Parents... best phone plan for kids?

[GeauxLSU]

Just be careful because you get what you pay for. It's great to have a cheap plan...until you barely have service and can't use the phone to make a call. I like to stick with the big companies. They'll tell you their coverage is good, but the proof is in the putting. Take Sprint for instance. They claim to have just as good of coverage as any, but it doesn't really compare to AT&T or Verizon. However, I'm sure it's better than the smaller companies and no-name brands. Again...YMMV.

Sprint is the carrier RW uses. Yep, despite their map, AT&T is terrible at my cabin (not even 2 miles line of sight from the Interstate and dead spots all over, best coverage 2 bars.) Verizon on the other hand, 4 bars. Haven't tested Sprint there.

 

[Hasselhoss]

Just be careful because you get what you pay for. It's great to have a cheap plan...until you barely have service and can't use the phone to make a call. I like to stick with the big companies. They'll tell you their coverage is good, but the proof is in the putting. Take Sprint for instance. They claim to have just as good of coverage as any, but it doesn't really compare to AT&T or Verizon. However, I'm sure it's better than the smaller companies and no-name brands. Again...YMMV.

I disagree.

If you get a Straighttalk or Tracphone GSM phone running 4G you will have the exact same coverage that you get with AT&T. Hell, it will be on AT&T towers. Price matters not on a phone either. The $400 phones of March are the $99 phones of June and the $19 phones of September. Same phone...

 

[NGIB]

I can tell you from experience they will use more talk, text, and data than you will think possible.

I'd get them a Straighttalk phone (serviced by Verizon towers) and unlimited plan for $45 a month...

 

[GlockIssue]

Sprint is the carrier RW uses. Yep, despite their map, AT&T is terrible at my cabin (not even 2 miles line of sight from the Interstate and dead spots all over, best coverage 2 bars.) Verizon on the other hand, 4 bars. Haven't tested Sprint there.

Yea, Verizon IMO has the best coverage. It also seems to be the most expensive.

I disagree.

If you get a Straighttalk or Tracphone GSM phone running 4G you will have the exact same coverage that you get with AT&T. Hell, it will be on AT&T towers. Price matters not on a phone either. The $400 phones of March are the $99 phones of June and the $19 phones of September. Same phone...

Okay good point. I guess there are some exceptions, as usual.

 

[Nick_T]

You'll be surprised how much he'll text, my boy did me. And now these schools have their own chat thingies for students, never saw that coming 13yrs ago. I just added his into my Altel plan, wasn't too much more. Looks like Altel just got bought out by ATT, new phones should arrive this week.

Nick T

 

[NGIB]

Alltel was bought by Verizon several years ago - I used to use them before I switched to Straighttalk...

 

[Traderjohn]

I guess it's time...
What do y'all recommend? I don't 'think' he'll spend a ton of time texting and likely very little talking (though I can see him using a good bit of data) but I guess every parent thinks that.
What say ye?
Wife is on AT&T and they no longer have a "add a member for $10" deal. It woudl be more like $50 plus contract which I'm not overly excited about. My phone is company provided so no options there either.
Any experience with any of the kid specific providers?
Thx.

When he can afford to pay for it.

No pay. No play.

I always wanted my kids to have more than I did growing up, so I told them they needed to have four jobs at the same time, because I only had three.

 

[GeauxLSU]

When he can afford to pay for it.

No pay. No play.

I always wanted my kids to have more than I did growing up, so I told them they needed to have four jobs at the same time, because I only had three.

Some of the kid focused providers like http://www.kajeet.com/4u/index.html I believe makes special admends for the kiids themselvs to pay for more texting etc...
Maybe I'm wrong but I'm pretty confident he won't be a big texter. Data, yes.

 

[NGIB]

Trust me, once kids have a phone they WILL use the hell out of it. I tried the "metered" plans and got tired of paying the huge overage fees.

Get a refurb phone from ST and pay $45 a month and forget about it. They have a Samsung Galaxy Centura for $19.99 and it runs off Verizon towers...

 

[BIKER13]

Back in the day mine got a roll of dimes on the first of the month