I need CHEAPEST 'decent' cell with texting...

[indimom]

My daughter has hit that age, and we're getting to the point where sharing our "family cellphone" is starting to become inconvenient. We need to get her a cell phone and would like to add texting BUT....

Upgrading our existing plan would add $50 a month!!! to our bill because we have to upgrade to a "family plan" and are adding text. That's crazy and simply not an option. (It's also the lowest text plan they have and I'm afraid our daughter will text more than talk and run over the alloted texts.)

I called verizon to see what their plan looked like and for three phones (their minimum plan) it was still $109/month. Now, you get better phones and more minutes/text than I think we would use, but still! Our current cell phone is $25 a month, even if we drop that and go with the verizon plan, we are still increasing our total monthly payments by more than $50/month.

My other issue is that we are in a somewhat rural area and I have no idea which of the pay-as-you-go phones would actually work around here - towers are fewer and further between. We tried one years ago and barely got service anywhere around town.

So, does anyone have any suggestions? Is there another company which is normally cheaper? Does anyone know how to figure out if the cheapie phones will work in a certain area or are they returnable if you can't get them to work for you??

All advice appreciated. Thanks!

 

[justbishop]

ATT has a pay-as-you-go thing called "Go Phone", I think. If ATT doesn't have good coverage where you are, then I don't know who else would.

Also, if your DD is at an age where she needs a cell phone of her own, is it possible for her to pick up babysitting or other work to help earn the cash to pay for it?

 

[SandrA9810]

I want to say I'e seen a secondary company to verizon offer an all in one unlimited plan for like 30$ a month. And metro PCS is 40$ a month for unlimited everything. Most the time you will have to purchase the phone outright on these plans.

You say there's two of you already on a plan. If you're already on a plan with AT&T, even if they no longer offer your minute package, but it was considered a "family plan" at the time of contract, you're still under those rules. So adding her line would be 10$ a month plus unlimited texting is 20$ a month (texting is family shared, so every one gets unlimited). The only thing she has to worry about it is using your minutes, but you should have free calls between AT&T customers. So as long as she sticks to just texting, you don't need to worry about your minutes.

The current contract that my phone is under started off with two lines at opening, 750 minutes, and $10 for each additional line. If the original contract is never changed, which is the minutes package, I can add a line for $10. All the extra features like data and texting can be added and removed as needed. Now if we wanted to up the minutes, we would have to change the minute package to what's available now. And say now each additional line is $15, that would also go up in price from the $10.

If the store is telling you, you have to upgrade your minutes... then they're just looking for some money. But as long as your original contract says that it was a family plan, then you can still add and remove lines based on that contract.

 

[luvmy3]

For cell service, we have to use Verizon because its the only carrier that we can get service with, of course its the most expensive. However there are options. Right now me, dh and my dd all have pre-pay accts, and we pay $15 a month. For me and dd $10 a month of that goes towards texting, unlimited to other Verizon cust and 250 for others. The minutes (for calls) roll over to the next month which works for us because we rarely use our phones for calls. You can pay any amount per montg since you are paying per minute, $15 is the least amount and it works for us. You can also add a $20 a month text plan for unlimited to everyone texts.
Verizon also offer a monthy pre-pay where you pay a certain amount per month for talk and text, and the minutes don't roll over. They have also recently added data to their pre-pay.
Having said all that, you still have cheaper options that work on the Verizon network. Customer service is known to be lacking, but phone service/coverage is good
1) Straight Talk- pay as you go, on eprice for talk, txt, data starts at $40/month
2)Page Plus has a $30/month plan includes 1200 talk minutes, 1200 txts and data (not sure how much)
These 2 have pretty basic phones but you can use Verizon phones on Page Plus (except the blister pack pre-paid ones).

Virgin Mobil has a pretty inexpensive plan if you can get service too.

Walmart offers pre-paid phones, I'm not sure of all the carriers but they do let you return within 14 days.

 

[ceecee]

TracFone. DD has it and it takes 1/2 unit to text she has 1000 minutes and one year of service for $100.00 and at her age, that's fine. She doesn't need to be texting friends every minute to see whz up!!!

 

[Mrs. Charming]

I'm seeing Tmobile ads where kids are free. I don't know what the catch is, but it might be worth switching depending on what your termination fees are vs. what you'd save per month.

I'm also seeing Virgin Mobile commercials for $25 you get 300 mins and unlimited texts and lots of other extras etc.

