Parents... best phone plan for kids?

[GeauxLSU]

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.

 

[militaryrednek]

cheap metro phone and the plan for 40 bucks a month.

 

[Bypass]

Maybe switch to Verizon. I added my Mom to my plan and it only costs me an extra 5 dollars a month.

 

[Hasselhoss]

Get him a Straight Talk or Cricket plan. Unlimited everything and it will throttle down speeds if he goes over a certain amt of data usage but won;t hit you with overage charges.

 

[GlockIssue]

AT&T has an "add a member for $15" right now. Three people would be $145 or $48.33 per person. You may need to be available for an upgrade or something like that. It gives unlimited talk, unlimited text, and 10GB of data. To put it this way, my wife and her two parents are on a family plan (which I'm about to jump onto) and they use an average of 2.6 GB per month. YMMV though, of course.

http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/data-plans.html#fbid=NuSYHY9vbL9?hashlink=tab2

*Edit: I just re-read your post and saw that you don't need a phone. Two people on the above plan would be $130, so there may be other more economical options for you. $0.02.

 

[hoochfisher]

Straight talk. $45 per month and you'll never see a monthly price increase. No matter how much he talks, texts, or uses internet. Just make sure to get one that says CDMA-V on the front, bottom left of the box so it will run on the verizon network.

 

[sparked1]

Your boy is 11, right? My middle kid is 11 and I have her on the i-DAD plan - as in i-Don't-Give-A-Damn if everyone else has a phone. (yeah, I couldn't make the G work in the acronym).

 

[GeauxLSU]

Your boy is 11, right? My middle kid is 11 and I have her on the i-DAD plan - as in i-Don't-Give-A-Damn if everyone else has a phone. (yeah, I couldn't make the G work in the acronym).

Yep he turns 12 this weekend and this will be his present. I hear you but he's involved in enough extra curriculars that we are starting to run into communication issues. He actually isn't pushing for a phone at all. It's really for mom and dad.

Anyone use Republic Wireless? That Moto E and then unlimited talk and text over wifi or cell and unlimited data over wifi for $10 sounds like a great deal. They appear to have great coverage as well. Unforutnately not available until next month though...

 

[GlockIssue]

Yep he turns 12 this weekend and this will be his present. I hear you but he's involved in enough extra curriculars that we are starting to run into communication issues. He actually isn't pushing for a phone at all. It's really for mom and dad.

Anyone use Republic Wireless? That Moto E and then unlimited talk and text over wifi or cell and unlimited data over wifi for $10 sounds like a great deal. They appear to have great coverage as well. Unforutnately not available until next month though...

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.

 

[sparked1]

Yep he turns 12 this weekend and this will be his present. I hear you but he's involved in enough extra curriculars that we are starting to run into communication issues. He actually isn't pushing for a phone at all. It's really for mom and dad.

Anyone use Republic Wireless? That Moto E and then unlimited talk and text over wifi or cell and unlimited data over wifi for $10 sounds like a great deal. They appear to have great coverage as well. Unforutnately not available until next month though...

I hear ya. I'm going to see how much longer I can fend off the inevitable. Uhg. I don't know much about any plans apart from AT&T. Sorry!