Best mobile for kids?

Iceman

Iceman

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My kids are getting to the age where they'll be home alone more often. We currently have no home phone and obviously need to change that. I'm looking for options, must be cheap but reliable. Considering home phone, pay as you go mobile, mobile plan, or just adding to the family plan I currently have with Rogers (likely not cheap). They need talk, possibly text, zero need for data.
I'm in Barrie so most suppliers should work. Thanks in advance.

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Get them an android phone/ tablet and use Google Hangouts to call/ message them?
That way you just use the WiFi.
Apple has something similar iirc.
My oldest is still on a $0.75/month emergency only pay as you go plan with Rogers. I then did a $5 add on that gives him 250 texts/ month. If we need to talk, it's $0.25 / minute for 1st 5 mins, then $.10/ minute. I buy a $100 card and it's good for 365 days.


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How often will they be talking on it? Rarely or often?

If rarely, one of the cheapest pay-as-you-go plans is 711 speakout. All of their refills last a year, so a $25 refill is also good for one year... obviously won't work out that great though if they actually use it. http://www.speakout7eleven.ca/

Public mobile lets you build packages that are fairly good... for example, I have unlimited calling, unlimited texts, and 2gb of data for $38/month... (paid 3 months at a time so it's actually 6gb for the duration, autobilling on). If you did calls only that would be around $25/month but unlimited talk. https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/plans

Another option is koodo prepaid: https://www.koodomobile.com/prepaid-plans $15/month gives unlimited texts, and then you select add-on packages that do not expire... so you could buy $20 worth of talk minutes and they are there until used up.

Lots of options out there for relatively cheap low use cell phone coverage that is not billed and therefore you don't need to worry about huge charges for overages, etc..
 
Been down this road with both of our kids, both now in their late teens.

Honestly, just assume you need unlimited texting. If you think otherwise, well, you'll soon find out that, yeah, you need unlimited texting. Just trust me on that. ;)

Kids don't really care much about talking on the phone anymore - texting is king, so don't waste your money on a plan with many minutes, focus on text only for the most part. My experience over many years is that both Bell and Fido offer text-only plans for around $15/month with unlimited text, and (if necessary) emergency pay-per-minute calling.

Over 4 or 5 years the text only option served us well and we NEVER needed to ever call them...honestly, texts work better anyways as if the kids are indisposed at the moment you call, a text will always be waiting there for them, but a call can be missed.

Neither had data for many years.

Last summer my son (who's now working fulltime in a trade) decided he wanted data, so he went to Wind, and my daughter followed suit just after Christmas taking advantage of their $30 promotion. Both are reasonably happy with it (it ain't perfect, but it's also half the money of the Big 3) and they retained their unlimited texting, but also got unlimited talk (which neither rarely use) as well as the data plan.

Anyone looking for a referral to Wind (Er, Freedom mobile now), send me a PM - there's $20 in it for you, and $20 for my wife's account. ;)

If you're looking for just a "Emergency use only" phone, well...it's hard - as others have mentioned, there are options out there, but there's two problems with that approach IMHO;

1- Kids won't carry a phone that "Doesn't do anything" to them, so it'll just get left behind at home, school...and perhaps even lost.

2- They WILL give the number out and their friends WILL start texting them on it. The temptation to respond will be overwhelming, and then they're exhaust any credit on the "emergency" plans in short order. In the end, it'd likely have been less expensive to just go with a more traditional prepaid unlimited texting plan in the end, and you'll find yourself in much better communication in the end. And your kids will NEVER leave their phone behind. ;)
 
Get a magic jack for home use cheap and reliable if you have internet. Gives you a home phone for very little cost. Fido home phone is 15 a month with unlimited long distance as well not nearly as cheap as a magic jack but much less than bell my parents have had it for years and it works very well. I have a magic jack as a home phone.

