Pay as you go cells?

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Pay as you go cells?
6
Thu, 02-15-2007 - 8:58am

I got the older two cells when they began driving and did traditonal plans

The 15 yr old is going to start staying at school for tutoring but it is a loose arangement and, with DH and I's job, things can often change. I want him to be able to call for rides or have us be able to call and tell him of changes in plans

This is the kid with verbal LDs-I would be shocked, although pleasantly surprised, if he used the phone for much else

Any experience with these pay as you go? It was pretty ovehwhelming googling with all the options

I expect he would get something more traditional when he starts driving so this is truly 'cheap and easy' for now

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-31-2007
Thu, 02-15-2007 - 9:42am
my son had a regular cell on our verizon plan and he continually went over the minutes etc and it was very costly so now we use virgin mobile and its month to month he gets 400 anytime min and nites and weekends are free once he gets to the 400 anytime minutes his phone doesnt work til after 7 which is great because we dont get all the charges for overages. Also, if he does something wrong, I dont have to renew the phone the next month. so far its worked great for me
Avatar for phacademy
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-13-2003
Thu, 02-15-2007 - 10:31am

We got DS a tracfone. For the phone and 450 minutes/ 1 year to use the minutes we paid $99.99 + tax. The phone actually ended up with 460 minutes and over a year before it expires. Hopefully this link works. http://www.tracfone-orders.com/direct/tr/itemdetl.jsp?prod=2992&tech=GSM4&techzip=76543

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iVillage Member
Registered: 11-28-1999
Thu, 02-15-2007 - 12:25pm
We got my 11 yo DS a pay as you go phone for Christmas. Since we had an experience w/ my DSD overcharging the minutes, I didn't want to deal w/ that hassle. Plus, he SAID he was only going to need it for emergencies, like when he had to get picked up from school. So we got one from Cingular and since our family plan for everyone else is on Cingular, he doesn't use his minutes when he talks to anyone else who is on Ciguglar, except that he gets charged $1.00 per day when using his phone. Of course, then he discovered that a lot of his friends had cell phones w/ Cingular too and started calling them. So much for emergencies. I explained that I would only buy a $25 phone card every 90 days and that if he used up more minutes, he would have to pay w/ his own money. Then I convinced him that he should just have his friends call him on the home phone, which costs nothing. So it seems that the novelty has worn off and he is calling from the home phone. The minutes really add up quickly, so I think these kinds of phones are only good for someone who only uses it rarely. If I thought he was going to use it a lot, it would only cost $10 a month to add him to our family plan, but then I would have to be checking his minutes all the time and I didn't feel like doing that. I will wait til he's older.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-06-2006
Thu, 02-15-2007 - 1:05pm

You might want to check the electronics department at Wal-Mart. When DS was about 10 and whining about being the only family member without a cell phone, I saw some pre-packaged phones & plans there.

I don't remember any specifics about the phone, plan, or minutes, but do remember you could walk out of the store with a working phone and a couple hundred minutes for about $30.

 

 

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2005
Fri, 02-16-2007 - 7:40am

We have tracfone here and love it. It's simple and very inexpensive manage.

stacy

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-04-2003
Fri, 02-16-2007 - 10:07am

When my Dad passed away, his pay as you go phone had over $200 worth of minutes on it. My mom told me to take the phone to use for emergencies for our oldest (12 at the time). Since he was too young to really need it on a regular basis, my husband and I always told him that it's our phone and we allow him to use it for our convenience. So, we hold on to the phone and give it to him when he's going to a basketball game, scout meeting, etc. when we're not sure of when he'll be finished. Next year when he is in high school, I'm sure he'll need a phone more often. I hope we can continue pay as you go for the reasons other posters have stated.

The phone/plan we have is Cingular. I don't like Cingular as a company, but we're stuck with them. I have friends who have Trac-phone who seem to be satisfied. The after 7pm free phone calls that someone described for Virgin Mobil sounds like a good idea to me. Kids might feel they have a little more freedom that way, as long as they confine their lengthy calls until evening. Good luck.