Cheap Cell phone for dd

[mrudman]

I'm thinking of possibly getting older dd a cell phone for her 12th birthday. I hadn't really wanted to quite yet, but the more I think about it, it might be nice for her to have one.

I'm trying to figure out the cheapest way to get her one though.. she's asked for an Iphone which is totally out of the question, lol, but wondering if there's something similar that could be a pay-as-you-go type thing.

I've looked at the phones you can buy at walmart, then buy the pre-paid cards for.. are these decent at all? Or is there a better way to go?

I'm hoping to stick under $50 for the actual phone, then hopefully $5-$10 per month for any add on calling times, etc.

I had thought about adding her to our plan at a cost of $10/month, but we're kind of limited in our minutes we have, and I see her using up those minutes fairly quickly, so thinking a pre-paid card would be the better way to go, and if she uses them up, then she would have nothing till the next month.

Any opinions on companies I should be looking at?

Thanks!

 

[MomToOne]

I have DD12 on PlatinumTel on their RealPaygo plan (a pay as you go). I like both the plan details, and the Sanyo 2700 phone they offer.

I like this service vs. some other pay as you go because (1) the rates are great and (2) you can get a listing online whenever you want it of all phone numbers they call/text. Not many of the pay-as-you-go services give you that. I like the Sanyo 2700 phone for it's features, which include the ability to block photo texts. Yeah, I'm that parent

I personally use a Virgin Mobile pay-as-you-go for myself (which also gives you a listing of calls online). I've debated switching myself to PlatinumTel, but for me the Virgin Mobile plan works a bit better since the money I load on the account rolls over indefinitely. It's more expensive per minute/text, but I barely use my phone, so I usually manage to build up enough balance to buy a new phone every few years. For DD, since she burns through any minutes I load for her, roll over wasn't a consideration - just getting her as many minutes as I could for the money was.

As far as costs go, a refurb Sanyo 2700 is $50 on the PlatinumTel site, and I load $30 every 90 days onto DDs account. If she wants more than that, or burns through that too fast, she's on the hook to add her own money.

PlatinumTel uses the Sprint network, so if Sprint coverage is a problem in your area they wouldn't be a good choice. In our area, Sprint has the best coverage but I know that varies depending on where you are.

 

[kaywoody]

You might be surprised at how few minutes she uses especially if she and her friends text. My 13 year old uses about 10-15 minutes a month, and most of those are to me and her Dad. Our conversations are usually about 1 minute long and they consist of "are you almost here?" because she knows I won't answer her text when I'm driving! Now text messages... that's another story. We have unlimited family texting, and a she uses a LOT.

 

[mrudman]

Unfortunately, we have no texting at all on our plan (yea, you read right, lol.. even the salesperson was shocked)... and I know she'd probably use that feature a lot, so that's another reason why I'm looking in to the pre-pay.. that way she could do the texting if she wanted to.

 

[mrudman]

I have DD12 on PlatinumTel on their RealPaygo plan (a pay as you go). I like both the plan details, and the Sanyo 2700 phone they offer.

I like this service vs. some other pay as you go because (1) the rates are great and (2) you can get a listing online whenever you want it of all phone numbers they call/text. Not many of the pay-as-you-go services give you that. I like the Sanyo 2700 phone for it's features, which include the ability to block photo texts. Yeah, I'm that parent

I personally use a Virgin Mobile pay-as-you-go for myself (which also gives you a listing of calls online). I've debated switching myself to PlatinumTel, but for me the Virgin Mobile plan works a bit better since the money I load on the account rolls over indefinitely. It's more expensive per minute/text, but I barely use my phone, so I usually manage to build up enough balance to buy a new phone every few years. For DD, since she burns through any minutes I load for her, roll over wasn't a consideration - just getting her as many minutes as I could for the money was.

As far as costs go, a refurb Sanyo 2700 is $50 on the PlatinumTel site, and I load $30 every 90 days onto DDs account. If she wants more than that, or burns through that too fast, she's on the hook to add her own money.

