Paying for Kids' Unlimited Texting

[wenmc]

Deleted

 

[DVCLiz]

I pay for unlimited texting so I can keep in touch with my girls and they can text their friends and not have to worry about going over our family minute plan. It's an extra ten bucks a month. In my house that's not an unnecessary expense but a very, very minor expenditure. If someone is struggling to pay for texting they probably shouldn't have cell phones to begin with.

Off to see if we have any groceries in the refrigerator...

 

[RitaE]

OK guys, the "putting food on the table" was a figure of speech. I'm sure everyone is feeding their kids.

Yes well the fact still remains, of all the bazillion ways there are to waste money on your kids - I don't think cell phone use even comes close to the top 10. We have the lowest family plan available on AT&T and use all 5 lines. The kid phones cost us $9.99 a month for voice and then their share of the unlimited texting is $6. Heck, they spend more than that on one dinner at Applebees anymore.

In return, we've dropped our home phone coverage and all just use our cell phones and texting and my kids can always reach me to let me know what's going on.

Are the phones an absolute necessity? No. But they are a convenience and worth the money for us. The cost just isn't that big of an issue for the average family.

 

[golfgal]

I love texting-it is so much easier then calling, leaving a message, having to wait for someone to return the message, blah, blah, blah. I also find that most parents that don't text have never tried it and therefore don't understand it but once they do have texting and use it, find they won't go back. I would love to see cell phone companies have texting only plans quite honestly. My kids use MAYBE 10 minutes/month combined in air time.

 

[Momvic5]

As of yesterday, we are a texting family. My ds14 got his first cell phone, and we decided to add texting for the family. Up until recently, we rarely used our cell phones...we have a crazy amount of roll over minutes!! This year, my ds14 is a freshman and is playing football. The coaches prefer to communicate through texting...they do not require it, but they prefer it. After a few out of town games and missed messages, we decided we needed to step out of the dinosaur age and try texting. After just one day, we are loving it. Yes, you can live without it, but it sure is nice.

 

[golfgal]

As of yesterday, we are a texting family. My ds14 got his first cell phone, and we decided to add texting for the family. Up until recently, we rarely used our cell phones...we have a crazy amount of roll over minutes!! This year, my ds14 is a freshman and is playing football. The coaches prefer to communicate through texting...they do not require it, but they prefer it. After a few out of town games and missed messages, we decided we needed to step out of the dinosaur age and try texting. After just one day, we are loving it. Yes, you can live without it, but it sure is nice.

That is how all the kids in the marching band and the golf teams communicate too. One mom of a band member brings this up CONSTANTLY because her DD gets forgotten for a lot of things because they won't allow her to have a cell phone-well that is the MOM'S fault not all the other kids. Yesterday the kids were talking about a sectional today and they were in a huff because they, once again, didn't know about it. Well, if that is the mode of communication, maybe you should get a cell phone then or stop getting mad about it.

 

[Darcy03231]

I have US Cellular with 5 of us on a family plan. It's $20/mo for unlimited texting for all 5 of us.

 

[Chelley00]

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.

This is what we have. We have the lowest minute plan available, but have unlimited text.

DH and I text each other because a lot of the times, I'm not where I can grab my phone if he calls to ask a question, but I can respond to a text. Our teens text, and my oldest son doesn't live with us, so his main way of communicating is by text. I can send DS14 a text about after school pick up that won't make his phone ring, but he'll see it when he turns his phone on after school.

 

[MELSMICE]

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....

Same here. We have Verizon. I just asked DH if it was $10 for unlimited for us & he said he thought that's what it was........5 phones. Three of those phones have date plans also.

We always text each other. DH & I even text our friends & we are in the "old" category now (both 47!). I stay in contact with my instructors & assistants at my studio through texting too.

Texting is a change in the way people communicate. Think about it......when regular land line phones were starting to become standard in homes I'm sure there were people that said, "Why would I get a phone, I can walk to the neighbors if I want to talk to them?" Same could be said for a car & walking also. It's just the evolution of things in the world.

 

[SandrA9810]

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.

I have learned that lesson the hard way. Years ago in high school, I decided to use the long distance phone plan to call this guy I knew in Canada. I was working, but sometimes I forgot to get a calling card, and those cheap ones in the convenience store didn't always give me the amount of minutes it said it would. But of course the reliable ones like at Wal-Mart were more expensive.

