Am I nuts to consider sharing cell phone minutes with my daughter?

[NancyIL]

My oldest daughter (19) will be getting a car this summer, and I want her to have a cell phone. It would cost $60 per month to share 400 anytime/unlimited night & weekend minutes (plus unlimited family calling) if I add her to my Verizon account. That's only 100 more anytime minutes than I have now on my $35 plan, but it's the cheapest way for her to have coverage at home and during the school year in Texas. Or, should she have her own $35/300-minute plan with Verizon? Basically, is it hard to keep track of shared cell phone minutes between family members?

 

[browneyes]

My SO and I share 500 anytime and 5000 nights/weekeend minutes. We have tons of rollover minutes each month from the 500 anytime minutes. If I shared my cell phone minutes with my dd, I'd be out of minutes within 2 weeks at the most though, and she's only 11 years old.

 

[sue1013]

Since she is away at school I would get her own plan. If you go over the minutes the charges are huge. My son shares minutes with me but he's still at home in hs, next year when he goes away to school I'll get his own.

 

[nowellsl]

I share minutes with my DD (19). We have verizon also. We have 600 anytime minutes and 1000 mobile to mobile, free nights and weekends. I don't use mine much but my daughter does! We haven't gone over our minutes yet, you can call a number and find out how many minutes have been used, or check on-line (register for an on-line account) Do you use all your minutes now? If so you can purchase extra minutes to add to your plan. The good thing about the mobile to mobile minutes is that we can call anyone on verizon and it doesn't count against our anytime minutes.

 

[NancyIL]

Originally posted by nowellsl
I share minutes with my DD (19). We have verizon also. We have 600 anytime minutes and 1000 mobile to mobile, free nights and weekends. I don't use mine much but my daughter does! We haven't gone over our minutes yet, you can call a number and find out how many minutes have been used, or check on-line (register for an on-line account) Do you use all your minutes now? If so you can purchase extra minutes to add to your plan. The good thing about the mobile to mobile minutes is that we can call anyone on verizon and it doesn't count against our anytime minutes.

Verizon's family share plans have changed a bit. Instead of 1000 mobile to mobile minutes, you get unlimited calling to anyone with Verizon on the primary line, and unlimited calling between the shared phones. I have gotten close to my 300 anytime minutes on a few occasions. Two 300-minute plans at $35 each are the same price as one 500-minute shared plan. Hmmm.

 

[nowellsl]

Yes, we could have switched to the new plan but we would have lost some of our anytime minutes and those are the ones my daughter uses the most! So we're staying with the 600 anytime minutes. Luckily her boyfriend has verizon so those come out of the mobile to mobile minutes! If I were you though I think I would get your daughter her own plan! Same price - more minutes.

 

[grinningghost]

If I can share them with my 14 year old, you should probably be OK with a 19 year old. We've been sharing minutes for about 9 months and so far, she's been good about it - and she LOVES to talk on the phone.

 

[shleybird]

We have a 3 way family plan from T-Mobile. 1600 anytime minutes, free nights and weekends, T-Mobile to T Mobile phone calls free, free long distance, for 99.00 per month. My 19 y/o daughter, my mother and I, all have a phone. It has worked great for us. I am the primary user for work, but with my mother having a phone I now have no long distance charges on my home phone, and we can talk all the time. It really is nice to be able to call her in Florida just to see whats for dinner.

 

[mainewmn]

Don’t forget you can also check the status of how menu minutes you use on line from with Verizon.

 

[Marla Hellwig]

No clue here Nancy - but wanted to say HEY - long time no see

 

[Flyfly_Eclipse]

My mom and I (I'm 16) share minutes...but she made it known that the phone was for emergencies, and to keep in contact with her, or keeping in contact with someone I'm supposed to meet up with somewhere. I rarely use it for anything else...there are exceptions of course, and have had over 20 minutes for a phone call, but because I don't do it regularly, it's not a big deal.

And we haven't yet gone over our plan's minutes (can't remember plan ATM though). We go through Alltel. Dumped Verizon after they gave us crap.

 

[NancyIL]

Originally posted by Marla Hellwig
No clue here Nancy - but wanted to say HEY - long time no see

Hi, Marla!!!! Hope to see you at a DIS meet one of these days!

 

[Keli]

If you get free mobile to mobile either way then I would go with getting her her own plan (more anytime minutes at the same price) but if you only get the free mobile to mobile by adding her to your own plan then that's what I would do because you will rack up the minutes calling her when she's at college, at least the first semester or so.

I share minutes with my 19 yr. dd and she uses quite a few minutes while I use virtually none (I go whole days without my phone ever ringing, lol). If I used my phone much I'm sure we would go over our allotted 500 anytime minutes.

 

[NancyIL]

Thanks, everyone! Still not sure what I'll do, but leaning towards letting her share my minutes, and having her use a prepaid calling card (as she does already) if she needs to make long-winded calls on weekdays.

 

[powellrj]

my son and I shared minutes with my cell phone when he was still in the states in the Army. It was much cheaper than having to get a plan for him no longer than he stays anyplace. I gave him 200 minutes a month, plus he could use all the nights and weekend minutes he wanted. It really worked well for us. If you are still unsure, what about a virgin or a trac phone so there is no contract to worry about.

 

[crazelion]

Me and Mom share 500 minutes and 5000 nights and weekends. We have moblie to moblie calls is free to.

We rarely go over our minutes. I checked online to see how many minutes we have left.

 

[daughter_of_amid_chaos]

I share with my mom and we don't have a problem.
We have 400 shared anytime minutes, unlimited nights and weekends, and mobile to mobile is free.