Pay as You Go Phones

Ok, I am trying to be as positive about this as possible. My daughter will be 9 in a month and I can not even fathom the idea of getting her a cellphone. SO, maybe I am missing something. For what reasons would it be a good idea since apparently many mom's have gotten their young children cell phones judging by the answers to this post.

I purchased T-Mobile to go phones. They have a great selection to choose from. If you spend $100.00 you get 1000 minutes that will last for a year. As long as your son is conservative with the minutes it works great. I've done it for two of my daughters. It worked well while they were under 10. However, my oldest turned 11 and went into middle school this year. She goes through 1000 minutes in a week. It's great to use as a reward system.

Hello there,

We actually got one of those for our daughter when she turned 16. She wasn't happy about it, she wanted to be on our plan, but we didn't want the extra charges. She kept it for about a year until she started working and could afford the Metro phone. For us, the pay as you go worked. She had to budget her phone time and we didn't have the arguments of her using up all of our shared minutes. If she talked too much, and ran out of minutes, she had to use the house phone until she could get another card. Texting use more of the time. We are not big believerw of young children having cell phone except for emergiences or when they would be away from us, so I think the prepaid, would work well for your child. It will assist in time management.

God bless

Dear McL,
We don't have as many options in our area as some folks do, no T-Mobile for instance.
I bought my son a Tracphone and never regretted it. It keeps track of how many minutes you have left right on the screen and he never, ever came close to going over. He was really responsible with it and it was great for his first phone. I think it was on sale at Radio Shack for about $15 and had games and all kinds of things on it. It was very convenient to add minutes on the computer and they have excellent customer service if you need help with anything.
He did so well with his Tracphone that his dad bought him an expensive phone last year that has texting and takes pictures, etc and put him on his plan since there's never been a concern of him over using his minutes.
One of my son's friends took his dad's expensive phone to school one day and it was promptly stolen and never returned. So, I think the inexpensive phones are best to start out with to test the responsibility waters first.
That's just my opinion.

Hi MC,

Getting our kids cell phones is such a big step isn't it?

It really depends on your son, and how he will use his new phone. I was just at AT&T a couple of days ago, and the lady said the biggest "misconception" about the "go-phones" are the texting, and im-proper use of the service agreement.

I think anyway will work for you, as long as you're aware of EVERYTHING (web broswers, texting, photos, minutes, etc)

I just got my 12 yr old his first phone a couple of months ago. He is on our "Family Plan". Although my son is a little older than yours, your son will still be very excited to have a new cell phone. I sat down with my son and went over his phone rules. For example, 5 texts allowed per day INCLUDING incoming, he will ALWAYS answer my calls, always EXIT the web browser, nobody is able to use his phone unless it's for an emergency, etc.....

He knows what is expected of him, and my son is doing a great job on his phone rules................so far :O) Middle School starts in a couple of weeks, so we'll see about it then.

In our case, I think it's important for my son to have a phone. He will be at a different school than I work at, and his brother goes to. I will also be a busier "Taxi Service" this year. As the oldest, there will be times he is waiting for me (for once in his life).....I feel better that he will have a phone to always contact me.

In your case, 9yrs old is still young, but you seem to have your reasons for considering this responsibility. Just make sure you are not getting him a cell phone because it's "the cool thing to do". Make sure it's when YOU think it's time. My son hounded me for a phone since 3rd grade, but just recently got his. My decision was based on when "I" thought it was time, not when "HE" thought it was time. My son respects his phone more because of it (again....so far).

I'm sure whatever you decide will be just fine for him.
~N. :O)

Years ago (about 8) my husband had the AT&T go phone and it was more expensive than it would have been to get an unlimited Metro pay-as-you-go. The minutes were so expensive and with our phone, it was linked to my bank account so if I went through my alotted minutes, it automatically renewed. Some months I got charged $60!Since the cell business has changed in the past 10 years, it might be very different but I would check to see how much the minutes cost as well as any fees that are charged.
many people I know have the Metro phones and that's the way to go. Unlimited calls and maybe even texts. No contract and no link to a bank account. You can't go over minutes and if you don't pay, they turn it off. No $500 phone bills to worry about.

Hi,
I have tried both the pay as u go & Metro Pcs(no minutes,flat monthly rate)....with our son. He only had the pay as u go for about a month....hated it.
We then got him signed up with Metro Pcs which he has had for 5 years. He never had any issues with the service. However, I did.....In the area where I work,I had issues using the service....everything roamed thru Reno? But it has been a couple years, I have heard that the coverage is better in this area now......
Our daughter now has a Metro phone. She is a 13yr old teenage girl, no way was I going to pay minutes.I would be sending my whole paycheck!!!! She can get the internet etc on her phone but I limit what she has access to. It offers unlimited minutes,unlimited text's,free long ditance(which I use to call family on the weekends)....anyway, we have been happy with it.....
Good Luck,
Lisa

They work well and there are some great plans out there, (we get the unlimited everything for about $50 a month) we have used Virgin and Boost, my only recommendation is to make sure that you program the numbers in for him and set up speed dial if the phone has it to make it easier, most of the pre-pay you have to put in the area code first and it is just easier for them to not have to worry about it. Good luck, your son will love it!

The 2 button one is called Fire Fly however I don't know how much it is.

I have Net10 and it ends up costing about $15 a month; previously I had Tracfone which ended up being about $10 a month. Both add service days when you add more minutes, and I haven't had any problems reciving a signal with either.

My niece was around the same age as your son when she got her first phone. I don't know if they still have this phone or what it is called, but it has two buttons on it. One for mom and one for dad. So your son would only be able to call you or his dad-or whoever the second option would be. You program two numbers into the phone. That way if he needs you he just presses the button with your number. It is a good starter phone. If you chose another option-I would keep away from camera phones and block texting.

My daughters first phone was a Trac Fone and worked out great. They will often give you double minutes when you purchase a phone and everytime you purchase more minutes but you hasve a service renewal date that you have to do even if you still have minutes left to keep your phone in service which is just purchasing more minutes so not that big of a deal you just have to remember.