I knew that the long distance was through MCI, so I checked out their rates online, and thought it was only paying like 15 cents a minute. Which wasn't that bad compared to prepaid card rates like walmart. Yeah, about 3 weeks later, my aunt received a phone call from them saying "Your bill is about to be sent out, do you know that it is significant long distance charges to Canada??" My aunt told them "Yes, my niece has been calling her friend, and will be paying for the additional charges." (I had told her I checked the rates online, and knew that I was making the phone calls from the home line rather than through the calling card) MCI guy "Do you realize the charges are in excess of 10,000$??"
Just about all hell broke loose. My aunt finally managed to get the charges reversed as if they were on the International Plan at 15 cents a minute, not the $1.35 a minute it was billed at. Which knocked it down to about 1,500$, and a payment was made.
After several phone calls to supervisors and upper management, she wrote a letter to MCI corporate office explaining the situation of everything going on. A few months later, a check came in the mail from MCI in the amount of the payment made to them. And I don't think there was ever a letter of explanation that came with it.

So yeah, if a kid can do it, they'll probably do it. Not knowing the consequences or financial burden a mistake like that can have on a parent.

 

[mhsjax]

I am one of those moms that has tried texting and I hate it. However, we do have unlimited texting because the kids love it and sometimes I do use it.

However to say that it is more convenient than leaving a message and waiting on a return call is the same as when you text me, in fact you will get me sooner than if you text me. I have a friend that texts me all the time, I get her message about 3 hours later when I look at my phone that is buried in my purse. If she would have just called me, then I would have answered the phone. So texting being more convenient doesn't apply to everyone.

 

[marcyinPA]

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.

We have ATT and we pay $30/month for the family text plan. Maybe it depends on the promotion you contract under?

Anyway, we don't have a lot of other bills. We pay $26 a month for our satellite service, while some families pay over $100 for cable. So, to flip the OP's question around, why do some people pay over $100 for t.v. channels when they don't have enough money for food?! I think most people just prioritize their available money and choose what they think is more important. I just look at this as one of our monthly bills.

Plus, my dh and I text quite a bit, with each other, my DS15, and our friends. Sometimes it's just easier!

 

[Pigeon]

I don't want my kids to have unlimited texting. Overall, I think it's detrimental to have them spend every minute with their noses in their phones. Dd would love to have it, but I wouldn't sign her up for it if they paid me.

She has a Tracfone, and I limit her to sending/receiving a total of about a dozen messages a day. It drives her crazy, but I'd rather she was interacting with the real world instead.

 

[golfgal]

I don't want my kids to have unlimited texting. Overall, I think it's detrimental to have them spend every minute with their noses in their phones. Dd would love to have it, but I wouldn't sign her up for it if they paid me.

She has a Tracfone, and I limit her to sending/receiving a total of about a dozen messages a day. It drives her crazy, but I'd rather she was interacting with the real world instead.

Texting IS the real world for teens. I know of NO teens that don't interact in the "real" world. I also know of no teens that spend every minute of the day with their noses in their phones.

 

[Jacoby 46]

We have Verizon and pay about $135 (on average) a month for 5 phones (4 Intensity and 1 Blitz) and that is with unlimited texting on all of them and 700 minutes shared but my husband is the only one who uses the minutes and the rest of us text all the time. That would include myself, DH, 24 year old DD, 13 year old DS and 11 year old DD.

 

[DVCLiz]

I don't want my kids to have unlimited texting. Overall, I think it's detrimental to have them spend every minute with their noses in their phones. Dd would love to have it, but I wouldn't sign her up for it if they paid me.

She has a Tracfone, and I limit her to sending/receiving a total of about a dozen messages a day. It drives her crazy, but I'd rather she was interacting with the real world instead.

Texting IS the real world for teens. I know of NO teens that don't interact in the "real" world. I also know of no teens that spend every minute of the day with their noses in their phones.

I think it's short-sighted to make texting a control issue. I'd much rather let my daughter choose how and when she wants to communicate with her friends, and take away the privilege if grades or behavior suffers, than say no and make her be out of the loop with a technology that literally every single one of her friends has. Just not my parenting style.

 

[disykat]

That is how all the kids in the marching band and the golf teams communicate too. One mom of a band member brings this up CONSTANTLY because her DD gets forgotten for a lot of things because they won't allow her to have a cell phone-well that is the MOM'S fault not all the other kids. Yesterday the kids were talking about a sectional today and they were in a huff because they, once again, didn't know about it. Well, if that is the mode of communication, maybe you should get a cell phone then or stop getting mad about it.

Wow - that's awful. I'm with the mom - leaving kids out of rehearsals because they don't have texting is horrible. There's absolutely no reason why they should be planning things so last minute that there's no time for announcements that come in another form. Unless a cell phone is listed as a requirement for marching band participation, they are clearly in the wrong and the mom has every right to be upset about it.

