Recommend a cell phone for a thirteen-year-old

In My Humble Opinion
1

I know: “A cheap one.” :stuck_out_tongue:

But seriously … I’d like to get my son his own cell phone for his birthday. I’m hoping there’s something out there that is robust enough to survive the sorts of things a thirteen-year-old boy is likely to do to it, is easy to operate for a new cell phone user, and looks cool enough that the other junior high school students won’t mock him. Any suggestions?

(I might give up on the surprise gift element & just let him shop with me … But I’d like to have one ready & activated for him to unwrap instead.)

2

Whatever it is, make it prepaid. No surprises that way.

Beyond that, I don’t see the point of a kid that age having a cell phone, but they seem to be under huge peer pressure to have one. Is he going to be texting a lot? Will he be talking a lot on it?

3

I wouldn’t worry about the “easy-to-operate” part. Regardless of what you get him, it will take him less than an hour to figure out how to use it. In terms of rugged/cool, DON’T get him a snazzy phone that has to be put in a case/holster for protection. That is decidedly uncool. For more ruggedness, don’t buy one with a huge screen. I had an LG VX6100 that was pretty indestructible. I never dropped it in water, but I dropped it just about everywhere else with no issue. Flip phones are good for this, because they fold over to protect the larger screen. If he is going to be texting a lot, the LG Voyager VX10000 is pretty darn cool looking.

4

I have a 12-year-old. He has a Virgin mobile, prepaid. Texting costs the same as phone messages (I think–all the air time is the same, I’m not sure if texting takes less air time, but I think so.)

I feel slightly funny saying I got my son a Virgin.

5

The only type I can recommend is “none”. Seriously, why does a 13-year-old need a cell phone? If the reason is so he can fit in with the kids who have one, that’s a not a good reason.

6

Get one where you control the numbers he can dial - home, school, key relatives, key neighbours.

7

I’d recommend [Net10](Live Your Best Wireless Life - Prepaid Phones & Plans | Net10 Wireless e) The phones are not too expensive (though they have a wide range) and the airtime is always ten cents a minute (they “charge” a half a minute for texting, if the model you choose supports texting). Never any roaming fees.

You can buy new minutes at Target or Wal Mart, or easiest of all, on their website.

I understand your point, but since when are birthday presents about what a kid “needs”? I mean, seriously, you’re gonna buy your kids what they need whether it’s their birthday or not. Birthdays and such are a good time for frivolity, which should be defined by what the family budget can stand, imho.

8

The trouble with cell phones is the ongoing expense, it’s not just a one-time deal.

9

Another vote for “none”.

10

Potential for good: slim

Potential for bad: infinite

11

[QUOTE=Gatopescado]
Potential for good: slim

Potential for bad: infinite
[/QUOTE]

By that logic, what is it ok to get a kid for their birthday? Clothes? Educational software?

12

[QUOTE=SCSimmons]
I know: “A cheap one.” :stuck_out_tongue:

But seriously … I’d like to get my son his own cell phone for his birthday. I’m hoping there’s something out there that is robust enough to survive the sorts of things a thirteen-year-old boy is likely to do to it, is easy to operate for a new cell phone user, and looks cool enough that the other junior high school students won’t mock him. Any suggestions?

(I might give up on the surprise gift element & just let him shop with me … But I’d like to have one ready & activated for him to unwrap instead.)
[/QUOTE]
I have a Tracfone and love it. If you get one of them, get one with double minutes for life (I just bought a Motorola W370, which comes with double minutes) or get a double minutes card. Then, any time you add minutes they’re automatically doubled (duh). Tracfones are fairly cheap so you wouldn’t be risking much if he thirteen-year-old boys it.

All the busybodies saying “none” are threadshitting and are in the wrong thread to begin with. The OP didn’t ask advice on IF he should buy his son a cell phone, he’s already made up his mind and wants advice on WHICH ONE. Let’s all assume that SCSimmons just wants to keep in touch with his son and will teach the boy phone manners and responsibility.

13

I’ve had a Trac Fone since…I can’t remember. I’ll second equipoise’s “Double minutes” thing. I’d like to say I think you can teach an object lesson with it. “You’ve used all your minutes already? That’s a shame! Time to find a way to earn more!”

But, if your object is to give the son a cell that allows him to call home in an emergency…I got nothing.

14

Honestly not trying to snark, I’m truly curious, having never owned a TracFone. Aren’t TracFone minutes 25 cents per? If so, even if you “double” them, they’re 12.5 cents per minute, whereas my trusty Net10 (also not pricey) is only 10 cents a minute.

Does TracFone truly have something going for it that Net10 doesn’t that makes it worth the extra money? (I’ll grant you if you go the “double minutes” route, it’s not a lot more money but still, that extra 2.5 cents a minute can add up over time.

My guess is what they really have going for them is more advertising. But, as always (heh, as usual), I could be wrong. :wink:

Amen! My oldest daughter never had a cell phone as a teenager (she’s 21 now, they just weren’t very common then) and yet, managed to get into all kinds of trouble. She didn’t have an mp3 player, her own computer, her own TV, none of that stuff (we were kinda broke in those days. . .) and yet, trouble ensued. Now, if she’d had a cell phone, I’m sure she would have used it to hook up with the folks who were supplying her with drugs and alcohol and to hook up with the men she was sleeping with who were old enough to be her father. But not having it certainly never kept her from doing any of those things.

My 17YO EtherealFreakOfPinkness has a cell phone and an mp3 player and her own TV and DVD player (not her own computer, though), and she’s a great kid.

