Tweens and phones! Need a prepaid flip phone recommendation

[Ashlotte]

Hi everyone. My ds 10 is insisting that he is one of the only kids in the fifth grade without a phone (which I know isn't true, but this is his perception). He does not need a phone, as he is either with us or another adult at all times, and he very rarely ever talks to his friends on the phone when we are at home. However, I can see this is a huge deal to him (he was near tears when he was explaining how left out he feels), and I am picking my battles... this one seems like not a big deal to cave on, especially since he is accepting the fact that a smartphone is out of the question (not okay with kids having unsupervised internet access). He is a good kid and doesn't ask for much (I can barely get a Christmas request out of him), so this seems like a good gift.

Which leads me to my question... can someone please recommend a good, prepaid flip phone? I want to make sure it is a prepaid phone and not a monthly service. That way if it is as important to him as he says it is, he will find ways to earn money to keep the service going.

TIA.

Edited to add: I think there is some bullying going on from some of his "friends" about my son's lack of access to technology, hence the near tears. Part of me wants to get him the phone just to take their power away.

 

[pitterpint23]

If you have a dollar store nearby they have a net10 phone there for cheap.

 

[MrsPete]

I doubt he's exaggerating. I'd say near 100% of my students have phones, though mine are older. Phones are the biggest status symbol of all for Tweens and teens.

 

[bjscheel]

My kids and I are all on Tracfone and it works good for us, other than when you want to roll over your number and minutes to a new phone it is a pain. But we don't do that too often, so otherwise I recommend it! We get the annual card so we only have to remember to re-up minutes once a year.

 

[RitaE]

There are so many services now it would really help everybody if you would give a budget

for the phone
how much you expect to pay for use and how often

Do you want him to have Texting or ONLY be able to make phone calls? I have to tell you, if part of your motivation is to cut down on teasing, just having a cheap phone to make calls on really isn't going to do much. The kids just don't call each other anymore - they text.

I know you said no smartphone but you might be interested in something like the new plans from Republic Wireless. You buy the phone ($299 for a Moto X Android) and then he gets unlimited calling and text for $10 a month. He only has Internet in places where he can connect to WiFi, so if you don't share the WiFi password with him, he can't be on the internet unsupervised. He can download games and books and music etc to the phone (with supervision) and play them offline. He can also text and talk.

If you go to the MrMoneyMustache blog there is a review out there of the service and a discount code which takes enough off that you are basically getting the first month for free.

Otherwise, you might be interested in a slider type phone with a keyboard for texting. Those are very reasonable in cost and a little more "cool" than just the flip phones.

 

[Ashlotte]

There are so many services now it would really help everybody if you would give a budget

for the phone
how much you expect to pay for use and how often

Do you want him to have Texting or ONLY be able to make phone calls? I have to tell you, if part of your motivation is to cut down on teasing, just having a cheap phone to make calls on really isn't going to do much. The kids just don't call each other anymore - they text.

I know you said no smartphone but you might be interested in something like the new plans from Republic Wireless. You buy the phone ($299 for a Moto X Android) and then he gets unlimited calling and text for $10 a month. He only has Internet in places where he can connect to WiFi, so if you don't share the WiFi password with him, he can't be on the internet unsupervised. He can download games and books and music etc to the phone (with supervision) and play them offline. He can also text and talk.

If you go to the MrMoneyMustache blog there is a review out there of the service and a discount code which takes enough off that you are basically getting the first month for free.

Otherwise, you might be interested in a slider type phone with a keyboard for texting. Those are very reasonable in cost and a little more "cool" than just the flip phones.

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. I guess my budget would be $100 or less for the phone and as many minutes as I could add for him to get him started. After that, I'd like him to have to pay for it if it is important to him. Yes, I would like the phone to also have texting. I think my dh is planning to get us both new smartphones for Christmas, which would mean our kids could take over our old phones (not too fancy- HTC Ones), but they would not have phone service-just used for the cameras and games (we'd change the Wifi password so they can't use it for that).

As for the teasing, I tried to tell him that even when he resolves what they are teasing him for now, they will find something new to tease about. Such is the nature with bullying behavior. He said he is totally okay with a flip phone because his best friend/"coolest kid in the fifth grade" (not the main teaser) has a flip phone (of course, that kid also has his own iPad...). He's never going to have all of the freedoms and material privileges his friends have, but I don't want him deprived to the point of resentment.

 

[Kayka]

I like ATT go phone. There are a few different plans but the one I like best (if you don't use the phone often) is the one that has NO MONTHLY FEES. You pay more per minute talk time and for texting you can pay per message (which gets expensive with kids) or pay like $20 per month unlimited texting.

I found it easiest to purchase a $100 card because it is good for a year. Lesser amounts expire in 30, 60 or 90 days. You can pay for talk-minutes or the texting plan out of the $100.

ATT offers a couple phones to choose from for cheap (or free), the no frills variety. You can probably get most of the info on the website, though last time I checked, it did not show the "no monthly fee plan" even though it was available (it's been a year or so since I looked into it). You may need to visit an ATT store or call to set it up.

 

[RitaE]

I have my Mom on something similar with PagePlus. The thing I really like about them is they use the Verizon network, so the coverage is excellent. I bought her phone from a used phone dealer for really cheap. It is the LG Cosmos which has a slide out keyboard.

I activated through KittyWireless - which is really the way to go if you use PagePlus because PagePlus has terrible customer service and Kitty Wireless is excellent. You can bring nearly any Verizon phone to PagePlus to have it activated but you really need to check the ESN first to make sure it isn't blocked. KittyWireless has a tool on their website to do that and they will help if you have problems.

The "top up" cards come in a couple of different denominations and will last for either 3 months or a year.

Most people I know with tweens did start their kids out on TracFone. It is a great service if you are not going to use the phone heavily because there are so many referral and double/triple minute deals and codes available that you can stretch the purchases out for a long time.