Might be worth looking into!

 

[TaraPA]

We were in the same boat last fall. It was so much $$ just to add another phone/line to our existing plans. We chose Kajeet. Basic plan is $19.99 a month for 100 phone minutes & unlimited texting. They sometimes run a deal for $14.99 a month for 50 phone minutes & unlimited texting. They get you with the cost of the phone - the very basic one is usually $29.99, anything with the QWERTY pad is over $100. We just got DS13 the basic phone & he has the $19.99/month plan. It has full parental controls - I can control what numbers can come in or go out, and the time of day the phone can be on or off. Kajeet runs on the Sprint network, so if you have Sprint coverage for your area, you'll be fine. You can check on the Kajeet website before you buy, if you'll have coverage.

The negative with Kajeet is that customer service has been iffy. I've read some very poor reports on their lack of service. We did have an issue, DS's 1st phone broke in half. They did ship a new one & credit my CC for the cost (their new phones have a 1-year warranty) but it took many phone calls & emails to get it done. I had no problem though calling them & having them walk me through setting up both new phones.

 

[mommy2princesses0309]

I have virgin mobile. I have the $25 a month plan for 300 monthly talk minutes + unlimited text and data. With taxes I pay about $26.50 a month. It is unlimited text and data. There is no catch and no contract. I've lost text service for a few hours once in the 2 months I've had them. Their cs is not the greatest but so far i've had no real problems. I switched from at&t because they were getting just to expensive, even for a bare bones phone with the cheapest talk and text plan and no web I was paying almost $70 a month, was cheaper to pay the early termination fee and switch but you shouldn't even have to do that if you are just looking for a phone for your dd

 

[indimom]

ATT has a pay-as-you-go thing called "Go Phone", I think. If ATT doesn't have good coverage where you are, then I don't know who else would.
I guess I need to figure out what "towers" we have around here. I can't seem to remember what phone we had years ago that didn't work. All I remember is how surprised we were because we considered it a "major" phone provider.
Also, if your DD is at an age where she needs a cell phone of her own, is it possible for her to pick up babysitting or other work to help earn the cash to pay for it?

That was the plan until I started getting quotes of $50 a month. I don't want her blowing that much of her babysitting money on a cell phone. Especially if we can do better than that...

I want to say I'e seen a secondary company to verizon offer an all in one unlimited plan for like 30$ a month. And metro PCS is 40$ a month for unlimited everything. Most the time you will have to purchase the phone outright on these plans.

You say there's two of you already on a plan. If you're already on a plan with AT&T, even if they no longer offer your minute package, but it was considered a "family plan" at the time of contract, you're still under those rules. So adding her line would be 10$ a month plus unlimited texting is 20$ a month (texting is family shared, so every one gets unlimited). The only thing she has to worry about it is using your minutes, but you should have free calls between AT&T customers. So as long as she sticks to just texting, you don't need to worry about your minutes.
Actually, we currently have one cell phone that we share as a family, so no family plan. We have a bundle through a local company that runs us just over $100 a month for home phone, cell phone, cable and internet. A pretty nice deal, but this adding another line seemed like an awfully big jump for what you are getting. And it was more for texting, and we aren't sure how far our minutes/text plans will go once she starts using it more.
The current contract that my phone is under started off with two lines at opening, 750 minutes, and $10 for each additional line. If the original contract is never changed, which is the minutes package, I can add a line for $10. All the extra features like data and texting can be added and removed as needed. Now if we wanted to up the minutes, we would have to change the minute package to what's available now. And say now each additional line is $15, that would also go up in price from the $10.

If the store is telling you, you have to upgrade your minutes... then they're just looking for some money. But as long as your original contract says that it was a family plan, then you can still add and remove lines based on that contract.

No, we don't have to upgrade minutes, just the bumping up to a "family plan" and adding text.

