Firefly Phone

[T. Lynn]

This phone looks really cute and DD saw it at the Limited Too. In April we have some two bucks cards and can get it for 1/2 price. I just have a couple of quick questions regarding this phone. The only reason I thought about getting it is because she already has enough clothes so she can use the discounts for some accessories.

Does anyone have this phone for their child and what age do you recommend?
If so, what do you like/dislike about it?
Do you have a prepaid card or a wireless plan?

 

[Kimmumum]

Kids in our area have them. It seems to be for the under 10 crowd. You can only program a couple of phone numbers. I think it is more for emergencies for little kids. The older kids don't like it because they can't call their friends.

 

[T. Lynn]

Thanks. I guess they can call their friends as long as you program their number in the phone. It can store up to 20 numbers.

Do you know how well they hold up?

 

[Kitka]

We got DD (9) one for Christmas - but not the Firefly. It cost more than a regular pay as you go, and we figured if we couldn't trust her to only call for emergencies we shouldn't trust her with a $100 phone.

So far so good - she hasn't abused it at all and has actually only used it once - when she was supposed to - when her dance class was cancelled and she needed to be picked up.

 

[julandkrz18]

I bought it for my 8 year old son. It makes him feel at ease going to friends houses after school, knowing he can call us for any reason. I was able to add this phone to our cingular plan so the minutes never expire which is what happens with the pay as you go. He loves it so we do program in his friends numbers....

 

[TheRatPack]

Seems like a lot for what is in essence a pretty prepaid. We have Cricket locally, I think it is 45.00 for unlimited monthly service so we'll probably go with that when we get them a phone.

 

[InstImpres]

Seems like a lot for what is in essence a pretty prepaid. We have Cricket locally, I think it is 45.00 for unlimited monthly service so we'll probably go with that when we get them a phone.

What is Cricket? I would love for my phone bill to only be $45, than I wouldn't worry about another phone for DD adding expenses

TIA

 

[luvdzne]

We got this for dd11 back in the fall. The concept is great; however, we bought this for her to be able to call us if she needed a ride from somewhere (sometimes her cheer practice would end early, afterschool activities, etc..) and when she was out somewhere with friends we could get in touch with her and she could call us in emergencys. We did not buy this phone so she could chit chat with her friends, if we wanted her to have one of those we could have got a phone for free and put her on our plan. Well, they don't tell you when you first actually purchase the phone that the minutes will expire 90 days. So after 90 days if you haven't used the minutes they are gone. To purchase more minutes I believe they are .25 a minute for the firefly phone. To me it was too expensive, not worth the money, and we would have been better off buying a her a phone and putting her on our contract. I think it is a waste of money, besides that after about a month of carrying it she said the kids made fun of her for having a baby's phone and would not carry it. So depending on the age, that could be a problem.

Now I know cingular lets you have it on your plan so you do not have to buy the phone cards, but since she won't carry it, it is not worth adding. It is actually sitting in a drawer where it has been since the minutes expired. Now I have a useless $100 piece of clutter!

 

[sconnell]

We got this for dd11 back in the fall. The concept is great; however, we bought this for her to be able to call us if she needed a ride from somewhere (sometimes her cheer practice would end early, afterschool activities, etc..) and when she was out somewhere with friends we could get in touch with her and she could call us in emergencys. We did not buy this phone so she could chit chat with her friends, if we wanted her to have one of those we could have got a phone for free and put her on our plan. Well, they don't tell you when you first actually purchase the phone that the minutes will expire 90 days. So after 90 days if you haven't used the minutes they are gone. To purchase more minutes I believe they are .25 a minute for the firefly phone. To me it was too expensive, not worth the money, and we would have been better off buying a her a phone and putting her on our contract. I think it is a waste of money, besides that after about a month of carrying it she said the kids made fun of her for having a baby's phone and would not carry it. So depending on the age, that could be a problem.

Now I know cingular lets you have it on your plan so you do not have to buy the phone cards, but since she won't carry it, it is not worth adding. It is actually sitting in a drawer where it has been since the minutes expired. Now I have a useless $100 piece of clutter!

