Paying for Kids' Unlimited Texting

[wenmc]

Deleted

 

[mickeylove2]

I have Boost and pay $50 a month for unlimited talk, text, direct connect and web. I beleive there is a plan called Straight Talk that is $45 a month for unlimited everything too.

 

[sunlver]

Well I am the mean parent, I dont PAY for my almost 16 yr old to text. We give him a cell phone, and he shares talking minutes with me and my husband. We told him if he wants to text, he has to pay for it. Apparently its not that important to him because he hasnt paid for it. Me and my husband don't text, so we dont feel the need to pay for my son to do it.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

We have Virgin Mobile (pay as you go) and it's $25 a month for my 11 year old to have unlimited texting, and 300 minutes a month. All their plans have unlimited texting.

Even though he doesn't use more than 5000 a month (that seems like a lot) I like the fact that he's got one way to reach me that will never "run out". I work in a school, and it's a lot less disruptive to get a text than a call, so he texts me when he leaves for the bus stop, and when he gets on the bus (he walks about 20 minutes) and then when he comes home, gets back from walking the dog etc . . . That way I always know approximately where he is.

 

[kacaju]

I pay for it because we all text each other way more then talk to each other through out the day.
I love it because it is so easy to quickly text my dd's to see where they are.

 

[smb6]

We have a family plan and for $10 total we all have unlimted texting. My kids pretty much only text me..... We text to give pick up times for extra cirriculurs and stuff like that....

 

[Robinrs]

I have Boost Mobile also, unlimited text for $60 a month on his Blackberry. He barely EVER texts, would rather talk like I do.

 

[mjkacmom]

I think we pay $10 for family unlimited. I don't make dd14 pay for it, because I text - way more than I talk! I text my kids almost daily, and also my mom, who is on our plan. It's so convinient.

 

[RitaE]

I don't know why?

To tell you the truth most of the kids I know have unlimited texting, but I really can't think of any families that can't put food on their table.

I have my doubts that they are all fully funding those college funds and their retirement plans, but they seem to be feeding their children more than adequate amounts from the looks of things.

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

Which phone company has $10 unlimited for the family? I have Verizon and pay $30/month. I would love to get it down to $10.

 

[MichelleVW]

I pay for it because we all text each other way more then talk to each other through out the day.
I love it because it is so easy to quickly text my dd's to see where they are.

exactly...I hate talking on the phone and if the kids are in class or at work or wherever, I can text them and they can read it and get back to me whenever they have a minute. Way easier than checking a stupid voice mail.

We don't have problems putting food on the table though...

 

[goofy!]

We all text each other all the time. As everybody else has said, it is way easier to check a text while in a meeting or at work than interrupting by taking a call or listening to voicemail.

And since our kids (3) mainly text as texting is their mode of communication, we were able to lower the minutes on our plan and still save money by putting all 5 phones on unlimited texting.

 

[luvmy3]

I have Verizon pre-pay and dd and I added the $10/month texting plan. It is unlimited texts to other Verizon cust. and the an additional 250 for non-Verizon. We each only pay $15 a month and since dd rarely calls anyone that $5 rolls over each month. I have had a roll over balance forever since I rarely use my phone, so $10 out of that $15 is worth it since I find myself texting more that calling people.

I do make my dd pay the $10 for texting, she has a phone for emergencies, if she wants to use it as a social tool she is responsible for paying Trust me, when it comes to that she has no problems agreeing

 

[Suz725]

I pay $30 for unlimited texting but my husband and I text also not just the teens. I would rather pay $30 than get a HUGE phone bill because the girls went over their minutes

 

[foolishmortal]

we have family unlimited texting, which is good for all of us $30 a month.

And im having a hard time understanding what this has to do with putting food on table. im guessing most that have unlmimted text dont have that problem, OR they have the cheaper phones (here its called cricket) and fo a small price you get unlmited texting and some minutes, but its crappy service and long distance isnt included.

 

[blanq]

Well I am the mean parent, I dont PAY for my almost 16 yr old to text. We give him a cell phone, and he shares talking minutes with me and my husband. We told him if he wants to text, he has to pay for it. Apparently its not that important to him because he hasnt paid for it. Me and my husband don't text, so we dont feel the need to pay for my son to do it.

This is exactly how we have the cell phone issue resolved in our household. DS just turned 17 last month. Bout 4months ago (when he got his job at Menards) we finally got him a phone, pay for his line, and added him to our plan. DH and I do not have texting, and there is no way we will pay for DS to have texting. We told DS that if he wanted texting, he would have to pay for it. At first he thought he would, but recently he indicated he had no desire to use his money that way.

 

[klj27]

We pay $20 a month for family unlimited texting with tmobile. I think that is a bargain. My daughter got her phone in 7th grade and she has been paying that $20 every month since.

 

[snykymom]

My d is in college, and the major way she communicates with her friends is through texting. They all have different schedules. She doesn't need to remember that one is in class so shouldn't be called from 11-2 on Thursdays, but another can be called then, etc. She can text more than one at a time if they're trying to arrange a meeting/rehearsal/meal without having to deal with conference calling. They're all on the same messages so everyone knows what everyone else is doing.

I can text her without worrying that her phone will ring in class or at work; she can do the same for me. If we can respond immediately, we do; if not, we wait. (We also talk to each other, by the way.)

She texts much more than she talks, so we've reduced the minutes on our plan. I save more that way than the unlimited texting costs.

And yes, her college fund was fully funded and we can put food on the table. Retirement? Well after the financial meltdown, that's a totally different story.

Why do parents pay for texts? The same reason we pay for cell phones, internet, cable TV, etc. I remember this conversation a few years ago. "Why do kids need cell phones? We didn't have them and we did just fine!" Society adapts to new technologies. And kids adapt quicker than most.

 

[NotUrsula]

Mostly because it beats the heck out of fighting the phone company over a $1200 bill. Kids are kids and they do stupid things, including ignoring the included limits on their phone use.

When you have the kind of plan that limits the number of minutes or texts but ALLOWS you to go over that limit at add'l cost, you can get into hugely expensive mistake territory very quickly, and because parents have to sign for any service contract involving a minor, parents are responsible for the bill in those cases. If you have a kid who is a likely candidate to run way over the limit, then proactively adding an unlimited text option is likely to cost less in the long run.

My DS has a prepaid plan that charges his texts at .15 each. He almost never uses them right now, so it works for him. However, if he starts running through his balance with a lot of texting, then he will be ponying up (to me)the $20/month it will cost to add unlimited texting to his phone plan.

 

[SandrA9810]

AT&T is 20$ a month for unlimited family texting. For 4 lines, 5$ isn't that bad of a price to pay. But the minutes are also low, so texting is a preferred way of getting a hold of each other.

Through the years of having the phones, we went from like 200 texts to 400 texts with 1mb of data (with really old flip phones) on two of the lines to unlimited family text. It's just kind of grown with the way we use the phones. Unfortunately, even though there's thousands in rollover minutes, there's no cheaper minute plan.