For cell service, we have to use Verizon because its the only carrier that we can get service with, of course its the most expensive. However there are options. Right now me, dh and my dd all have pre-pay accts, and we pay $15 a month. For me and dd $10 a month of that goes towards texting, unlimited to other Verizon cust and 250 for others. The minutes (for calls) roll over to the next month which works for us because we rarely use our phones for calls. You can pay any amount per montg since you are paying per minute, $15 is the least amount and it works for us. You can also add a $20 a month text plan for unlimited to everyone texts.
So, per month, you all pay about $45?? For the three of you?? That doesn't sound too bad.
Verizon also offer a monthy pre-pay where you pay a certain amount per month for talk and text, and the minutes don't roll over. They have also recently added data to their pre-pay.
Having said all that, you still have cheaper options that work on the Verizon network. Customer service is known to be lacking, but phone service/coverage is good
1) Straight Talk- pay as you go, on eprice for talk, txt, data starts at $40/month
2)Page Plus has a $30/month plan includes 1200 talk minutes, 1200 txts and data (not sure how much)
These 2 have pretty basic phones but you can use Verizon phones on Page Plus (except the blister pack pre-paid ones).
I was looking at these, but it still seems like a lot for one phone. Ugh!
Virgin Mobil has a pretty inexpensive plan if you can get service too.

Walmart offers pre-paid phones, I'm not sure of all the carriers but they do let you return within 14 days.

Okay, one concern gone. I wasn't sure how that worked since a lot of electronics are not returnable. As long as we can try them out, I can probably find one that works!

TracFone. DD has it and it takes 1/2 unit to text she has 1000 minutes and one year of service for $100.00 and at her age, that's fine. She doesn't need to be texting friends every minute to see whz up!!!

From what I've seen online, this looks like the number one pay-as-you-go, I just need to find out if it will work here. Thanks for the text info, that was one thing we couldn't find on the packages and we wondered how many minutes/etc it took to send a text message. That doesn't sound bad at all.

Anyone do T-Mobile?? I was just cruising around looking at prices and it looks like we could get a family share plan (contract for two years) for $70 a month for up to 5 phones (all free).
If we eliminated the cell phone and home phone we have now from our local company, that would drop our current package down to $60 a month (for just cable and internet), so a savings of $40.
So, we'd only be paying $30 more a month to do this T-Mobile plan.
It includes 750 minutes of talk time and unlimited text, plus unlimited calling among the 5 family phones. Since there are four of us, we could make one of those our "house phone."
Doesn't sound bad at all, and it gives our son his own phone also. He does use ours from time to time also.
Anyone with experience on T-Mobile?? I'm going to have to look and see if I can find a map to show their coverage area. Anything else I'm missing here??

 

[Ava]

I'm also seeing Virgin Mobile commercials for $25 you get 300 mins and unlimited texts and lots of other extras etc.

I was going to suggest Virgin Mobile. They run on the Sprint 3G network, so if you can get Sprint service in your area you should be able to get Virgin Mobile. They are offering 300 minutes & unlimited texting, e-mail, & data for $25/month.

 

[luvmy3]

indimom, yes we do only pay $45 a month most months. Dh sometimes runs out of minutes and we have to add another $15 before the month is through. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. Still, we pay $60 a month at most and we can't get any family plan that equals that. It really depends on how much you use your phone, I found that by adding that $10 texting plan, I talk with it less and less, but do need some money on it towards phone calls, but I never used it much before that anyway. DD only texts (and is limited by us ), dh does do more talking than texting because of work.
We have thought about upgrading to a family plan, but honestly for us its too much money for something we don't need.
I would find out what network your local cell phone co. runs on, and then try the pre-paid phone for that carrier first.

 

[SandrA9810]

No, we don't have to upgrade minutes, just the bumping up to a "family plan" and adding text.

Yeah, when you do that, just for one line it will add up fast. My phone is on my ex's contract. Right now, I pay $45 a month for my line because I have a smartphone so $30 is for data.
I was going to try and change over my line and add it to my aunt's contract, but she's like you, with just one cell, landline, and internet through AT&T. To bump her contract up to a family plan and add my line would cost as almost as much as me getting my line on it's own contract. Which is about 70$ since I text A LOT and I have a smartphone.
I know I'll need to get my own contract soon enough, but $45 is a lot better.

 

[leoandme]

DD (11) and I both use Kajeet and love it. We have the $14.99 unlimited text + 60 minutes talk plan - that deal is still going on now. For us, Kajeet's the best plan, since we can use the online management to control when DD can use it, who she calls/texts and who can call/text her. We've never had any probs with customer service. She broke her phone and we got the replacement in less than a week.

They have $1.99 FedEx SmartPost shipping until Oct. 31 and you can get 15% off phones by using promo code FAMILY15 at www.kajeet.com.

Hope you find what you need!

