Question about getting phone for tween

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are normally deals on Verizon that give you a free phone with a new line. If there isn't one now, I guarantee there will be on Black Friday in 1 months.

What we did was when we were ready to get our kids phones, we signed up for the new line and took the new phone and gave our old phones to our kids.

Free phones are not free. they just have no upfront cost and instead you "finance" them through your contracts and monthly payments.

This simply isn't true. I mean it's true that the payments are in the bill but it's not true that you're paying for it. The phone might be $20 a month for example and they'll list it on the bill then also have a $20 credit for the phone for two years. Making the net cost zero. If you end the plan before it's paid off then the balance of the phone is due immediately. So while yes it's being paid off over time, you don't actually pay for it in these offers as long as you continue the service until the phone is paid for.

For unlimited data on AT&T, as an example, a contract with a "free" phone is $75 a month while the no contract no phone plan is $50 a month. For a 2 year contract you pay $600 for the "free" phone. If you are lazy and do not change plans after the contract, then you pay even more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't your 12 year olds have email addresses?

I mean, I totally understand not linking an apple ID to a kid's address, but by 12 a kid should be communicating regularly by email. It's a pretty important skill, and easy to teach in safe ways.

OP here, I got DD a Gmail address as a baby but wasn’t planning to let her use it until 13 per the rules.

They can use them before 13. Google has a way of designating them a kids account linked to yours

https://support.google.com/families/answer/7103338?hl=en#:~:text=You%20can%20create%20a%20Google,ground%20rules%20to%20supervise%20them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are normally deals on Verizon that give you a free phone with a new line. If there isn't one now, I guarantee there will be on Black Friday in 1 months.

What we did was when we were ready to get our kids phones, we signed up for the new line and took the new phone and gave our old phones to our kids.

Free phones are not free. they just have no upfront cost and instead you "finance" them through your contracts and monthly payments.

This simply isn't true. I mean it's true that the payments are in the bill but it's not true that you're paying for it. The phone might be $20 a month for example and they'll list it on the bill then also have a $20 credit for the phone for two years. Making the net cost zero. If you end the plan before it's paid off then the balance of the phone is due immediately. So while yes it's being paid off over time, you don't actually pay for it in these offers as long as you continue the service until the phone is paid for.

For unlimited data on AT&T, as an example, a contract with a "free" phone is $75 a month while the no contract no phone plan is $50 a month. For a 2 year contract you pay $600 for the "free" phone. If you are lazy and do not change plans after the contract, then you pay even more.

OP is asking about Verizon. I don't know anything about AT&T but Verizon charges for the phone and then gives a discount for the price. On my line I got added, we got a phone that had more storage than the free phone allowed so we have to pay a few dollars more a month. Not a big deal but that's why there's a discrepancy. I can't believe I feel like I have to prove anything to some random stranger online that isn't even using verizong but here's a picture of the bill for one of the lines that I added. I set the pic to expire after a week but that should be plenty of time for you to see it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are normally deals on Verizon that give you a free phone with a new line. If there isn't one now, I guarantee there will be on Black Friday in 1 months.

What we did was when we were ready to get our kids phones, we signed up for the new line and took the new phone and gave our old phones to our kids.

Free phones are not free. they just have no upfront cost and instead you "finance" them through your contracts and monthly payments.

This simply isn't true. I mean it's true that the payments are in the bill but it's not true that you're paying for it. The phone might be $20 a month for example and they'll list it on the bill then also have a $20 credit for the phone for two years. Making the net cost zero. If you end the plan before it's paid off then the balance of the phone is due immediately. So while yes it's being paid off over time, you don't actually pay for it in these offers as long as you continue the service until the phone is paid for.

For unlimited data on AT&T, as an example, a contract with a "free" phone is $75 a month while the no contract no phone plan is $50 a month. For a 2 year contract you pay $600 for the "free" phone. If you are lazy and do not change plans after the contract, then you pay even more.

OP is asking about Verizon. I don't know anything about AT&T but Verizon charges for the phone and then gives a discount for the price. On my line I got added, we got a phone that had more storage than the free phone allowed so we have to pay a few dollars more a month. Not a big deal but that's why there's a discrepancy. I can't believe I feel like I have to prove anything to some random stranger online that isn't even using verizong but here's a picture of the bill for one of the lines that I added. I set the pic to expire after a week but that should be plenty of time for you to see it.

Verizon's unlimited contract plan is $90 a month and the unlimited pre-paid plan is $60. The free phone on the contract plan would be $20 more, plus the $20 credit. So even with the credit, that free phone is still costing you $30 a month. Things are obviously cheaper if you have a family plan, but the point is that you are paying for that free phone. Companies do not just give away $1000 phones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are normally deals on Verizon that give you a free phone with a new line. If there isn't one now, I guarantee there will be on Black Friday in 1 months.

What we did was when we were ready to get our kids phones, we signed up for the new line and took the new phone and gave our old phones to our kids.

Free phones are not free. they just have no upfront cost and instead you "finance" them through your contracts and monthly payments.

This simply isn't true. I mean it's true that the payments are in the bill but it's not true that you're paying for it. The phone might be $20 a month for example and they'll list it on the bill then also have a $20 credit for the phone for two years. Making the net cost zero. If you end the plan before it's paid off then the balance of the phone is due immediately. So while yes it's being paid off over time, you don't actually pay for it in these offers as long as you continue the service until the phone is paid for.

For unlimited data on AT&T, as an example, a contract with a "free" phone is $75 a month while the no contract no phone plan is $50 a month. For a 2 year contract you pay $600 for the "free" phone. If you are lazy and do not change plans after the contract, then you pay even more.

OP is asking about Verizon. I don't know anything about AT&T but Verizon charges for the phone and then gives a discount for the price. On my line I got added, we got a phone that had more storage than the free phone allowed so we have to pay a few dollars more a month. Not a big deal but that's why there's a discrepancy. I can't believe I feel like I have to prove anything to some random stranger online that isn't even using verizong but here's a picture of the bill for one of the lines that I added. I set the pic to expire after a week but that should be plenty of time for you to see it.

Verizon's unlimited contract plan is $90 a month and the unlimited pre-paid plan is $60. The free phone on the contract plan would be $20 more, plus the $20 credit. So even with the credit, that free phone is still costing you $30 a month. Things are obviously cheaper if you have a family plan, but the point is that you are paying for that free phone. Companies do not just give away $1000 phones.

I pay the same $40 for that line regardless of if I have a phone or not. I'm not really following.