Anyone use SAFEEYES for the computer--What for a CELLPHONE??

[princess crazy]

Was wondering if anyone here uses this program and do you like it--most importantly where and what is the best price I can get it at??? Retail or online??

Is it easy to use and keep track of what your kids are doing online with this??

Also, DD 12 wants a cellphone because of course she is the only one who doesn't have one--I know she would like to text--I would only let her do this a little--there would be a limit--and calling she probably would not do alot of. Really at this point I am only doing this for her mostly for safety purposes and in case there was an emergency --she was in a bad spot and I wasn't there she could call---and I know we all lived without a phone but that's where things are right now and we would like to get her a very basic phone for xmas. Don't want to spend alot of money but do want to give her a little bit more freedom to be able to text. We have verizon service but I think it would be too much to add a phone. What about the pay as you go phones--I know Walmart has a selection but I don't know where to start?

MOST IMPORTANTLY--is there a program for the cell phone like safe eyes for the computer so I can monitor who she is talking to??? Or can I somehow have the info of who she is texting sent to my computer?? We very much trust our DD but in these days you can never be too safe. Thanks for your help

 

[msmayor]

When my kids were that age they too wanted phones...and I told them they would get one when they truly needed one. It really wasn't until they were in high school and out with friends in an area where a phone WASN'T available to them that I allowed them to have one.

Almost any cell phone plan will give you access to the call and text records so you can see the numbers. For pay-as-you-go phones, this is probably available only on-line (this was how my daughter's first Virgin Mobile phone worked). From the numbers, you need to find out from your daughter who those numbers belong to. Most reverse-look ups don't have cell phones available. I am not aware of any program available to put on a phone that will provide information about the calls/texts.

As far as text messaging, realize that texting is something VERY easy to go overboard on as a teen. Without some sort of unlimited text plan, the cost of texts can really add up. Virgin Mobile charged $0.05 per text sent OR received under a discount plan...so 20 texts per dollar. To put that in perspective: my daughter averages 800 per month, my son in the neighborhood of 2,000 per month. If we didn't have an unlimited plan that would be about $140 in one month for texts. If you opt not to get an unlimited plan (I pay $20/month for unlimited texting on all four of the phones under my plan) then you need to set definite boundaries for your daughter on how many texts she can send and receive.

 

[SandrA9810]

Texting can add up fast, and the younger they are, the better at it they get. I started off with 400 messages on each line. It was enough to get me and Kari by. Then when we started working a lot, it was easier to text to each other because we could respond when we went on break. Then our friend LOVES to text, he rarely talks on the phone. I managed 700 messages in the first ten days of our billing cycle... so I called AT&T to upgrade to unlimited for the whole family, 30$. And Kari, who doesn't like to text.... has over 500 for last month.

Remember, it's counted as 1 whether you send or recieve.

And you can always add on a line to your plan, it will be a 2 year contract for that line, so it'll expire differently than the original. Say your plan started june 2008, it expires june 2010. You get a phone for her now, dec 2009, it'll expire dec 2011. So you would have to renew your plan june 2010 to avoid paying early termination fees.

Some of the new phones allow connection to a computer so you can transfer and save texts and pictures from the phone. Kari has this with her Sony Walkman phone. And you can take her phone each night and transfer the data, but if it's deleted off her phone during the day, it wouldn't be there at night to transfer.

I didn't have a cell phone till I was 18, and my first PC when I was 16. Sure I felt like the ONLY one without... but when she gets older, she realize it's really not that big of a deal. There's worst things in life to whine over.

 

[princess crazy]

Thanks for the responses on the cellphone--I know it's not the end of the world if she doesn't have one and we haven't really decided yet if we are for sure going to get her one. She definitely would have limited time on it though so I'm trying to figure out what the cheapest plan would/could be.

Still wondering if anyone here has used safe eyes and did you like it --was it easy to use?? It says it is for use up to 3 computers. Thanks

 

[GalDisney]

You can get a virgin mobile phone and service. They have inexpensive phones and voice minutes for as low as ten cents per minute and they also have low cost texting .

 

[sholditch]

There is a version of Safe Eyes for the iPhone and iPod Touch, called Safe Eyes Mobile. It's available in the app store or you can get it at internetsafety.com

 

[SandrA9810]

There is a version of Safe Eyes for the iPhone and iPod Touch, called Safe Eyes Mobile. It's available in the app store or you can get it at internetsafety.com

What parent who would be using safe eyes buy their child an Iphone??? It seems like an oxymoron if you ask me.

Plus I think 200$ for a phone, and minimum 40$ unlimited data/message package would work for this person.

 

[Blue.Fairy2]

What parent who would be using safe eyes buy their child an Iphone??? It seems like an oxymoron if you ask me.

Plus I think 200$ for a phone, and minimum 40$ unlimited data/message package would work for this person.

Not sure I understand that.

you can get a refurbished iphone for as low as $49 when refurbished ones are available.

Right now the apple store has the iphone 3g for $99

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone

unlimited text here is $20 individual plan and the data plan runs $30

 

[lovetoscrap]

OP-- Someone on the DIS recommended the Kajeet Cell phones and we have one now for DD14 and I LOVE it!

The company was created for parents and kids. There are all sorts of parent controls that you access online on their site. You can control when the phone is being used, and what numbers is can and can not call. You put in your phone number so even during the hours you have the phone set to "off" they can still call home or your cell or whatever numbers you designate in case of emergency. You can even control what calls you pay for and which ones they have to pay for!

They have several reasonably priced plans to choose from and some offer unlimited texting-- your best option for kids these days! I was lucky and they were offering a special of $20 for unlimited texts and 150 call mins per month. They also sell the phones-- DD opted for the $20 model because she had to pay for it herself!

There isn't a way to see what the content of the texts are unless you have the phone but you can certainly limit the phone numbers she can text with. And in my house I am able to request the phone at anytime to review texts and see what is going on. Just the way the rules work in our house.

I really recommend these phones! www.kajeet.com

 

[locolala]

I'm not sure as to what to do on the cell phone, as we didn't have them until we were old enough to pay for them ourselves. On the computer issue, we were monitored while playing. We had a parent in the room any time we were using the computer, there was a password set and we couldn't get on unless a parent signed us on. There's really no big need for a 12 year old to be online other than doing research for school or playing kids games.

 

[cvjw]

We used Safe Eyes for a couple of years on our boys computers. I thought it was just OK. For a while, we had it on the family computer also, and I made DH remove it - Safe Eyes would block the most random sites. I would try to go to a retail site to shop, and Safe Eyes would pop up saying the site was off limits! It did make us feel better that our 13 year old son was restricted on which sites he could visit - no sites with inappropriate content, and no internet shopping!

 

[Blue.Fairy2]

ATT also has a program called Smart limits

http://www.att.com/gen/sites/smartlimits?pid=8950

 

[piglet33]

Have you tried McGruff SafeGuard http://www.gomcgruff.com/m/index.asp. It's free.