Kid cell phone options…

rockcity

rockcity

everyday is a chance to get better
Joined
Apr 10, 2005
Location
Greenville, NC
My girls are getting to the age where it’s probably about time to get them some phones.

We currently have Verizon. Additional lines are about $60 from what my wife said, which is absurd….

I’m looking for something much more affordable. Something with data, probably 10G or even unlimited if the price is right. Hopefully a carrier that is pretty universal with phones as I’m sure my girls will want iPhones and I’m not real keen on paying full price from the carrier.

Anyway, was checking out Consumer Cellular and their prices are awesome compared to my Verizon phone. Anyone have experiences with Consumer Cellular or any of the other discount carriers? I can get two lines of unlimited coverage for $65/month plus taxes. Seems like a great option but I’m open to ideas.

My girls don’t travel much without us, so if they have limited coverage, it’s probably not a major issue.
 
Spectrum in your area? We switched from Verizon and haven’t noticed anything but faster internet. Verizon would throttle me back way before I used my data. We pay 30$ for 2 lines. bOGo for 1 year. Then it’s 29 a line after that. Even cheaper if you do data by the gig. Taxes and all included.
 
Visible (Verizon network) $25/mo unlimited data, talk, text. have it for 3 of our 6 accounts after swapping from Verizon. Still have 3 accounts on Puppy Wireless (Verizon network):
$10 per month which includes 250 Talk, 250 Text, & 200MB Data. Talk overage is $0.015, Text overage is $0.015, & Data overage is $0.03. Unlimited does not mean unreasonable and user must adhere to fair use policy.
$20 per month which includes 3000 Talk, Text, & 500MB Data. Talk overage is $0.015 and Data overage is $0.03. Unlimited does not mean unreasonable and user must adhere to fair use policy.
$26 per month which includes 5000 Talk, 5000 Text, & 2GB Data. Data overage rate is $.02. Unlimited does not mean unreasonable and user must adhere to fair use policy.

Had times where both Verizon and Visible were a dead zone in the the VA and NC mountains with no coverage, but the Puppy Wireless had two bars.
 
what age?

do they actually need a cell phone or just a device to call you and mom?
 
BRUISER said:
what age?

do they actually need a cell phone or just a device to call you and mom?
Click to expand...

They will be 13. They don’t “need” any electronics at all, cell phone included; he’ll, I was 20 before I got my first cell phone and I paid for it.

They want something to keep in touch with their friends and call/text us if needed. They want an iPhone, anything less and they will not use it 🙄
 
Andy J. said:
This. I REALLY wish we had just went with a flip phone instead of a smartphone for my daughter. We’re about to repossess her iPhone and replace it with a flipper and it’s going to be ugly…
Click to expand...

This will probably be us as well but they want to text and message their friends, etc. and search the internet, etc. They do not have social media but do enjoy watching you tube, etc in their down time.
 
rockcity said:
They will be 13. They don’t “need” any electronics at all, cell phone included; he’ll, I was 20 before I got my first cell phone and I paid for it.

They want something to keep in touch with their friends and call/text us if needed. They want an iPhone, anything less and they will not use it 🙄
Click to expand...
Look into TextNow. Thats what we got Delaney (now 12.5) once she started doing theater tech and other things where she'd need to call or text us for activities.

TextNow has a deal where you get a SIM card for $1 mailed to you. Unlimited texts and voicemail, NO DATA.
Then of course anytime you have wifi access it has full web functionality. She's using that on an old hand-me-down S7. Its been perfect for us. Only downside is I wish I could use a newer version of Android w/ more security features (its a bootloader locked Verizon phone so can't reimage).

Its been great bc she only uses the phone for txt when she's away from home.
 
Buy them princesses iphones and quit being a cheap ass.

Verizon is bleeding customers to ATT right now. We switched and have 4 lines unlimited and got 4 new phones "free" and its under $160 month for the 4 even after taxes and bs fees.
 
