Cheap cell phone for youngster?

Hey guys,

We have a simple cell phone plan from AT&T for about the past 2-3 years. Before that we had an even simpler Verizon plan that originally had two phone, but then went to just the one phone my wife had(flip phone). Around the time of the flip from VZ to AT&T we decided that our oldest son should have a phone. He was probably 13 or so, and was doing after school stuff, and needed a way to communicate with us. We got him a new smart phone, and upgraded my wifes iPhone at the time. We started with a simple 2GB data plan, and then upped it to 4 as we were using more than we anticipated. Now I think we have 6 GB.

Now son number 2 is bugging us to activate the old VZ smart phone that I had some 4-5 years ago. He uses it as a device on the Wi-Fi at home, but wants it activated to use as a phone. He's a nervous kid that just started middle school, and will be walking to and from school which is really close, but again he's a nervous kid.

Yesterday after hockey practice we went to AT&T to look over our options. Seems that adding a 3rd phone cost $20 a month for the line, and possibly $7-8 per month for the phone lease(smart phone). I asked about just activating the old VZ phone, but they said it wouldn't work. The salesguy recommended maybe upping the data plan to cover the 3rd phone as well, and that added $20 a month over our current bill to go from 6GB to 10GB, or $30 a month to jump to 16GB. The third option was their unlimited plan which would add $85 a month plus the cost of the phone.

I inquired about just a simple flip phone which my son was okay with, and that added the same $20 a month for the line, and $2-3 a month for the phone or the option to just pay for it on the first billing cycle. The flip phone is okay with me, but sucks to text from which would probably be the preferred way for a youngster to communicate.

The pay as you go was an option as well, but is $35 a month, and only allows for 1GB of data I believe.

Is there any other options in the world of pre-paid no contract possibly for a kid this young to just allow him to call or text us? He can still use my old VZ smart phone on the Wi-Fi at home. Eventually I'm sure we will get him his own smart phone on our plan, and up the data plan, but at 11 I just don't think that time is now, and he doesn't seem like he wants that anyway. Could we just get a prepaid card for the VZ phone we have now?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

I just added my son (middle school also) to our plan and it was just $20 a month because we used our old iphone I repaired. Not sure what the extra money for leasing is if you already have a phone.

My wife doesn't want a smart phone, but she hates texting on a T-9 (flip phone) keyboard and she wanted to be able to show off pictures of the kids to coworkers, so we just recently got her set up with a used LG Xpressions 2 from a seller on amazon (look under the "New & Used from $29" area).

We paired that with an account on Ting. She doesn't use Data on that phone, so the monthly bill ends up being around $14 per month. You might be able to activate your old phone on there, too?

A friend has a cheap Android based smart phone he bought on Amazon for $99 that he uses on Ting and has been pretty happy with it, generally pays less than $20/month since he mostly uses WiFi..

Edit: It looks like Ting has a bunch of smart phones around the C-note mark, too.

NEALSMO wrote: I just added my son (middle school also) to our plan and it was just $20 a month because we used our old iphone I repaired. Not sure what the extra money for leasing is if you already have a phone.

VZ phone (old one he uses as a device) on AT&T network. Was told it wouldn't work by AT&T salesman.

I'm another person on Ting as well. Wife and I together average about $30/month for our two phones. But we're light on texting, and really only use data for Nav... so it's a good trade-off for us.

re:Wonko & LG
thanks for the heads up on the LG Xpressions, might be a good option for my wife who is similarly cellphone oriented

Mazdax605 wrote:

NEALSMO wrote: I just added my son (middle school also) to our plan and it was just $20 a month because we used our old iphone I repaired. Not sure what the extra money for leasing is if you already have a phone.

VZ phone (old one he uses as a device) on AT&T network. Was told it wouldn't work by AT&T salesman.

That's probably legit. VZW uses CDMA, AT&T uses GSM. Newer smartphones tend to have both kinds of radio, but the older ones probably don't.

