Best Pre-paid Cell for spare phone to give my 11 year old son as needed (not regular use)

[Siwickimom]

Title says it all. Son is getting to the point where he likes to strike out on his own when we are out and about. I would like a spare phone to keep around that I can give to him when he decides he wants to go look at Gamestop while I am going somewhere else in the mall, etc. So I can call his ass and tell him to GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW. Instead of looking for him all over the place. Oh, yeah, and in case he gets in trouble or needs assistance or anything like that, lol. But mostly for my own convenience. So that I can drop him and his buddy off at the movies and they can call me when they are done. Stuff like that.

I am in no way ready to give him his own phone and there's no need for text/IM etc or even internet for that matter. I was looking at Tracfone and Net10. Both us adults have Sprint, but Boost Mobile is 50 bucks a month and that isn't happening :shake:

I could completely anticipate that we might not use it some months at all...

I've never had or used pre-paid service and would really like some suggestions and feedback.

We are in zip code 48307 if that makes any difference. Not all plans are available here so I thought I'd share that, too...

ETA that I did search and read the previous threads in this forum on pre-paid plans, but I was hoping someone with tweens might speak up and have some experience with this. He's only 11 and the phone needs to be durable and of a good quality but not too complicated for him, either.

Thanks!

Thanks in advance for the help!

[radford]

Title says it all. Son is getting to the point where he likes to strike out on his own when we are out and about. I would like a spare phone to keep around that I can give to him when he decides he wants to go look at Gamestop while I am going somewhere else in the mall, etc. So I can call his ass and tell him to GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW. Instead of looking for him all over the place. Oh, yeah, and in case he gets in trouble or needs assistance or anything like that, lol. But mostly for my own convenience. So that I can drop him and his buddy off at the movies and they can call me when they are done. Stuff like that.

I am in no way ready to give him his own phone and there's no need for text/IM etc or even internet for that matter. I was looking at Tracfone and Net10. Both us adults have Sprint, but Boost Mobile is 50 bucks a month and that isn't happening :shake:

I could completely anticipate that we might not use it some months at all...

I've never had or used pre-paid service and would really like some suggestions and feedback.

We are in zip code 48307 if that makes any difference. Not all plans are available here so I thought I'd share that, too...



Well I dont have any kids but it all depends on coverage which means looking at the coverage maps for any firm in your area and then trying it out yourself ---- and of course how many minutes you use each month,

A good balance between time per month and cost is Tmobile of course -- 83 min or more per month at a cost of 20-30 for a phone and 100 for a card. Actually less than that if you look around , I found a place mentioned in one thread that was selling them for 94. I havent actually tried Tmobile yet though. Thats less than 10 bucks a mo.

If you need even more time than that Net10 is good but itll cost you 180 per year for the cards and 20-30 for a low end phone.

For a lower out of pocket cost but far higher per min cost -- Tracfone is pretty flexible. They have 20-30 buck phones that sometimes come with a 60 min card or dMFL , double min for life which double any time you put on it.

To get the cost down you can get 20 buck cards that last 3 mos and buy one every 3 mos but that still comes out to 80 bucks for 4 x 60 min cards 240 min. You usually get more than that due to bonus codes floating around the net and in this forum or if you have a DMFL phone.
So maybe 480 min for 80 bucks which gives you around 40 min per month for 20 bucks savings over Tmobile.

[Q-Bert]

t-mobile plus a $100 card from callingmart or ephonecards for $88. minutes last for a year and when you add minutes (even just $10) anything you haven't used rolls over for another year.

[jklm8800]

Both of my kids have Tracfones for more than a year and we love it. Customer Service is not great, but you cannot beat the price. I buy refurbished phones directly through their website. $20 plus tax gets you 5 months of service plus 300 minutes and then we transfer the phone number to another Tracfone. Hope this helps.

[radford]

t-mobile plus a $100 card from callingmart or ephonecards for $88. minutes last for a year and when you add minutes (even just $10) anything you haven't used rolls over for another year.

Last time I checked at Callingmart it was 94, its 88 now? Wow thats cheap.

Also I never did understand the rollover part where it "rolls over for another year".

Say you have 400 min left at the end of a year and you buy a 10 buck card which is a 30 min card that expires in 1 month ---- does that mean your 410 minutes last an extra month?

[Q-Bert]

Last time I checked at Callingmart it was 94, its 88 now? Wow thats cheap.

Callingmart often has 12% off sales. Since I've bought from them they email me the coupon code.


Also I never did understand the rollover part where it "rolls over for another year".

Say you have 400 min left at the end of a year and you buy a 10 buck card which is a 30 min card that expires in 1 month ---- does that mean your 410 minutes last an extra month?

They'll last for another YEAR not month.

[epb613]

Copying my post from a different thread...

T-Mobile to go is by far the cheapest deal I've found and I spent a long time researching this.

Start by getting a t-mobile phone. Walmart has cheap ones (actually, they're pretty nifty Nokia's with a speakerphone) for $30. Or go to a T-mobile kiosk at the mall. You can also try ebay someone's old phone that will have a couple spare chargers thrown in. If you use an old phone, you'll need to get a tmobile to go starter kit ($11 on ebay, with 30 minutes free).

