We have two daughters, ages 11 and 12. Each wants a cell phone. Very badly. They nag me about it 20 times a day.
I know next to nothing about cell phones. I have a very old Nokia that I keep for emergencies, but it’s a very simple phone… small B&W screen, no internet, no keyboard, etc.
So today I perused the websites of Sprint, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. I was confused; I don’t know what a lot of the technical terms mean. As an example, I finally figured out that messaging = text messaging. :o
So which carrier should I use? What plan should I buy? What phone should I get?
A few more tidbits:
Both are technically savvy. The oldest has an iPod Touch, and both have mastered it. And they’re both a wiz at on the PC.
I have a feeling they won’t be using their phones much for voice communication. So I expect the monthly talk hours won’t be very high.
Being pre-teens, I suspect they will want to do more texting than talking.
I installed a Netgear wireless router in our home. If possible, I think it would be cool if they could use their phones to surf the internet via our wireless router.
A camera would be nice, but not required.
I’d obviously like to keep the monthly charges as low as possible.
Plan on getting them both unlimited texting. To use the internet, you need to get a data plan, too, unless they’re only going to go through the wi-fi at home. Many phones have mandatory data plans that go with them. It’s going to add up to a lot of money fast, and that doesn’t even take into consideration the voice communication. When I was looking for my daughters, TMobile had the cheapest rates with their family plan. You’ll have to check each company and do the math.
I started with 500 texts–didn’t work out well. Then when she wanted internet I started out with the basic plan–didn’t work out well. By not well I mean she often went over it enough that it made no sense. 500 texts is nothing to a teen girl and at something like .10 a text after the plan you could potentially run up some big bills.
So I updated it to unlimited text and a 25mb internet plan and that works. I make her monitor the internet plan and she does a good job on it. She is now almost 15 but I got her the phone about age 11 or so.
Frankly to be honest with you, I find that I do a lot of my communication with her via text. There have been some times when she didn’t want to do something with her friends and she can text me and let me know–then I can call and be all Big Dad on her and she can get out of a situation and save face. I can also check up on her and she can be discrete and I know she is okay and her friends have no idea that I was checking up on her. It isn’t like they can see who she texts.
Get her a good texting phone and you can’t go wrong. Personally I would avoid the touch screen phones (unfortunately I didn’t heed my own advice and my daughter always complains about that aspect of her phone). Since I text a fair amount with her I just got a new phone that works well as a texting phone but gives me what I want as well–a Samsung Alias with Verizon. No complaints so far. It has a nice keyboard to text and functions well as a regular phone.
A family plan is the most cost effective option. Cell companies are moving away from unlimited data at a fixed rate to rate bans. Practically all cell phones these days come with cameras. Some phones will work through your wireless router.
Your ultimate concern should be what and how your daughters use their cell phones. You must be very careful here or your phone bill can bankrupt you. Seriously. Some jurisdictions are beginning to take sexting with a critical eye approaching zero tolerance. Sharing “selected” photos taken with cell phone is called child pornography.
I must be old because i can’t see the point of using a phone for internet access. The few times I’ve tried to look something up on my Blackberrry I just can’t see anything. I find it very unsatisfying.
Texting will probably be the most important thing to your girls so I’d suggest a phone with a QWERTY keyboard. I bought my girls the cheapest thing going because I was trying to teach them a lesson about consumerism and about how an 11 year old doesn’t need an iPhone but depending on your family life, some things just aren’t worth getting so worked up over. So I upgraded “gadget girl’s” phone to something more useable and she’s happy as a clam. The other one could care less.
That is more a comment on the Blackberry than anything. It is a terrific business phone but the browser and small screen size make browsing very difficult and some web sites just plain do not work. The iPhone is much better for browsing, and music but is a lousy phone and email is so-so. So you really need to work out what is important to you and select the phone accordingly. I went with a Palm Pre Plus - good browser, good email (but not as good as the BlackBerry for typing), not so good on apps or music, but they are not important to me.
As the parent of a 13 year old and a 15 year old, I’d strongly recommend getting them prepaid phones at least at first.
Both of my kids have lost their cell phones at least once. My daughter has lost hers twice (she found phone #1 a few weeks after we replaced it; when she lost #2 we re-activated #1). We’re *extremely glad we didn’t lock ourselves into contracts!!
Also - the kids do not need fancy phones. Even the 30 dollar prepaid phones have cameras, and the kids can send text messages using the numeric keypad.
There tend to be various pricing plans - pay-per-message, daily fee + free texting, etc.
One thing to think about: if you set the kids up with a certain amount per month, they won’t be able to blow any texting limit and run up huge bills. At the end of their 10 bucks (or whatever), they’re done.
My kids each get 10 dollars a month in air time and neither has come anywhere CLOSE to using that up (this is because neither of my kids is especially social; your kids might well blow 10 bucks on the third day).
Anyway - at least initially, I’d be VERY leery of a contract phone. Even if the kids are very responsible, losses happen. While a prepaid might NOT be the best option in your case, there are plans out there which don’t require a contract and do offer unlimited talk/text (Boost seems to have one such).
You have two entirely aeparate issues to consider – the phone and the plan. I don’t know anything about plans, but buy the dirt cheapest phones you can find to start with. They will lose them or break them.
If they can manage not to lose them or break them for maybe 6 months or a year, you might then consider a pricier model.