Flip Phones

[ny96]

DS1 (11) has a very cheap Tracphone that he uses occasionally. He needs to start carrying it every day and it’s not reliable because we can’t hear him on it. His voice is muffled and distant. He took the dog for a walk the other day and he called me crying. I couldn’t hear him and was about to rush out of a big meeting that I was facilitating to get him when, after many attempts, I finally understood that his wallet had fallen out of his pocket and was run over by a car (upsetting but not an emergency). Can anyone recommend a well built flip phone? We don’t want smart phones, just something basic we can use to communicate with him.

[Deleted]

Not a phone, but my 10-year old has an Apple Watch that we use to communicate with him. We can manage all contacts. He can send us canned texts or can do voice-to-text, or we can call. He has no games or apps. There are several kids smart watches with similar features in a range of price points. Bonus is he doesn’t have to worry about it falling out of a pocket or leaving it somewhere because it’s strapped to his body.

He is NOT allowed to wear it during school hours (school rule) but nor would he be allowed to use a flip phone. All electronics must stay in backpacks during the school day.

[spindle92]

My dad lives and dies by his flip phone and I am just fine with that because he does not handle technology change well.

His latest is an Alcatel Go and it is pretty damn durable.

[Velar Fricative]

One of my co-workers uses a relatively new Nokia flip phone. It looked pretty sturdy and not like a total dinosaur lol, I was shocked. She loves it.

[redheadbaker]

We have Verizon Wireless and got DS a Kyocera flip phone. It's very reliable. Has some scratches from when he's dropped it, but it still works.

[bdubs419]

We just ordered our 11 year old a flip phone from tello. I think the brand is NUU. Can’t speak to the quality yet but I know my husband priced out a lot of options. It was cheaper to do a plan through tello than add him into our plan (boost mobile). We are gonna be paying either like 5 or 8 dollars a month for him to have unlimited talk/text but no data.