AP phone - how's yours set up?

[Anonymous]

I am not very tech savvy and want to set up APs phone but without risk of data overages and aiming for $25/month. Sound reasonable?

I use a Google phone with Google Fi. There's now a beta program to add iPhone to the plan, but I really don't want AP on my plan.

Mint Mobile looks like good prepaid coverage in my area, the question is what phone to get. Would love any advice/insights. How'd you set up your AP's phone? Also, what rules do you have around phone use during working hours?

[Anonymous]

We had very similar issues. You can add a phone and line with Google Fi. The trick is to set it to a Google account you have access to, not their existing Gmail account. We made a Gmail account for our au pairs and linked the phone to that. You can pause data and international calls as the administrator of the plan. We say we pay for the first GB then they are charged if they go over. Really with the wifi at home/park/school/library/gym we only had issues when they were using streaming aps without realizing (on their free time or weekends).

[Anonymous]

I use simple mobile. Bought a used iPhone 6 online. Pay $23/month unlimited everything (data, call, text) besides international calls. Works great!

[Anonymous]

It’s funny how posts like this directly contradict the “but we have extra costs/the stipend is not all that the AP gets”.

So from now on, when y’all list all the “things” the AP gets in addition to their $196 pay, make sure you accurately list the $32/month for the phone - with data restriction.

[Anonymous]

We pay $70/month for an unlimited data/domestic calls plan for our AP. She can also receive international calls, but if she makes them it's out of plan - but she uses Whatsapp for calls without a problem. This is an additional $840/year in an addition to the $250 she gets per week as an extraordinaire, as well as all gas for a car she can use for personal use ($100/month). We also got her a membership at our no-frills gym/pool ($400/year). She says she's saving over 70% of her salary for traveling. So, apparently some people can make it work.

[Anonymous]

Just ignore the 00:20 poster. This is just the bitter nanny, or an au pair. This is a person that has never had an au pair and doesn’t get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just ignore the 00:20 poster. This is just the bitter nanny, or an au pair. This is a person that has never had an au pair and doesn’t get it.

Yeah-- we pay $50/month just for the sim, let alone the phone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s funny how posts like this directly contradict the “but we have extra costs/the stipend is not all that the AP gets”.

So from now on, when y’all list all the “things” the AP gets in addition to their $196 pay, make sure you accurately list the $32/month for the phone - with data restriction.

We use Mint as a separate plan. Prepaid, it's $25/month for unlimited calls/texts/data. The data just gets slower after 3GB or whatever.

Extra costs does NOT have to mean "allow AP to blow past the whole family allowance in the first week by being dumb with her streaming and pay an extra $50 in overages for necessary data like GPS."

And yes, in addition to stipend, their phone plan is something they get, even if some of us are smart about putting them on their own service with the best available deal. Why should I pay more at $70/month when I don't have to and the phone works perfectly fine with no complaints from AP?

We also have an extra used iPhone that we purchased because of our one previous AP who insisted she wanted a separate work phone. Every other AP we've hosted preferred to use their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s funny how posts like this directly contradict the “but we have extra costs/the stipend is not all that the AP gets”.

So from now on, when y’all list all the “things” the AP gets in addition to their $196 pay, make sure you accurately list the $32/month for the phone - with data restriction.

We use Mint as a separate plan. Prepaid, it's $25/month for unlimited calls/texts/data. The data just gets slower after 3GB or whatever.

Extra costs does NOT have to mean "allow AP to blow past the whole family allowance in the first week by being dumb with her streaming and pay an extra $50 in overages for necessary data like GPS."

And yes, in addition to stipend, their phone plan is something they get, even if some of us are smart about putting them on their own service with the best available deal. Why should I pay more at $70/month when I don't have to and the phone works perfectly fine with no complaints from AP?

We also have an extra used iPhone that we purchased because of our one previous AP who insisted she wanted a separate work phone. Every other AP we've hosted preferred to use their own.