EBAY! lol

 

[TheRatPack]

Cricket is an unlimited cellular service locally. When they first came out it was 29.99 a month and now it's went to 45.00 but still a GREAT deal for teenagers. You can check the website out to see if they have coverage in your area

https://www.mycricket.com/

 

[ceecee]

How about a Tracfone? That's what we use. If you just want her to have it for emergency use. I think a flip phone with 450 minutes (this is a one year card and minutes don't expire if you purchase another card after the year end) is like $149.00. I think the Firefly is really aimed at a younger crowd, which I don't know why they would even need a phone to begin with.

 

[Kimmumum]

My 12 year old DS got a regular cell phone for Christmas. We just added him to our plan with Cingular and it costs $9.99/month. I thought that was a deal for peace of mind.

 

[jeankeri]

My DS9 has been bugging me for one of these phones. Thanks to the posts I will steer him towards something else when he actually may need a phone. Were thinking jr high when he is two towns away. Remember when you only neded 10 cents to call from a payphone!

 

[disneyfanz04]

Remember when you only neded 10 cents to call from a payphone!

Payphone...what's that???

To the OP I got my DD-10 one for Christmas and she also got made fun of in school, so I wound up getting her a regular one on a plan. It really is so much cheaper than buying the prepaid cards. So now I too have the phone AND a $25.00 minute card sitting in my cabinet...I was thinking of sticking it on Ebay.

 

[T. Lynn]

Thanks for everyone who posted. We just have so many two bucks cards for the Limited Too next month and was trying to think of something else to get her besides clothes. They also have a Disney Mix Pix there. I'll have to check them out in further detail. She also likes the pink fuzzy chair that they carry. Just not sure where I could put that.

We get to spend $300 and pay 1/2 price. She does need pajamas and a new swim suit, but other than that, I don't know what to get. Maybe they'll get some new stuff in by then to help me out!

 

[disneychrista]

Before you buy the phone be sure that it will work in your area. My DD got a Firefly through BZZAgent and the thing doens't work in our area. Everything, the BZZ agent campaign, the Firefly website it all said it was available in our area, well it isn't.

 

[Trixiezzz]

I had planned to get my DD10 one of these - Just to be used when we left her at a spend-the-night party or at a club funtion, etc.

But she begged off, saying it was too babyish for her age (LOL). Also, we really did not want the $100 price tag, because she can lose something so fast I hated to risk such an expensive phone.

So we got a pre-paid Tracfone w/ free minutes for just $20 and since we got a referral (free 100 minutes) we ended up with 180 minutes, 6 mos service and the phone for just that initial $20 investment.

We decided to give it a try just to see how it would work out.

And we've been very pleased. She only uses it a little, with no extras (it is capable of text messaging but we said 'no') and with a few referrals along the way we've gotten a YEAR worth of service with no extra time cards.

We like hers so much, we bought another one ($99 with a 1 year card) just about 2 weeks ago.

You might want to consider this, because she CAN'T run up big bills - especially if she loses it and someone else gets a hold of it. It's like a gift card: once the minutes you've put on it are gone, no one can make any more calls.

Here's a discussion of it with more details:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1046591

 

[torinsmom]

I'd recommend the Tracphone also. My 11 yo son has one and I don't worry too much about him losing it, it was only $20. And I buy him minutes($20-30) every 2-3 months, as he needs them, so it was cheaper than adding him to my plan. Plus\, he knows he cannot use up the minutes or he has to answer to ME! LOL He mostly uses it for calling me or his dad when he is with the other, but it is nice when we go to Walmart and he wants to hang out in the video game section.

Marsha

 

[disneyred]

hi,
Can someone enlighten me as to what is : Tracfone (people here use this term) vs. a prepaid cellphone ??
what is the difference.

Also what type of a phone is Tracfone ... Nokia / LG / Motorola , etc..

TIA>

 

[Mom2Ashli]

We were just looking at this phone on Monday night. I did not like the way the minutes expire in 90 days. And the cost of the phone is $99.00. And like others have stated, once they get to a certain age that phone is just not cool enough. It is designed for the younger crowd.

My Mom has a Virgin Mobile Phone and the minutes never expire.

I was looking into Alltel Simple Freedom Pay as you go.

DH think she is too young for a cell phone but I like the idea of her being able to reach me no matter what.