainly to keep my almost 6yo from playing with them since he cannot resist pushing buttons.

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It's only $9.99 to add additional lines to our family plan.

There's some taxes, making it about $15.

The phone itself is free when agreeing to the 2 year contract (depending on which phone you pick, we picked the free one, lol).

 

Texting is $30 for the whole family.

The rate plan did not change as we were already on the family rate plan, and we barely touch those minutes anyway so no worry about overage. If that was a worry, that would be a rule that DS's pay for any overage he creates.

 

So to have the $15 a month for DS13's phone... I don't see it getting any cheaper on any pay-as-you-go thing...and add to that the inconvienence of having to "pay as you go".

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We just added a phone onto our existing plan. I think it's an extra $10 a month without all of the bells and whistles, and extra $15 if you add texting.

 

I do have to put a plug in for it though... with texts. I like the comfort of knowing they can get in touch with me, or me with them, if they are away from me for any reason (play date, sports, etc).

 

It paid for itself the first time my older DD texted me to come pick her up because she was uncomfortable hanging out with her friends after cross-country practice let out early. She mentioned that she would have been embarrassed to have had to have called me in front of her team mates. Whether her feelings were justified or not (who can really know what goes through a tweens mind??) I'm glad she could surreptitiously text so that I could come pick her up.

 

Just my 2 cents worth. :tongue_smilie:

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My daughter has a Tracfone which she maintains herself. I am impressed by the coverage. She was a wise shopper and paid for a phone that would give her lifetime double minutes. She is a mad texter, but I think she only spends 20 a month on her phone. You could get by with less if you don't use it as much.

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It's only $9.99 to add additional lines to our family plan.

There's some taxes, making it about $15.

The phone itself is free when agreeing to the 2 year contract (depending on which phone you pick, we picked the free one, lol).

 

Texting is $30 for the whole family.

The rate plan did not change as we were already on the family rate plan, and we barely touch those minutes anyway so no worry about overage. If that was a worry, that would be a rule that DS's pay for any overage he creates.

 

So to have the $15 a month for DS13's phone... I don't see it getting any cheaper on any pay-as-you-go thing...and add to that the inconvienence of having to "pay as you go".

 

 

this is similar to what we did. I think they were running a special, $5/mo with a $49 phone. We got her one when she was 6 or 7 so they could continue to visit Gramma, who was in the early stages of Alzheimer's. Because of the great deal, we haven't dropped it. To restart it would cost a fortune!

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Our kids got trac phones when they needed them to contact us. They didn't use them for anything else when they were young teens. I would get a phone and call it the family phone and just give it to him to use when he needs it.

 

Ditto---our kids got $10 Tracfones when they needed them. I put a one year card (about $100/year) on them, always watching for deals to get the most minutes. This includes texting. When they wanted upgraded Tracfones they paid for them or asked for them as gifts.

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We have two go phones from AT&T. We put $25 on every three months. Out of that amount we put $4.99 month for 200 texts. Calls are 10c per minute. If we renew the texting every month, the unused texts roll over. We purchaed refurbished phones with querty keyboard online for $25 each. So we spend $100 per year on the phones. We don't have data and the boys are not big texters.

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I have my Verizon family plan full, too, so bought our youngest a phone from a used place, a cool phone, and got him some time with PagePlus. Free to get account. Free to try it and see if you get good coverage. Free phone number changes till you get a number Mr. Picky likes. Lots of plans, he's not talking to anyone much, just texting. I got him a $25 "pin" and he's still using that up, 2 1/2 months later. He can't send picture texts on this plan, they'd be expensive, but that's not his thing. My other son and parents-in-law are almost out of contract, so I'll be free of being locked into Verizon soon. I bought husband a phone used, off internet also, and lucked out both times, got 'like new' phones, and, if one gets lost or broken, I'm not signing my life away to get a replacement. I can just buy another...cheaper than the extra insurance used to cost. Kitty Cellular resells for PagePlus, too. I don't know if other companies have secondary sales like this, but Verizon is the best coverage in my area, so this reseller is great. I think I'm calling them the right thing, they use Verizon phones, towers etc.

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