There are people that simply can't afford cell phones or just plain don't want them for whatever reason. I've never heard of cell phones being a "requirement" for school activities. As a parent who has chosen not to give my kids cell phones until age 16, I would be very unhappy about this being a requirement and would try to fight it unless a valid reason was giving for doing so.

I do know of quite a few people that are on foodstamps, welfare, etc., but pay to have unlimited texting. I agree with the OP that this is weird priorities.

 

[luvmy3]

That is how all the kids in the marching band and the golf teams communicate too. One mom of a band member brings this up CONSTANTLY because her DD gets forgotten for a lot of things because they won't allow her to have a cell phone-well that is the MOM'S fault not all the other kids. Yesterday the kids were talking about a sectional today and they were in a huff because they, once again, didn't know about it. Well, if that is the mode of communication, maybe you should get a cell phone then or stop getting mad about it.

I'd be mad too, that girl is still part of a team and regardless of how convenient a type of communication is, if someone on trhe team doesn't use it (for whatever reason they choose not to) then there should still be some form of communication used for them.
There's no reason to not text some of the girls or their parents, however the mom of that girl should be recieving a phone call, an email or a printed letter.

I don't want my kids to have unlimited texting. Overall, I think it's detrimental to have them spend every minute with their noses in their phones. Dd would love to have it, but I wouldn't sign her up for it if they paid me.

She has a Tracfone, and I limit her to sending/receiving a total of about a dozen messages a day. It drives her crazy, but I'd rather she was interacting with the real world instead.

My dd's best friend just got texting priveledges yesterday and I think she has sent dd about 100 texts already. The first one started at 8:30 this morning It got to the point that dd just turned her phone off

 

[NotUrsula]

Wow - that's awful. I'm with the mom - leaving kids out of rehearsals because they don't have texting is horrible. There's absolutely no reason why they should be planning things so last minute that there's no time for announcements that come in another form. Unless a cell phone is listed as a requirement for marching band participation, they are clearly in the wrong and the mom has every right to be upset about it.

There are people that simply can't afford cell phones or just plain don't want them for whatever reason. I've never heard of cell phones being a "requirement" for school activities.

I do know of quite a few people that are on foodstamps, welfare, etc., but pay to have unlimited texting. I agree with the OP that this is weird priorities.

Most of the folks I know who fall into the bolded category are not so much paying for unlimited texting as they are paying for a "hot" phone model (or one that was "hot" when they got it) and having no choice but to pay for the contract plan that it requires. And yes, the texting option is often an add-on, but very often the person is not really phone-service-savvy and got talked into signing on the dotted line without realizing that it was an option that could be dropped. Pre-paid phones are an excellent option for the cash-strapped, but the reality is that they are such a small part of the US market that the majority of consumers don't know that they exist, or go with the contract plans anyway because the pre-paids don't offer the most popular phone models.

I agree on the business of the texting-for-activities, but it is becoming common policy for extracurricular activities at affluent schools. If you are the poor-kid-out who doesn't have a cell phone or home internet service, you are essentially screwed. I don't see these kinds of practices at schools that have a high percentage of FRL-eligible kids.

 

[golfgal]

Wow - that's awful. I'm with the mom - leaving kids out of rehearsals because they don't have texting is horrible. There's absolutely no reason why they should be planning things so last minute that there's no time for announcements that come in another form. Unless a cell phone is listed as a requirement for marching band participation, they are clearly in the wrong and the mom has every right to be upset about it.

There are people that simply can't afford cell phones or just plain don't want them for whatever reason. I've never heard of cell phones being a "requirement" for school activities.

I do know of quite a few people that are on foodstamps, welfare, etc., but pay to have unlimited texting. I agree with the OP that this is weird priorities.

It isn't a matter of "affording the phone" as it is controlling their DD. They also send messages out on Facebook, which she is also not allowed to have, as a sophomore in high school. No one is leaving her out deliberately she is just the ONLY one without a phone and they forget. As far as last minute planning, that is just par for the course for marching band. Practices are scheduled and held but sectionals are separate and when you sign up for the band you are told this will happen. If you don't like it, you don't have to be in the band. The mom also raises a big stink every year if her DD doesn't have someone to sit by on the bus--there is ALWAYS someone to sit by, the kids just get on the bus and sit but for whatever reason this mom needs to make an issue out it and goes as far as going ON the bus to find someone to sit with her DD. Again, the mom has NO RIGHT to get mad at the other kids when it is HER rules that are causing the problems.