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Rogers $120/year pay as you go plan;

Unlimited evening/weekend local calls
50 daytime local minutes
Unlimited Canadian text
Voicemail, call display, call waiting

Works great for our son.
 
coyo said:
Rogers $120/year pay as you go plan;

Unlimited evening/weekend local calls
50 daytime local minutes
Unlimited Canadian text
Voicemail, call display, call waiting

Works great for our son.
Click to expand...
That's all included for $120? I might have to look into that. Although I still have about $150 in credits. (At $5/ month you don't spend much, but if you don't top up before 365 days, you lose any balance.
I will disagree a bit with some others.
@Iceman I know that your kids are a little younger than my oldest and he doesn't really give out his number. He exclusively uses Skype/ Hangouts/ Facetime to communicate with his friends whenever he is within WiFi. Which is pretty much always.
Oh, and my balance can be rolled over into a plan at any time.

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coyo said:
Rogers $120/year pay as you go plan;

Unlimited evening/weekend local calls
50 daytime local minutes
Unlimited Canadian text
Voicemail, call display, call waiting

Works great for our son.
Click to expand...

The problem with many of these long-term prepaid plans is that a lot of caution must be used to stay within the limits of the plan...so for example the most common thing that happens is blowing through the 50 minutes (which in the case of this plan is for the entire YEAR, not monthly), especially when one doesn't pay attention to the time and ends up making calls outside the free evenings/weekends window. If you make a call 1 minute before the "Free" time period and talk for 30 minutes, you're paying for 30 minutes.

With many prepaid plans going over the allotments immediately puts you into pay per use, sometimes at $1.00+ per minute. Soon, inside a few months, the credit balance (that was designed to cover the future months) is eaten up, and you ended up paying a huge amount of money for not a lot of service.

In the case of kids...do you really trust them to NEVER use the phone outside the free time periods, and do you trust them to use ONLY a maximum of 4 minutes per month if they do? And do you trust that they'll adhere to the free evenings/weekends perfectly?

These sorts of plans are difficult for adults to adhere to much less kids, and if you look over at RFD there's stories of people who paid the $120, accidentally went over their minutes (not to mention unexpected long distance, roaming, or international text fees) and exhausted the $120 inside a few months.

Yes, the same can happen with any prepaid plan, but the difference is that when you top up a $16 plan with a $20 card you can't go over $4.00/month in "accidental overages" before you find out you've run out of money for extras and the extras stop working. When you prepay $120 and don't notice that you've used $50/month in overages, well, in about 2.5 months you receive a rude awakening. ;)
 
Thanks guys. Some good suggestions here. The phone will not be going to school. My kids generally do as they're told, if they don't there's consequences. I'm really not worried about overages as much as reliability. So I've got some checking to do. Koodo, public, magic jack. I really like Coyo's suggestion and am going to check that out regarding evening times etc.
Thanks all.

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Iceman said:
Thanks guys. Some good suggestions here. The phone will not be going to school. My kids generally do as they're told, if they don't there's consequences. I'm really not worried about overages as much as reliability. So I've got some checking to do. Koodo, public, magic jack. I really like Coyo's suggestion and am going to check that out regarding evening times etc.
Thanks all.

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Click to expand...

I run MagicJack at home as my 'land line'
Works perfectly and is pretty cheap too.
I think my plan is $35/year unlimited talk.
http://www.magicjack.com/magicJackEXPRESS.html

Good luck shopping.
 
Spend $20-$50 buying the PAP device either the linksys or the better Obihai (1 port but 2 port/2 line is nice also)
Then spend $50 at freephoneline.ca to get the VOIP unlock key and pick a phone #
free to call 80% of Canada
all the features you could want

So it is a 1 time fee of $50 and the hardware you buy from newegg or canadacomputer

lifetime phone for $100 max. NO monthly or yearly, that's it $100.
works awesome
you can also install an app like Briaa or CSip Simple on your devices and receive and make calls over wifi (or data) as if you are home.
 
Yeah @Iceman if it's just home use, have them dl one of the apps for their ipod or tablet and Bob's your uncle.

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The problem with a WiFi phone app is if you loose power or internet. I use my pad with Text+ for texting and some calls when I'm home or have WiFi. or Google Voice for outgoing calls on the PC.

I use a pay as you go cell from Virgin. $100 a year and I've got over $300 in the bank(don't talk much).
The 711 setup for a cell sounds like the way to go for an emergency phone.
The Rogers $120/year pay as you go plan sounds good too.
 
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Our whole family is on Koodo as it's easier to check what's going on with the bills etc online that way.

Service has been good so far. I don't know how it stack up against new discount providers price wise.
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