PlatinumTel uses the Sprint network, so if Sprint coverage is a problem in your area they wouldn't be a good choice. In our area, Sprint has the best coverage but I know that varies depending on where you are.

I just browsed through their site and this looks like it could definitely work.. looks to be cheap prices, for as much as I know. Will definitely keep this one in mind, thanks!

 

[momxx5]

Crikett - inexpensive phone and $35 plus tax monthly for unlimited calls & texts.

If you do not want to have it for one month, don't pay. Not penalties, no contract. Pay as you go and stop/restart whenever.

Great first phone.

 

[Hannathy]

We have an AT&T go phone for our DS 13. It was the cheapest that I have found. I put $25 on it and that is good for 90 days. calling minutes are 10 cents a minute but he uses very few, mostly to me. Out of the 25 I buy a message package each month. It is 1000 for $9.99 or 200 for $4.99. being a boy I can usually alternate, buy the 1000 one month and then the 200 the next. The texts and money rolls over if you add money or buy the next group of texts before the month ends.


So far he has not gone thru more than 1000 texts a month so it has not been more than about 12 a month. Many months less.

He has been using my old phone but he needs a new one and I was looking and it seems for about 50 or 60 we will be able to get a decent phone on their site and I still need to check Walmart and a few other places in person.

 

[angwill]

check out Kajeet.com You can get unlimited texting and like 60 minutes for 14.99 a month or there are other options. With Kajeet it is geared toward kids where you can go online and set it so that during school hours or late at night they can not call or text anyone but home or whoever you designate. There are time blocks and phone number blocks. You can see who they call/text if needed. You can also locate them through the website if say the phone gets lost etc.

 

[pantherlj]

My daughter and I have the LG800 with tracfone. The phone is $50 and gives you triple minutes. I buy a $20 card every 90 days.

She isn't happy with it - wants an iphone and full data package. But this works until she can pay that monthly usage fee for a smart phone!

 

[Pooh2]

Just saw some pay as you go at Target for 19.99 for phone which included $10 worth of phone time. I think it was verizon. Phone was very basic.

 

[laughinplace199]

If she's going to be texting a lot, make sure the phone has a keyboard. Texting using the number pad is a pain.

 

[DawnM]

My son doesn't talk much on the phone. I got him a used iphone and put in an ATT Gophone SIM on it. He has no data package on it, but he can use internet in wifi. He can also text for free with imessage in wifi.

It works for us.

My daughter and I have the LG800 with tracfone. The phone is $50 and gives you triple minutes. I buy a $20 card every 90 days.

She isn't happy with it - wants an iphone and full data package. But this works until she can pay that monthly usage fee for a smart phone!

 

[princessfionasmom]

My son doesn't talk much on the phone. I got him a used iphone and put in an ATT Gophone SIM on it. He has no data package on it, but he can use internet in wifi. He can also text for free with imessage in wifi.

It works for us.

I did the same for my son with my old iPhone. It worked great until he went swimming in the ocean with it in his pocket : (

 

[DawnM]

Oh my! Next time get a lifeproof case....waterproof.

I did the same for my son with my old iPhone. It worked great until he went swimming in the ocean with it in his pocket : (

 

[mjkacmom]

Unfortunately, we have no texting at all on our plan (yea, you read right, lol.. even the salesperson was shocked)... and I know she'd probably use that feature a lot, so that's another reason why I'm looking in to the pre-pay.. that way she could do the texting if she wanted to.

Can you get texting? My teens probably go through 5 minutes of talk time, but tons of texting. I find it great to be able to text them, as well - it really helps us to keep in touch. Many of their coaches use texting instead of calling or emailing, as well.

