Best cellhone plans for kids

[Anonymous]

fData Use by Category
Online Activity/App 1GB of Data
Online Gaming Up to 25 hours*
Spotify 25 hours
Web Browsing 17 hours
Podcasts 17 hours
Google Maps 17 hours
Facebook 13 hours
FaceTime 12 hours
YouTube 3.5 hours
Instagram 1.4 hours
TikTok 1.2 hours
Netflix 1 hour

Recommended Plan Sizes
Online Activity Phone Plan
Email, web browsing, navigation At least 1GB
Podcasts, social media At least 3GB
Music streaming, social media, light gaming At least 5GB
Podcasts, social media, some video and music streaming At least 10GB
Video streaming, gaming, social media Unlimited Data

[Anonymous]

I have Tracfone and my kids have Airvoice Wireless prepaid plans. I spend $10/month for each kid (ages 14 and 17; the 11-year-old doesn't have a phone yet but will get one once in-person school begins).

That $10/month is enough for them to text or call as necessary when out of the house and use a small amount of data (look up an address on Google, etc.) but not to be on Instagram or streaming video while they're out of the house/WiFi. Because they don't need to do those things and both of them tell me they're glad they're not glued to their phones when away from home. (This is not just during the pandemic, they've had these plans for years.)

Airvoice uses AT&T network.

[Anonymous]

I added my children to our plan for only $10/month. They get unlimited talk/data/text. We have t-mobile military plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you not just add them to your plan.

Verizon it is $25 - $55/month depending on how many devices you have. We do the $55, because it comes with Disney+, Hulu, ESPN, Apple Music, cloud storage and up to 30 Gigs of unthrottled hotspot.

You can get the basic kid plan with tracking and parental controls for $35.

because there are much cheaper ways for kids and adults to have phone service!

And then when there is a disaster or emergency, where will your service be prioritized on the towers.

I can't speak for all service, but Tracfone uses major carriers including Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T. If I have to register my carrier for something, I select AT&T, for example. So I assume you'd be "prioritized" at the same level as the rest of the people using your particular carrier.

Well you would be wrong, customers of third party resellers don’t get the same priority. Some plans are even prioritized above other plans sold by the same big three carrier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you not just add them to your plan.

Verizon it is $25 - $55/month depending on how many devices you have. We do the $55, because it comes with Disney+, Hulu, ESPN, Apple Music, cloud storage and up to 30 Gigs of unthrottled hotspot.

You can get the basic kid plan with tracking and parental controls for $35.

because there are much cheaper ways for kids and adults to have phone service!

And then when there is a disaster or emergency, where will your service be prioritized on the towers.

I can't speak for all service, but Tracfone uses major carriers including Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T. If I have to register my carrier for something, I select AT&T, for example. So I assume you'd be "prioritized" at the same level as the rest of the people using your particular carrier.

Well you would be wrong, customers of third party resellers don’t get the same priority. Some plans are even prioritized above other plans sold by the same big three carrier.

Hasn't happened in all the 18 yrs I had tracfone. And not in the 4 yrs my kids have had it. If there's an emergency, it's typically going to be a personal emergency.

If you remember 9/11 -- EVERYONE had trouble getting through, even those who had platinum plans.

For the person looking for tracfone plans. You buy a one-year plan (365 days).

The best way to do it is to go to qvc or hsn.com and buy the phone and it comes with the one year plan for $99.

https://www.hsn.com/products/samsung-galaxy-a20-64-tracfone-with-1500-mintextdata/9691494

The next year, you'll buy the one-year plan from tracfone directly.

[Anonymous]

Here's a listing of all the phones with tracfone plans included on hsn.com

[Anonymous]

And here's the direct-from-tracfone one year plan with 1.5gb.

https://www.tracfone.com/shop/plans/smartphone-full-year-plan-1.5gb

You can also get it for $199 with 12gb.

But, as a PP said, my kids are almost always on wifi. If they burn through their 1.5 gb data, they just buy another gb or two with their own money. It hasn't been a problem. But, it depends on how much your kids are away from wifi and how much you want them to have data.

The other option, that I mentioned above, is the ATT prepaid for $300/yr. It gets me 8gb per month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's a listing of all the phones with tracfone plans included on hsn.com

https://www.tracfone.com/shop/plans/smartphone-full-year-plan-1.5gb

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you not just add them to your plan.

Verizon it is $25 - $55/month depending on how many devices you have. We do the $55, because it comes with Disney+, Hulu, ESPN, Apple Music, cloud storage and up to 30 Gigs of unthrottled hotspot.

You can get the basic kid plan with tracking and parental controls for $35.

because there are much cheaper ways for kids and adults to have phone service!

And then when there is a disaster or emergency, where will your service be prioritized on the towers.

I can't speak for all service, but Tracfone uses major carriers including Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T. If I have to register my carrier for something, I select AT&T, for example. So I assume you'd be "prioritized" at the same level as the rest of the people using your particular carrier.

Well you would be wrong, customers of third party resellers don’t get the same priority. Some plans are even prioritized above other plans sold by the same big three carrier.

Hasn't happened in all the 18 yrs I had tracfone. And not in the 4 yrs my kids have had it. If there's an emergency, it's typically going to be a personal emergency.

If you remember 9/11 -- EVERYONE had trouble getting through, even those who had platinum plans.

For the person looking for tracfone plans. You buy a one-year plan (365 days).

The best way to do it is to go to qvc or hsn.com and buy the phone and it comes with the one year plan for $99.

https://www.hsn.com/products/samsung-galaxy-a20-64-tracfone-with-1500-mintextdata/9691494

The next year, you'll buy the one-year plan from tracfone directly.

Thank you- she already has a phone so we just need the plans for now