 

[RyJMom]

We have our 12 yr old son on a Go Phone. It is $25 every 3months for the calling minutes to keep it activated. We are doing the $9.99 a mo for 1000 texts. He is just getting into texting. Thought about adding him to our AT&T family plan but that is a min of $30 a month and stuck with a 2 yr contract. My fear was he'd lose his phone and I'd be too mad to replace it for him and then I'd be stuck paying $30 a mo for nothing. Most of the Go Phones are not super "cool" for a 7th grader. We took the chip out of the Go Phone and put it in my old phone - works perfect.

 

[AllesonWonderland]

Most of the Go Phones are not super "cool" for a 7th grader.

I was just reading this thread and debating between some sort of tracfone/pay as you go phone vs. Kajeet...I was first thinking perhaps we could start with a pay as you go, then step up down the road. But then I started wondering if my daughter would rather have an 'uncool' phone that she can only use in emergencies (i.e. no constant texting) or no phone at all. LOL

 

[Leajess99]

That was the plan until I started getting quotes of $50 a month. I don't want her blowing that much of her babysitting money on a cell phone. Especially if we can do better than that...

No, we don't have to upgrade minutes, just the bumping up to a "family plan" and adding text.

Okay, one concern gone. I wasn't sure how that worked since a lot of electronics are not returnable. As long as we can try them out, I can probably find one that works!

From what I've seen online, this looks like the number one pay-as-you-go, I just need to find out if it will work here. Thanks for the text info, that was one thing we couldn't find on the packages and we wondered how many minutes/etc it took to send a text message. That doesn't sound bad at all.

Anyone do T-Mobile?? I was just cruising around looking at prices and it looks like we could get a family share plan (contract for two years) for $70 a month for up to 5 phones (all free).
If we eliminated the cell phone and home phone we have now from our local company, that would drop our current package down to $60 a month (for just cable and internet), so a savings of $40.
So, we'd only be paying $30 more a month to do this T-Mobile plan.
It includes 750 minutes of talk time and unlimited text, plus unlimited calling among the 5 family phones. Since there are four of us, we could make one of those our "house phone."
Doesn't sound bad at all, and it gives our son his own phone also. He does use ours from time to time also.
Anyone with experience on T-Mobile?? I'm going to have to look and see if I can find a map to show their coverage area. Anything else I'm missing here??

I have T-mobile with NO contract. I get 1500 minutes with unlimited texting for $79.99. I have 4 phones on my line and the extra 2 are just $5 each. I also have insurance on all phones. I checked AT&T and Sprint and both are more expensive for us.

 

[dfchelbay]

My daughter has hit that age, and we're getting to the point where sharing our "family cellphone" is starting to become inconvenient. We need to get her a cell phone and would like to add texting BUT....

Upgrading our existing plan would add $50 a month!!! to our bill because we have to upgrade to a "family plan" and are adding text. That's crazy and simply not an option. (It's also the lowest text plan they have and I'm afraid our daughter will text more than talk and run over the alloted texts.)

I called verizon to see what their plan looked like and for three phones (their minimum plan) it was still $109/month. Now, you get better phones and more minutes/text than I think we would use, but still! Our current cell phone is $25 a month, even if we drop that and go with the verizon plan, we are still increasing our total monthly payments by more than $50/month.

My other issue is that we are in a somewhat rural area and I have no idea which of the pay-as-you-go phones would actually work around here - towers are fewer and further between. We tried one years ago and barely got service anywhere around town.

So, does anyone have any suggestions? Is there another company which is normally cheaper? Does anyone know how to figure out if the cheapie phones will work in a certain area or are they returnable if you can't get them to work for you??

All advice appreciated. Thanks!

Try Virgin Mobile, the beyond talk plan. Unlimited text is only $25 per month, with 300 minutes. They have other plans too. The phones are really inexpensive and you are not stuck in any contracts either.

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/cell-phone-plans/beyond-talk-plans.jsp

 

[beaucoup]

I would get a pay-as-you go plan to teach her about budgeting her minutes. You use it up and you are done this month. Period. Just like money.

 

[SandrA9810]

The nice thing about contract phones, if you do loose it, you can buy one of their pay as you go phones and transfer your SIM card.

I had to do that a couple of times. You can go into the store or call, tell them your account/phone number and the new SIM card number, and they'll transfer the line to that card. That card can be placed in any phone. I only ever lost one cell phone, and spent 20$ on a go phone till my next renewal.

 

[HelenePA]

I saw in kmarts ad they have a virgin phone on sale for 15$