Consumer Cellular is fine. It's AT&T's network. We had the in-laws on it for a number of years until he passed and her Alzheimer's progressed past needing a phone.
 
whatever you get. Look into Circle.

it allows you to control time on phone, what they are watching, age restrictions, BLOCK social media :)

and you can control it from your phone.
 
rockcity said:
They will be 13. They don’t “need” any electronics at all, cell phone included; he’ll, I was 20 before I got my first cell phone and I paid for it.

They want something to keep in touch with their friends and call/text us if needed. They want an iPhone, anything less and they will not use it 🙄
Click to expand...
13 is the hard age as most kids are getting phones at like 10 which is NUTS. My kids were 13. and we had to monitor them closely.

I did used iphones because they WILL break it even with a case on it, or lose it (make sure find my iphone is turned on)

With the restrictions I put in place they are more willing to put the phone down and walk away from it then if we did not do that. and I do not allow ANY social media. Yes they yelled a bit I just shrugged my shoulders and moved on after a few days they stopped. about once a year they ask and I just say no and move on.

DO not let them have full freedom you will regret it
 
BRUISER said:
13 is the hard age as most kids are getting phones at like 10 which is NUTS. My kids were 13. and we had to monitor them closely.

I did used iphones because they WILL break it even with a case on it, or lose it (make sure find my iphone is turned on)

With the restrictions I put in place they are more willing to put the phone down and walk away from it then if we did not do that. and I do not allow ANY social media. Yes they yelled a bit I just shrugged my shoulders and moved on after a few days they stopped. about once a year they ask and I just say no and move on.

DO not let them have full freedom you will regret it
Click to expand...

this x100000

letting our kids get iphones was the worst parenting decision we have made so far and they were 14 before they got them. we have all sorts of content and screen time restrictions and they just keep getting around them.
 
All kidding aside, the phone is a great way to start having them learn responsibility (what to do, what not to do, keeping up with stuff, etc).

We don't content restrict our kid when they got their phone when they were around 13 (I know not a very popular opinion). Hell the chromebook school gave them isn't even locked down. They had an iPod, laptop, etc access so restricting just the phone doesn't get us much, like others said there is always a way to get around them, all the kids talk at school so they all know ways to defeat them. We work a lot with our kid on what is appropriate and what consequences come from action. I'd rather them fail now on stuff in a safe place with us, then down the road. We do have very strict screen time rules though on when they can use it, etc. They also will lose their phone if they break rules, etc.

Like @Metto said though, it is one of the biggest struggles we have had though.

Our kid just has straight talk, we haven't use the "major" carrier in years, as its too expensive for what it is. I use visible, kid and mom use straight talk, both on the verizon network, both work just fine for like 45 bucks a month for unlimited. Visible is supposed to have better data priority, so that is why I went with it.
 
DSM Turbos said:
All kidding aside, the phone is a great way to start having them learn responsibility (what to do, what not to do, keeping up with stuff, etc).

We don't content restrict our kid when they got their phone when they were around 13 (I know not a very popular opinion). Hell the chromebook school gave them isn't even locked down. They had an iPod, laptop, etc access so restricting just the phone doesn't get us much, like others said there is always a way to get around them, all the kids talk at school so they all know ways to defeat them. We work a lot with our kid on what is appropriate and what consequences come from action. I'd rather them fail now on stuff in a safe place with us, then down the road. We do have very strict screen time rules though on when they can use it, etc. They also will lose their phone if they break rules, etc.
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I'm in this camp. Quickly realized that while I am smarter than our 12 y/o in many ways, and even with most technology, I am not smarter than the combined knowledge of hundreds of teenagers. Any restriction will just have a crowdsourced effort to find a way around... some kid in Ohio figures it out and word gets around fast. We can't restrict every device they use, so there's really no point - I'd rather put my time into building faith and trust between us and being completely up front about the realities of the world and the consequences of their actions.
I grew up in a household that was really restrictive about what we watched on TV or what kinds of games were allowed etc, and all it did was push me to find new ways to see what I wanted through other people. I can 100% guarantee our daughter would just go to a friends' house and use their unrestricted device.

