What phone/plan for middle schooler?

[wildfloweragain]

So, I'm hearing that at middle school its pretty much necessary for the kids to have a phone, as a way to contact parents. Kids stay after without a lot of notice, etc.

I never thought she'd need a phone this early, but I really would love for her to be able to text me without having to bring her ipod and relying on wifi.  And although she does have an ipod touch, that is our only apple device.  The rest of us have android devices.

My first thought is to get her something from walmart with a prepaid card, but I don't know if that's more hassle than it's worth. I'm not super familiar with them, but I did get a burn phone for play season in my classroom.  I am vaguely aware that the minutes expire or something.  I literally have not looked at that phone since January.

So, if you got your middle schooler a phone, did you get another one through verizon right on your plan, something from walmart, something else?  I don't know if it's important for her to get a number that will stay her permanent number forever and if that matters where you go.

She is extremely trustworthy but I see no reason for her to have a smartphone.  Something with easy texting would be good though.

[stephogirl]

My 10-year-old DS has had a phone for about a year. He uses it to contact us from sports practice and to keep in touch when home alone.

It's from TracFone. The phone itself was $15 and the service plan we buy is $20 every 90 days. This gets us 60 minutes of talk time. Text messages count as a third of a minute, so we get 180 texts. The phone we purchased also had an automatic triple minutes for life with it. So the 60 minutes of talk time/180 text messages automatically becomes 180 minutes of talk time and 540 text messages every 90 days. Plus, minutes carry over so you don't lose any.

It's a great non-smart phone option. DS would love an iPhone but knows that's down the road a couple of years yet.

[auntie]

When DS was younger he had a basic slider phone from Virgin on a month to month plan. He already had a iPod for music and videos and a laptop, so a top of the line phone wasn't a necessity.

He lost it once and sent another through the washer which made me glad they were so inexpensive.

[georgeharrison]

My kid just turned 11 and is going into 6th grade. We got him a phone because a) I guess they are able to use them to look stuff up in some classes, and b) because our work schedules are weird and we want to be able to get in touch with him if we are running late or something. 

We are with T-mobile and we added him to our family plan which was the 4th line, so ended up being free and we got him a Samsung On5, I think it's called, and it's free if you keep it for 24 months (if not, you pay the balance of the phone which is cost divided by 24 times how many months you have left).

Our phones are old, so his phone is actually much better than what we have.  :N:

[Jillaroo]

I would just get an iPhone on a regular plan. to me that would be easier than having to keep track of minutes and risking her running out.
It's usually pretty reasonable to add a line to an existing plan. And really, everyone has phones. She will be able to use it for a lot more that calls or texting. With a smartphone she could get some apps to help with homework or research stuff for class.

[birddog]

If adding to a family plan is not an option, Total Wireless is what I use. $25 for unlimited talk and text (no data) and inexpensive phones.

[textbookcase]

C is 12 and we got her a phone when she turned 11. She babysits and has lots of extracurricular activities so I wanted to be able to be in contact w her. She has a prepaid Verizon plan w unlimited talk and text and it switches to slower data when she reaches her limit. It's $45/m

[illgetthere]

S1 has a slider phone from verizon. It's a prepaid that can be put on our contract after 6 months for $20/month. I think the cards are $30 every 3 months while prepaid and they have unlimited mobile to mobile minutes after you pay 99 cents for that day. If I upgrade my phone, he will get my current since it's only $15 to add on our plan

[hazelden]

We got 10 year old DD a phone for Xmas. I got a phone, case, car charger and 1300 minutes/1300 texts + data for a year for about $100.

Right now there's a similar deal on a Samsung phone here www.hsn.com/products/samsung-galaxy-grand-prime-tracfone-w1350-minutes/8196009

[wildfloweragain]

Wow, lots of choices. Thank you!

[Marmee]

My DD1 is going into middle school...eventually (when I let the kids walk home) I'll get them a basic dumb phone pre-paid. I don't really want photo texting or Internet on them.