Cheapest way to go would probably be to find a used slider dumbphone and just activate it on AT&T. That way he has a real keyboard for texting. If you want to go with a smartphone, the Moto G is an excellent budget choice and he'd probably get more use out of it than with an older model.

I got tired of plan fee's so we went to verizon prepaid. 20 dollar plan on a 30 dollar flip phone from wal mart is what my kids take to friends. You can get a smart phone for 40ish and that plan is 40 a month for 4gb of data.

sleepyhead wrote: I'm another person on Ting as well. Wife and I together average about $30/month for our two phones. But we're light on texting, and really only use data for Nav... so it's a good trade-off for us. re:Wonko & LG thanks for the heads up on the LG Xpressions, might be a good option for my wife who is similarly cellphone oriented

hat tip

Cheapest? Sprint is giving away unlimited call and data +10gb tether for just taxes and fees for a whole year.

I didn't want to add on and lose my grandfathered ATT unlimited so I am doing this for my son;

Buy any of the phones on the list (used is fine as long as it's unlocked and not stolen) Motorola G4 play unlocked was cheapest around $110 shipped new on ebay. Get a T-mobile sim, call to activate pay as you go, get phone number and create pin number.

https://slickdeals.net/f/10235008-one-year-of-free-unlimited-data-at-sprint-then-60-mo-for-line-1-40-mo-for-line-2-30-mo-line-for-lines-3-5

I've been using Republic Wireless for about 3 years. reasonable all around - pricing, coverage. Hardware is limited, but there are inexpensive phones that work. Not a fan of wrapping phone cost into a contract - mine's 3 years old and about time to replace, but the 2 year contract that comes with a "free" replacement phone is just evil.

We have 3 phones, with 2, .5, and 0GB data and all do Wifi offload - under $60/month for everything.

I'm with Cricket and have been for about 2.5 years. My kids who are now 13, 10, 10 have had phones since I signed up with them. I got them the free phones that came with the plan. I don't know how much data we get, but it's a decent amount...and they use our wifi at home anyway. The phones were all recently replaced, and we got them the cheapest androids they have...like $25 each or something. They work great. I pay $100 per month for 5 lines, including taxes.

Old VZ phone not compatible with Ting.

My kids both have old Sprint phones that are on Ting service. It is around $24/month total for the two lines and it's plenty for what they need.

I'm like Klayfish. Cricket is on a good network (att) and reasonable-ish. If you buy a real cheap smart phone, beware a couple apps and some photos will fill them up fast.

How about Freedompop? I use a Moto G4 Play with a freedompop sim as my weekend phone (disconnected from all of the work crap on my other phone). There are tons of tutorials on how to not have a monthly payment, or a really cheap one. I bought a SIM kit already activated from a reseller that didn't need any management for free service. The catch is that you have to use their app for calls and texts and you have to make one call with the app every month.

DuctTape&Bondo wrote: Cheapest? Sprint is giving away unlimited call and data +10gb tether for just taxes and fees for a whole year. I didn't want to add on and lose my grandfathered ATT unlimited so I am doing this for my son; Buy any of the phones on the list (used is fine as long as it's unlocked and not stolen) Motorola G4 play unlocked was cheapest around $110 shipped new on ebay. Get a T-mobile sim, call to activate pay as you go, get phone number and create pin number. https://slickdeals.net/f/10235008-one-year-of-free-unlimited-data-at-sprint-then-60-mo-for-line-1-40-mo-for-line-2-30-mo-line-for-lines-3-5

Completed and signed up for offer. Here is what I did for those interested (completely new phone number, not starting with an existing line);

1) Buy unlocked phone - disregard if you already have eligible phone (refer to eligible phones list on SlickDeals thread)

2) Go to Apple Store (we used an iPhone hence Apple Store) get 1 T-Mobile and 1 Sprint Sim card. Free. They don't even ask your name or appointment or anything. Just tell the greeter what you need and they'll have it brought out from the back and send you on your way. If your phone isn't compatible with iPhone Sim card, you will have to get a T-Mobile and Sprint Sim from another source. Some places will charge. May have some luck at Target or Costco.