If you don’t want a homesick au pair, you would want to get them a really good plan. $70 is pretty affordable for an unlimited plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s funny how posts like this directly contradict the “but we have extra costs/the stipend is not all that the AP gets”.

So from now on, when y’all list all the “things” the AP gets in addition to their $196 pay, make sure you accurately list the $32/month for the phone - with data restriction.

We use Mint as a separate plan. Prepaid, it's $25/month for unlimited calls/texts/data. The data just gets slower after 3GB or whatever.

Extra costs does NOT have to mean "allow AP to blow past the whole family allowance in the first week by being dumb with her streaming and pay an extra $50 in overages for necessary data like GPS."

And yes, in addition to stipend, their phone plan is something they get, even if some of us are smart about putting them on their own service with the best available deal. Why should I pay more at $70/month when I don't have to and the phone works perfectly fine with no complaints from AP?

We also have an extra used iPhone that we purchased because of our one previous AP who insisted she wanted a separate work phone. Every other AP we've hosted preferred to use their own.

If you don’t want a homesick au pair, you would want to get them a really good plan. $70 is pretty affordable for an unlimited plan.

OP here, I don't pay $70 per month for my own phone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I use simple mobile. Bought a used iPhone 6 online. Pay $23/month unlimited everything (data, call, text) besides international calls. Works great!

OP here, I am looking at simple mobile and assuming the phone plan is tied to your social and credit card. Is there any way to prevent overages? She does make international calls (tho she can use WhatsApp instead).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I use simple mobile. Bought a used iPhone 6 online. Pay $23/month unlimited everything (data, call, text) besides international calls. Works great!

OP here, I am looking at simple mobile and assuming the phone plan is tied to your social and credit card. Is there any way to prevent overages? She does make international calls (tho she can use WhatsApp instead).

No social security involved. You buy a SIM card and you can do auto payments to your cc or reup every month, international call is an extra option I didn’t select (who needs that with Whatsapp?) my cc is charged every month and I deal with everything . Account is on my name. AP just enjoy her unlimited everything for less than $25! Never had a problem.

[Anonymous]

We just add an extra phone line to our already existing plan with AT&T. If you already have 2 phones it isn't much to add a third line with unlimited data and text messaging. As for the phone itself, our AP usually gets our hand me down iphone which is a 7 right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s funny how posts like this directly contradict the “but we have extra costs/the stipend is not all that the AP gets”.

So from now on, when y’all list all the “things” the AP gets in addition to their $196 pay, make sure you accurately list the $32/month for the phone - with data restriction.

We use Mint as a separate plan. Prepaid, it's $25/month for unlimited calls/texts/data. The data just gets slower after 3GB or whatever.

Extra costs does NOT have to mean "allow AP to blow past the whole family allowance in the first week by being dumb with her streaming and pay an extra $50 in overages for necessary data like GPS."

And yes, in addition to stipend, their phone plan is something they get, even if some of us are smart about putting them on their own service with the best available deal. Why should I pay more at $70/month when I don't have to and the phone works perfectly fine with no complaints from AP?

We also have an extra used iPhone that we purchased because of our one previous AP who insisted she wanted a separate work phone. Every other AP we've hosted preferred to use their own.

If you don’t want a homesick au pair, you would want to get them a really good plan. $70 is pretty affordable for an unlimited plan.

I disagree. My AP uses her own phone (her request) and we have a $15 a month Mint Mobile plan on it. She is happy with it. She speaks to her family every day and uses Facebook phone chat, or Whatsup. HF don’t need to provide an expensive plan. I pay for her phone for use for my child, not call home everyday or to have unlimited data. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing to do this if you can, but certainly not required to have a happy AP.

[Anonymous]

Au pair brought her own phone that she wanted to use. We changed providers when our provider wouldn’t add her phone or a backup phone we had. So now we are all on cricket. Her plan is unlimited for $10, we pay less for 3 than we did with the old provider for 2.