Need cheap 2nd phone for DD....school use only

[EMom]

DD12 has an iPhone, but we don't want it going to school. Not only are we afraid she'll lose it, but the principal has said theft of such phones is rampant. She needs a cheap phone just to use in case she needs to call/text us from school or the bus. That's the ONLY thing it will be used for, so we hate to spend much money at all.

What are some good options?

 

[Dizisfun]

My husband uses the ATT go phone. We have ATT and when his contract was up he didn't want to renew it and he didn't want to buy an ATT phone outright bc of the expense so he purchased a go phone for $50 and put his sim card in it. He has had it for over a year with no problems.....I'm not sure of the prices of the minutes but I am sure they are comparable to every other pre paid phone.

We bought DGD an $80 straight talk phone, I think it was a Samsung but it didn't last for 6 months when it stopped working, so I would not recommend that phone. (Both phones came from Walmart)

 

[powellrj]

You can get a trac phone for around $10 that is very basic. I got one for my dad last week and if you just want a few minutes I think you can get 1,000 minutes and one years service for around $100.

My DD has a go phone, but she uses hers more than that and I think we have the cheapest plan and its $25 a month for hers.

 

[Hannathy]

WE have a go phone for our DS. He has the 10 cent a minute plan and texts are 1,000 for $9.99 or 200 for $4.99 and they last a month, however they will roll over as long as you pay for another month before they expire. So I usually put 1,000 on one month then the next 200 and alternate and that gives him 600 a month and for him now that is plenty but if he uses more even at $10 a month that is good and he uses very few minutes talking, very few mostly to me.

I put $25 on and that doesn't expire for 3 months and also rolls over if you add more and pay for the messaging plan out of that $25 so $25 lasts for 2 plus months of texting and calling minutes.

You can get phones as cheap as $10. He is using my old ancient one but it is dying so we will be getting a new one this fall and it looks like for about $50 you can get a decent one.

Wanted to say that they call things "plans" with the go phone BUT there is no contract and you can change things anytime you want or quit.

 

[EMom]

I've seen trac phones at Walmart, but where do you get go phones?

 

[poohfriend77]

I got my first (very basic) one at the AT&T kiosk at the mall. My husband bought slightly "upgraded" phones online and we were able to make the switch at home.

We add $100/yr and pay 10 cents/min calls and 20 cents per text.

 

[Hannathy]

I've seen trac phones at Walmart, but where do you get go phones?

Walmart has them or you can get them online at AT&T under go phones.

 

[pixiewings71]

If we were going to do this we would simply add a line to our existing account for $9.99 a month, add texting for another $5 and activate an old phone we already have at home......

 

[brennicksmom]

My son got his iPhone stolen last year while in 7th grade. Now he uses a small lock to lock his iPhone into one of the zip up sections of his backpack. No more worries. He has his backpack with him constantly. I got one of teh small locks that can go on luggage that you set your own code. I think it was about $6-7.00. Thats much less that getting another phone.

 

[Dizisfun]

I've seen trac phones at Walmart, but where do you get go phones?

Walmart, Best Buy, and any ATT store would have them....

 

[ceecee]

Get your Tracfone online and there is usually a free phone with the purchase of a year card. Most have double and triple minutes so for $100 you get a year service with 900-1200 minutes. Should last a year if that's all she's using it for. Phones are the #1 thing stolen at our school too. Of course I did fine without a phone and a lot of kids we know are not allowed to take them to school.

 

[DawnM]

I have been researching the cheapest plan for my parents as they use MAYBE 50 minutes per month. Sometimes less and near 0, sometimes up to 120 minutes if they are on vacation.

Most of the plans require a top of a certain amount. Even if you pay $100/year, you must get another $100 the following year to keep your minutes.

My parents won't use that much.

T-mobile seems to offer the best deal in the long run. I paid $24 for each of their phones, and then $100 per phone for an initial 1,000 minutes. BUT, that put me in their "gold status." This means that as long as I pay a min. of $10 every YEAR and they can keep their minutes.

My guess is that I will top off with $10/year for at least the following 2 or so years, making the monthly overall cost $3 or so per month.

 

[DawnM]

Verizon also has a true pay as you go that just costs .25 per min. but you don't have to keep topping it off. If she will only use it to make a quick call to tell you she needs to be picked up every now and then, that might be a great option.

 

[4GoofyCrew]

I recommend a very basic Tracfone. I used a $10 one for years and it was about $12/month to maintain. Calls and texts, no data. I would still use one but I 'needed' a SmartPhone. I wish I still had the $12/month payments now though...

 

[EMom]

We just went ahead and bought the tracfone with double minutes last night so she'd have a phone at school today. She's fine with taking it to school and leaving the iPhone at home, since I told her we would not replace the iPhone if it was lost/stolen. That's her baby. The worst aspect of it is not being able to text endlessly on the bus ride home. Apparently, that's the norm.