So we just don't overtly restrict things. The only thing remaining is the "too much screen time" problem which is dealt with via simple rules.
 
Id get them the Light phone and let them prove their responsibility with it before exposing them to internet and apps and screen addiction potential at such a young age (this is just me and how i handle mine). Its simple and gets the job done.

www.sportique.com

The Light Phone II Minimalistic Cell Phone | Gray

A phone is a tool, and it should serve you as the user, not the other way around. The Light Phone is a phone that actually respects youThe Light Phone is built around a user-customizable toolbox where you will be able to easily add or remove various tools using the Dashboard.
www.sportique.com www.sportique.com

I focus on responding to texts in a timely manner, being responsible with keeping it charged, not losing it, calling people back in a timely manner. Etc. I focus on phone etiquette before he gets exposed.
 
Ron said:
Buy them princesses iphones and quit being a cheap ass.

Verizon is bleeding customers to ATT right now. We switched and have 4 lines unlimited and got 4 new phones "free" and its under $160 month for the 4 even after taxes and bs fees.
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I might need to make this switch. We pay $175 a month for 2 phones and 4Gigs of shared data....that includes the lease payment for the phones.
 
ckruzer said:
Id get them the Light phone and let them prove their responsibility with it before exposing them to internet and apps and screen addiction potential at such a young age (this is just me and how i handle mine). Its simple and gets the job done.

www.sportique.com

The Light Phone II Minimalistic Cell Phone | Gray

A phone is a tool, and it should serve you as the user, not the other way around. The Light Phone is a phone that actually respects youThe Light Phone is built around a user-customizable toolbox where you will be able to easily add or remove various tools using the Dashboard.
www.sportique.com www.sportique.com

I focus on responding to texts in a timely manner, being responsible with keeping it charged, not losing it, calling people back in a timely manner. Etc. I focus on phone etiquette before he gets exposed.
Click to expand...
Just to be an asshole - by the age of 12, you think they haven't been exposed to the internet and apps yet? They've been using similar things in school for several years. Just a bigger screen. And all their friends have stuff.
 
Last edited:
A bunch of people we know use Life360 to keep tabs on their kids and seem to really like it. Our girls are 6 (7 in July!!), so we're hopefully a ways away from this conversation.
 
ckruzer said:
Id get them the Light phone and let them prove their responsibility with it before exposing them to internet and apps and screen addiction potential at such a young age (this is just me and how i handle mine). Its simple and gets the job done.

www.sportique.com

The Light Phone II Minimalistic Cell Phone | Gray

A phone is a tool, and it should serve you as the user, not the other way around. The Light Phone is a phone that actually respects youThe Light Phone is built around a user-customizable toolbox where you will be able to easily add or remove various tools using the Dashboard.
www.sportique.com www.sportique.com

I focus on responding to texts in a timely manner, being responsible with keeping it charged, not losing it, calling people back in a timely manner. Etc. I focus on phone etiquette before he gets exposed.
Click to expand...

$299? Cheap flip phones are better value
 
orange150 said:
A bunch of people we know use Life360 to keep tabs on their kids and seem to really like it. Our girls are 6 (7 in July!!), so we're hopefully a ways away from this conversation.
Click to expand...

Our kid and I use it also. They can track me and I can track them. Makes it easy if I am coming to pick them up from school or we go to the fair or something like that.
 
DSM Turbos said:
$299? Cheap flip phones are better value
Click to expand...
The better value is to get on eBay and a year old model new full fledged smartphone for $150. Then if you wish to be controlling you have the latest Android to work with.
 
orange150 said:
A bunch of people we know use Life360 to keep tabs on their kids and seem to really like it. Our girls are 6 (7 in July!!), so we're hopefully a ways away from this conversation.
Click to expand...
Life360 annoys me with their incomplete data. The speed tracker only goes up to 100mph. :(
 
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