Is there a cheap no-contract texting plan from tracfone?

[mermaidwannabe]

I have looked on tracfone's site, but it is so confusing. I want to get my DD12 a tracfone with texting for her 13th bday but I don't want it to be the gift that keeps on giving by adding her to my Verizon account, which would be $30 per month for however many years! I would rather get her a phone with a tracfone card for a certain number of texts but couldn't see how to do that?? They had monthly plans which was confusing.

Anyways, just wondering what you all do? I want her to learn how to budget her minutes, and I want her to save up for more. I would get her a large number for her bday with the phone but I don't want to just add her to my plan and spend $360 per year for the next however many years!

Thanks for any input!

 

[ColoradoMom!!]

For our Tracfone, text messages are charged at .30 of a minute per text received or sent. You buy cards for a minute amount, and the phone shows what you have left. ALWAYS get a code to increase the number of minutes you get when you redeem the card. For example, I just bought a 60 min card (they're $20 give or take about .12 cents) and used code 14938 (will probably expire soon) and got 120 minutes.

I like that my son could see how many minutes he had left all the time. He had to pay for more minutes if he used them all up. However, we will switch him to our T-mobile plan soon because it is only $9.99 a month for an extra line. I wonder why yours would be $30? Maybe because we already carry three lines on that T-mobile account.

Hope that helps. I love Tracfone because when he lost his phone, it was only $20 to buy a new one at Wal-Mart. Also no contracts for when we decide to end - no penalty.

 

[ColoradoMom!!]

OH - also - look around for best deals on phones. Amazon had a great deal on "double minutes for life" phones which are a great deal.

Just to be clear - you can text with Tracfone, you are just charged as if it were a minute of phone use - .30 of a minute per text.

 

[luvmy3]

Tracfone does not have a texting plan, AFAIK. You just pay per text and it comes off your total minutes. Dd has tracfone now but I am getting her a phone through Virgin Mobile, they have pre-paid texting plans. If she doesn't plan on talking much they have one thats $14 per month for 1000 text and 10cents a minute per call, or $20 a month for unlimited texts and 10 cents per minute per call. You could also add a text plan to your minutes, but I think that will bring you up to the $30 per month you didn't want to spend.

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

I do know that Tracfone ownes the Straight Talk company. I haven't used it and I don't know if it is available in your area but Walmart sells the phones and the plans. I think it starts at 30.00 a month for 1000 minutes and 1000 texts and 45.00 a month for unlimited. You can sign up for auto pay or buy a card before your month is up.

 

[dr_zero]

I do know that Tracfone ownes the Straight Talk company. I haven't used it and I don't know if it is available in your area but Walmart sells the phones and the plans. I think it starts at 30.00 a month for 1000 minutes and 1000 texts and 45.00 a month for unlimited. You can sign up for auto pay or buy a card before your month is up.

We have a winner! I switched from Att (Go Phone) to Straight talk and it has been great!

If you go with the unlimited you can see how many messages she actually uses then scale back to the $30 plan and its no issue you can switch between 1000 min/txt to unlimited as you want or need.

 

[mermaidwannabe]

Thanks for the info! The Tracfone with double minutes sounds like the way to go. The reason my bill would go up that much is because I have the only cell in the family because my DH just gets his through his work so I have to go to a Family Share plan from an individual plan. Once my DD10 turns 13 she'll get a phone and then maybe it would make sense just to put them on my plan. I know I'm being cheap because all of my friends just pay for their kids' phones and plans, but I don't want to do that! Plus just knowing my kids, they won't appreciate it as much if they just get used to having it paid for.

I really don't want a monthly plan, but that $14 one is a good deal. I will just do the tracfone and let her monitor her texts/minutes. She'll have to watch it because it seems like her friends just FW FW FW each other with all these "forward to 10 people in the next 2 minutes" texts lol. She'll have to let them know not to use up all her minutes!!

 

[wovenwonder]

http://thejmart.com/links.htm

Bookmark the link above for GREAT Tracfone info! I came across this site just yesterday and wish I would have had it long ago. We have 6 or 7 tracfone's between our family and various family members and have been pleased.

Walmart seems to be a good place to purchase. Right now they [walmart.com] have a phone for under $10 and it includes the double minutes. Can't beat it!

 

[luvmy3]

OP, does your dd have an ipod touch? In my research to find dd the best texting option I found an app for her ipod touch so she can text for free using it. Obviously you would need a WiFi connection so you can't use it everywhere, but it definitely will make it so dd won't have to use up her minutes on her phone for texting when she's at home

 

[Imzadi]

There is also an older Tracfone model, the Motorola V170, in which there was no charge to RECEIVE text messages. Different phones models had different rates for a while. it still costs a third of a minute for each text to send. But, this way DD would only be charged one way.

Also, do NOT buy a large amount of minutes to load onto the phone at first. She uses them up in 2 weeks and it will be a real pain. You could buy separate cards for her bday and load them on separately as needed.

**** Also, make sure you find a Tracfone BONUS CODE to add on more free minutes EACH time you load on minutes with each minutes card. This way you get Double Minutes PLUS free bonus minutes. The latest bonus codes can be found at:
FatWallet Official Tracfone Bonus Code Thread

 

[mermaidwannabe]

Yea! It IS doable! Thanks!

 

[angwill]

Kajeet is 14.99 a month for unlimited texts and 60 minutes if you wanted to go that route. It is pay as you go as well. I just switched DS over to Kajeet.

HTH

 

[SandrA9810]

you have to be careful with kids, they can text A LOT. I've seen several news stories about how kids have upwards of 10,000 texts a month.
Back when we first got our cell phones, we had like 400 texts per phone for 10$ each. Eventually they did the family unlimited texting plan for 30$. I changed the plan to this when i managed to rack up like 700 messages in the first few days of the billing cycle. And realized i'd be paying out the nose for the overages. Now i average a couple thousand texts a month. When i had the limit, i did reasonably well to stay within the means. But that was also before i met some one and we would have huge conversations through textings (he's the one that made me go up to 700 texts)
and kari... Who says she hates texting and would rather call, averages a 1000 or so a month. She even taught her mom how to text.