 

[mrodgers]

We have an AT&T go phone for our DS 13. It was the cheapest that I have found. I put $25 on it and that is good for 90 days. calling minutes are 10 cents a minute but he uses very few, mostly to me. Out of the 25 I buy a message package each month. It is 1000 for $9.99 or 200 for $4.99. being a boy I can usually alternate, buy the 1000 one month and then the 200 the next. The texts and money rolls over if you add money or buy the next group of texts before the month ends.


So far he has not gone thru more than 1000 texts a month so it has not been more than about 12 a month. Many months less.

He has been using my old phone but he needs a new one and I was looking and it seems for about 50 or 60 we will be able to get a decent phone on their site and I still need to check Walmart and a few other places in person.

I'll second AT&T GoPhone, or I guess I'll third it since another said they have their old iPhone with a GoPhone SIM card. My wife and I switched from 2 Tracfones to 2 Android GoPhones. We make maybe 3 phone calls a year on a cell phone, so are just set up on $0.10/minute. We alternate every few months between putting 200 and 1000 texts on them. My wife uses about twice the amount of texts I do (about 300 vs. 700 per month.)

For data, it changed back in April and you have to be on the $25 calling package to get a data package so we don't have data. We just use them on wi-fi at home and at work.

With GoPhone, each phone is individual and not together on any type of combined account. You have to log onto each account separately to upload money to the account and purchase your packages.

One thing I just noticed last time I uploaded to my account, you don't even have to have money on the account. If you never make phone calls, you can buy the text packages individually for $5 or $10. I didn't know that. Like I said, I never make phone calls and the money amount builds up in the account since I typically only buy the $5 text package for a few months, so continuously uploading money ($15 for 1 months, $25, $50, $60 for 3 months, or $100 for a year) it would build up to more than I would even use.

You do have to pay attention to the renewal date. It is I think on a 28 day cycle, not a specific date every month such as August 8th every month. It got me once recently when I lost $10 that was on each account because I missed the date to upload to the account to renew.

We are buying a third phone for our daughter who turns 12 in October. Even 3 phones for the year will probably cost just slightly more than 1 month with a contract.

 

[arihillfarm]

Unfortunately, we have no texting at all on our plan (yea, you read right, lol.. even the salesperson was shocked)... and I know she'd probably use that feature a lot, so that's another reason why I'm looking in to the pre-pay.. that way she could do the texting if she wanted to.

Do you have Verizon? If so, you can have texting on only one phone on the family share plans, which is what we do (actually, one line doesn't have texting and the other two do). We have the $5/month text plan for up to 250 messages a month.

-Astrid

 

[TaraPA]

check out Kajeet.com You can get unlimited texting and like 60 minutes for 14.99 a month or there are other options. With Kajeet it is geared toward kids where you can go online and set it so that during school hours or late at night they can not call or text anyone but home or whoever you designate. There are time blocks and phone number blocks. You can see who they call/text if needed. You can also locate them through the website if say the phone gets lost etc.

I'll second Kajeet. We had this for 2 years before we got phones for everyone & a family plan. It's great for kids - the website is even geared towards them & being responsible for their phone & charges. We had the $19.99/month plan which was unlimited text & 100 minutes, but there is a $14.99 plan too. I loved the parental controls & that you could see the detailed usage.

Their phones are expensive to buy but we always just got the cheap $20 one.

 

[kiki02]

I'll second Kajeet. We had this for 2 years before we got phones for everyone & a family plan. It's great for kids - the website is even geared towards them & being responsible for their phone & charges. We had the $19.99/month plan which was unlimited text & 100 minutes, but there is a $14.99 plan too. I loved the parental controls & that you could see the detailed usage.

Their phones are expensive to buy but we always just got the cheap $20 one.

But there is no $20 phone and i'm not sure there's a 14.99 plan now either.

 

[TaraPA]

But there is no $20 phone and i'm not sure there's a 14.99 plan now either.

Yikes when did they do away with that? There was no way I was paying their prices for the higher end phones! When we started with Kajeet there was a $4.99 (pay per call/text) and a $9.99 plan too, but I hadn't seen those offered in the last year or so either.