Make sure to only buy the $100 cards so that you'll only be charged .10/min. The 50 card is like .15/min, the $25 card is i think .25 and the $15 card is .30. You have a full year before your minutes expire, and even then, you can roll them over by buying a new card.

Here's where the deal gets much better. I get my cards from callingmart.com where they always have them for 6% off (ie:$94). Plus you don't have to pay sales tax. So instead of $107 (or whatever your sales tax is), it will only be $93. On top of that, about 4-5 times a year, they'll send you a promotion for an additional 6% off for 12% total. My last card cost me $88, or 8.8 cents a minute, with minutes that last a year before needing to be rolled over, and .10 txt messaging. Nothing I have found gets close to this.

[radford]

Callingmart often has 12% off sales. Since I've bought from them they email me the coupon code.



They'll last for another YEAR not month.

That would make Tmobile far cheaper than I thought. So the first year you have to pay say 94 for the first time since I assume you wont get the 12% off as a new customer.

But then the NEXT year if you are a light user and you have some minutes left , just by buying a cheap card if it last another year ---- the 2 year overall cost would be dirt cheap.

Now the question is what about the 3rd year? Do the annual rollovers only happen when you have 100 bucks worth of min the previous year? I cant believe it goes on indefinitely once you pay 100 buck just one year but if thats the case it would definitely make Tmobile the cheapest phone service.

[Q-Bert]

That would make Tmobile far cheaper than I thought. So the first year you have to pay say 94 for the first time since I assume you wont get the 12% off as a new customer.

But then the NEXT year if you are a light user and you have some minutes left , just by buying a cheap card if it last another year ---- the 2 year overall cost would be dirt cheap.

Now the question is what about the 3rd year? Do the annual rollovers only happen when you have 100 bucks worth of min the previous year? I cant believe it goes on indefinitely once you pay 100 buck just one year but if thats the case it would definitely make Tmobile the cheapest phone service.

Yes indefinitely. Or until T-Mobile goes under. Whichever comes first.

You can get the $88 deal at callingmart or ephones cards whenever you want. I've picked up cheapo phones for $19 in the past from t-mobile with a $20 calling card making the phone free.

[labude]

the only thing to add is that the best deal to buy the phone is to get it from
tmobile.com when they have a free $25 phone card deal.
So you are paying $20-$40 for a phone including a $25 card.

Then you purchase $75 in cards from one of the online places like callingmart
and call tmobile to get the $100 combined so that you get 1000 minutes and
gold status. Dont add the cards online or thru your phone.. call T-mobile.

[radford]

Yes indefinitely. Or until T-Mobile goes under. Whichever comes first.

You can get the $88 deal at callingmart or ephones cards whenever you want. I've picked up cheapo phones for $19 in the past from t-mobile with a $20 calling card making the phone free.

If are anywhere between a super light user or moderate user and just buying even the cheapest cards keeps rolling over the minutes for a whole year , that makes Tmobile the best deal hands down. It beats the pants off Tracfone since they stopped the 2x60 min/3month $20 deals.

If they only added a few more attractive phones , they would be the killer choice in prepaid phones.

[tunguska]

I agree that T-mobile has the best deals on prepaid phone service but there is one thing of which you should be warned. I had T-mobile prepaid service for my son and it worked well until some of his friends started texting him and used up all of his time quickly. You get charged for each text received whether you open them or not. Even after asking them to stop he still got some texts and then started getting spam texts which kept eating up his time. T-mobile does not allow you to block texts so there is nothing you can do about this. I ended up moving him to AT&T since they do allow blocking of texts or data. I now have my son on AT&T's unlimited texting for $20 month and have data blocked so that he can't use up his time connecting to the internet. Once you start getting texts on T-mobile, you have to pay for them whether you want them or not.

[capslock]

I like T-mobile's prepaid setup for the same reasons posted above by other people. Last year, every few months, Target had a deal where you could buy a $100 airtime card at a discount and get a free phone with it. I'm not sure if Target has been doing it again this year, but I'm hoping since it's Back to School time, they'll run that promo again very soon. So, keep an eye on the Target ads.

[Q-Bert]

I agree that T-mobile has the best deals on prepaid phone service but there is one thing of which you should be warned. I had T-mobile prepaid service for my son and it worked well until some of his friends started texting him and used up all of his time quickly. You get charged for each text received whether you open them or not. Even after asking them to stop he still got some texts and then started getting spam texts which kept eating up his time. T-mobile does not allow you to block texts so there is nothing you can do about this. I ended up moving him to AT&T since they do allow blocking of texts or data. I now have my son on AT&T's unlimited texting for $20 month and have data blocked so that he can't use up his time connecting to the internet. Once you start getting texts on T-mobile, you have to pay for them whether you want them or not.

:iagree: I wish t-mobile would allow the blocking of texting on their prepaid plans. I guess texting is a big money maker for them.