3) Call T-Mobile 844-351-0700 to activate Sim under Pay As You Go Prepaid. They will ask your area code and assign you a phone number. They will create a PIN for your account. Your account number is 1 + (your new phone number). They will tell you that after the call that you need to load go and your account with $10 prepaid minutes. You do not have to do that.

4) Wait a few hours or overnight.

5) Call Sprint promo number 1-866-782-8777 ask to sign up for Bring Your Own Device Free Unlimited Year promotion. They will ask if you have already ordered a Sprint Sim, say yes. They will ask for IMEI or MEID and for the new phone number T-Mobile gave you to confirm device eligibility. They will ask for T-Mobile account number and PIN. They will try to sell you insurance plan. They may try to give you a free tablet. Decline. Hard credit pull. Auto pay sign up with CC required. They will set your account up with PIN, email info, name and mailing address. Will go over terms with you. Done.

Free Unlimited Text, Calling and Data for 1 year. 10gb tethering per month. No Contract. No Activation fee. Should only pay ~$7 a month for fees and taxes if you sign up for Autopay.

We used to pay $10 a month for 100 minutes and 1000 texts for Virgin Wireless. Doesn't look like they do that now.

I found this. https://www.wirefly.com/best-cell-phone-plans-kids

Okay, so a little update, and another question or two.

I ended up buying son number 2 a cheap Cricket phone at Target, and a $30 access card. He's happy that he has a phone, and I'm happy that it didn't cost me a fortune.

Now onto son number 1. He's had his HTC phone on AT&T going on 2 to 3 years now. The phone takes 3 days to charge up to 40% or so. He went with my wife to the AT&T store a few weeks back, and they said it was because he needs to do a software update. It took three days to charge it up enough that it would download the update. He did the update,a dn nothing changed. A week or so later I brought it into the AT&T store, and the salesman there said it was charging slow(and working slow in his opinion) because it was chock full. I don't buy it, because why would the memory being full affect how electricity flows to a battery. I can over load my pickup truck, and the battery still charges.

I asked if we put an SD card in the slot if that would fix the problem. The salesman said it would probably help, but not totally. I then asked if we just deleted a bunch of the apps and such, but he said that it still wouldn't work as the pathways to said apps would still be there, and it was like an old computer that you never de-fraged. I don't know, sounds fishy to me.

The phone is cheap, and we don't have insurance on it. I could pay $48 and it would be paid for, and then we could get him a new phone from AT&T, to the tune of $20 a month or so(where this phone os like $6 a month). Or we could wait 2 months when the final payments are made on this phone, and then upgrade, but it'll still be $20 a month or so.

Do I just look for a used phone on CL? Do we need an AT&T phone or can you use others somehow? Recommended brand possibly? I'm thinking he needs at the very least a phone with an expandable SD slot like he has, and use it from the get go.

Thanks,

Chris

I'm not buying the slow charging being a result of the phone being too full.  I'd be looking at replacing the phone - look at some of the Amazon Prime enabled ones: https://www.amazon.com/Prime-Exclusive-Phones/b/ref=sv_cps_2?ie=UTF8&node=14613304011

I bought a Prime Moto G4 last year and it works well for me - great deal and the Amazon stuff is pretty unobtrusive.

I wonder if the battery has gotten old enough that it's trying to keep the amperage going into it low to avoid damage?  LiOn only have a ~5 year life-span give-or-take... and that starts from time of manufacture... iirc

Any reason not to pull son #1 onto the same setup as son #2.  or, if he wants better... go out and get a job and pay the extra yourself?  At 16 seems like a good time to start taking on learning about financial impacts of your decisions, imho... although I'm 12 years away from having to deal with this in my own household