I don’t think that getting kids this stuff gets them into trouble. Part of it (a big part of it) is in how they’re raised in general, and another part of it is teaching them how to handle this stuff responsibly, and enforcing consequences when these things are misused. Part of it is just whether the kids has more “good kid” tendencies than “bad kid” tendencies.

Wow, do I know how to hijack or what?

Sorry. Back to our regularly scheduled thread. . .

15

[QUOTE=norinew]
Honestly not trying to snark, I’m truly curious, having never owned a TracFone. Aren’t TracFone minutes 25 cents per? If so, even if you “double” them, they’re 12.5 cents per minute, whereas my trusty Net10 (also not pricey) is only 10 cents a minute.

Does TracFone truly have something going for it that Net10 doesn’t that makes it worth the extra money? (I’ll grant you if you go the “double minutes” route, it’s not a lot more money but still, that extra 2.5 cents a minute can add up over time.

My guess is what they really have going for them is more advertising. But, as always (heh, as usual), I could be wrong. :wink:

[/QUOTE]

The amount you pay per minute depends on how you buy the cards. The more minutes you buy, the better the deal.

IIRC when I bought my 450 minute card it was $80. Since my minutes are double, that’s 900 minutes for $80, about 9 cents a minute.

Note, however, that you’re really buying two things—minutes and service time. That card came with 90 days of service. It’s a moot point for me because I’ve gone through enough minutes/bought a new card within the service dates that I’m good on service for the next two years. I don’t have to make a single call and it won’t fall out of service. If they sold just minutes, I’d be all over that.

The OP should know that it doesn’t matter whether I make the call or receive it, the minutes come off. Also, there’s no bill to indicate whom I called, how long I talked, etc. Maybe that matters to the OP, or maybe not.

The best thing about Trac Fone is that they don’t own any cell towers; they just rent time from them. So if I understand correctly, if you have T-Mobile but you’re not near a T-Mobile tower, you’re SOL. But I can use that tower.

http://tracfone.com/why_tracfone.jsp

16

[QUOTE=norinew]
Aren’t TracFone minutes 25 cents per?
[/QUOTE]
Not all of them. Depending upon which minutes+airtime package you choose, they range from 34 to 18 cents per. There are also occasional special offers for even less.

17

I’m trying to think of what teens are likely to do with it…I see lots of kids texting. Double check me because I never do it, but I think Trac Fone charges half a minute for sending one, and probably ditto on receiving them.

One area in which Trac Fone kind of “cheats” is that the phone doesn’t track seconds. If I make a 5 second call, it’s going to take one minute out of my time. As stated above, they can charge half a minute for texting, so why not deduct half a minute? If I call you ten times and you don’t pick up the phone so I hang up after a few seconds, I’ve just used ten minutes…it starts the deduction from when I’ve accessed the network.

Another thing Trac Fone has added: you can buy minutes FROM your phone. Meaning, if your car breaks down but whoops, your Trac Fone is out of minutes, you can use a credit card to add them right there.

Here’s a thought, OP: I notice you’re in Texas. How about those “long distance but still in the state of Texas” calls? Like, 25 cents a minute from a landline? It’s cheaper to call on a cell phone? How sick is that?

Another thing: I don’t have voice mail. I kinda hassled with trying to set it up but ultimately gave up. Maybe I could call tech support but then…thing is, I bought the phone to keep in the car for emergencies. If someone calls and leaves a message, maybe I won’t even think to check. They’d leave a message and think I’ll be calling them back. So maybe it’s better that they know they didn’t connect. My phone does note that I received a call, time/date.

18

For my TracFone I pay $20 every 3 months, and get 120 minutes. Actually more like 140 with a 20 minute bonus code. Anyway, that works out to 16 cents per minute with 120 minutes. So I guess Net10 might be better depending on how good their service is. TracFone works everywhere I go, I have to wonder why people pay $50 a month for a cell phone that doesn’t even work except in urban areas.

19

Thanks for fighting my ignorance on TracFones!

My Net10 doesn’t work in certain rural locations (but mostly the same rural locations where no cell phones work because there are no towers).

They do bill by the half-minute. If the call lasts a half-minute or less, that’s what they charge you.

You cannot add air time from the phone (though it would be a cool idea)

They do charge whether you are making or receiving calls

They have this weird thing on their website where they insist that they do not have service in our area. Therefore, they will not give us a cell phone with a local area code. However, they really do work just fine in our area. It’s just that we have to pick an area code in Baltimore and register with a Baltimore address, or a WV area code and register with a WV address (which is a non-problem for us; hubby’s parents live just outside of Baltimore, so we use that address for his and my daughter’s; for mine, we prefer a WV area code, because we own rental properties in WV, use that address for registering, and our tenants and prospective tenants can call us without incurring long-distance charges. For the types of properties we own, that gets to be an important point. We rent to a lot of “rural poor” kinds of folks).

As I said above, they charge a half-minute for texting

The phones do have games, and there is no charge for playing them :slight_smile: . However, they are lame games :frowning:

The minutes do expire. A 300 minute “card” (they call it a card even if you buy it online and there’s no actual card) is good for 30 days of service. The longer cards last for longer. However, if you “top off your minutes” before they expire, they do “roll over”

20

[QUOTE=norinew]

The minutes do expire. A 300 minute “card” (they call it a card even if you buy it online and there’s no actual card) is good for 30 days of service. The longer cards last for longer. However, if you “top off your minutes” before they expire, they do “roll over”
[/QUOTE]

That kinda sounds like the minutes don’t expire really. TracFone requires you to add minutes every 3 months or you lose your minutes and phone number. Otherwise your minutes keep adding up, I’m up to 240 or something on mine, shows you how much I use it. I really love paying about $7 a month for a cell phone.