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1:58 pm
October 21, 2008
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I'm thinking of getting my son a cell phone for a Grade 8 grad present. I use Speakout and am very happy with it, but I expect he'll be texting and calling a lot more than I do.
My wife has Rogers Pay-as-you-go and we're not very happy with it (barebones phones, high rates, bad customer service) although we like the $100/365 day payment option and being able to use it in the US.
I'd prefer a GSM phone so we have the potential to unlock it and switch carriers if necessary, but that isn't a showstopper.
Does anyone have an opinion about a good, reasonably priced, cell carrier and plan for a teenager?
5:39 pm
October 21, 2008
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Speakout isn't a bad prepaid option for your son. The charge per texts are really low 5cents each, but you're charged for both incoming and outgoing.
(Note: Bell, Telus, and Rogers are probably going to start charging for incoming texts as well, and their charge is more. Something to look into)
One thing to look for in a prepaid plan for your son is if they have a text messaging add-on. For example Virgin Mobile has a few add-on plans like $5/mth for 100 texts or $10/mth for 2500 texts.
If your son will be using the phone almost exclusively on the weekend or weekday evenings, then you can look at one of these prepaid options from Fido or Rogers (I'm sure several other prepaid companies have something similar)
Fido - 5cents per minute evenings (starting at 7pm) and all day weekends. 40cents per minute all other times
Rogers - 1cent per minute evenings (starting at 8pm) and all day weekends. 39cents per minute all other times.
Try to figure out how much and when your son will use the phone. Maybe one of the specialty prepaid packages one of the big companies have will suit you. Or, if your usage is scattered throughout the day and you just need a decent per minute rate anytime, then Speakout is the best plan.
5:54 pm
April 22, 2009
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Fido could be an option also. $15 a month gets you 50 outgoing text messages, $25 unlimited. Incoming text messages are free.
7:23 am
May 25, 2009
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I too am interested in others' experience with teenagers. They are not known to be very disciplined when it comes to time of day or limiting minutes or text messages 😉
My daughter says she's interested in having a cell mostly for texting, and the phone for emergencies. Is SO really the best option?
Trying to understand the new teen culture with texting, MSN, facebook etc. Hard to keep up.
Mom
1:51 pm
October 21, 2008
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Speakout is pretty good in regards to text message rates. Sure, you are charged for both incoming and outgoing text messages, but if you use $75 or $100 airtime cards each text message only costs $0.04. (due to the crazy Speakout math)
And I think some of the larger cellphone companies charge for incoming text messages as well, and they charge a lot more than 4cents.
You can try and get a prepaid phone with a different company - one that has a package deal for text messages, but you'll probably be spending at least $20/mth ($10 for package + 911 fee + usage). Unless your child will be sending/receiving more than 500 text messages per month (about 10 sent and 10 received per day) then Speakout is the way to go.
2:07 pm
I've been having a similiar dilemma too. I text about 150-250 (inbound and outbound) msgs a month. It seems like a lot but it's only 5 msgs (incoming and outgoing) a day. Lately it seems like I've been having whole conversations via texting :b (I blame my g/f).
At 4 cents a msg, that works out to be a minimum of $6 (but up to $10) per month on SO. I've been considering Telus PAYG because they just added a $100 top up card that has a 365 day expiry and for $5 a month you get 250 outgoing txt msgs and free incoming. If you calculate it out, the sweet spot for the $5 is 125 msgs ($5 divided by 4 cents per msg). If I send and receive more than 125 msgs per month on SO, it's cheaper for me to be with Telus. With the free incoming msgs on the $5 plan, I doubt I would ever reach 250 outgoing msgs limit (it's 15 cents per msg over the limit).
Of course, there's lots of gotchas with this - I'd have to give up my SO service (local calls are 5 cents cheaper than Telus), the GSM coverage and the unlocked GSM phones. Then I'd have to buy a Telus PAYG phone, buy that $100 airtime, etc, etc. So right now I'm just waiting to see if SO is going to start offering texting packages as well (as I saw as a rumour in some other forum post here).
BTW, Rogers PAYG doesn't really even compete here - they have a similiar $6 month plan for only 125 outgoing msgs, and I assume free incoming.
I guess what I'm trying to say is SO may not be the cheaper plan dependent on your kids' text usage. Do the research before you decide.
Good luck!
5:39 pm
May 25, 2009
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Thank you. I think text usage would be MUCH higher than five each outgoing/incoming. Thank you for your thorough answer. Her friend has a Telus two year plan paying $30/month, but I'm not sure that includes everything. Still more research to do. Thanks.
9:51 pm
Keep in mind with teens, they can text a LOT. Ask your son how many friends he has who text. Rogers has a plan 2,500 free outgoing (incoming is free) texts a month, and that is not enough for some! I did some research, and the average teen sends 2500 texts a month, many send much fewer, so many send MUCH more (my daughter is one).
If they are in a relationship, they can text, very very much.
I got my daughter a Fido pay as you go phone, and they now have 50 cents a day for unlimited in/out text messaging (it's new, so not on a lot of their sales people know about it yet). It's a life saver. That's all she uses it for (texting). Oh, I use it to call her to find out where she is, that costs 20 cents per minute in/out.
She saved up and bought a used LG Neon ($125 vs $175 to purchase from Fido). I will be buying her $20 monthly vouchers, each of which expires after 30 days, but that way, if she makes too many calls, she won't get service back until I pay it again next month, unless she wants to top it up herself. With that she'll get 30 days unlimited texting and 25 one-minute phone calls. If she uses the phone too much, it cuts into her texting, so she has to learn to "budget" her use.
The beauty of this for me is that I don't have a monthly plan where I would get surprises when the bill arrives, which is what happened last time we had a cell and she lent it to a friend to call her boyfriend in Egypt #8-O
She can pay another $30/month to get unlimited weekends/evenings, but that's her call. She has to learn some control, and that's the difficult thing with teens. But they do text a LOT, it is the preferred method of connecting, over Facebook, MSN or (dog forbid...) actually phoning someone.
After three days, she had sent over 350 texts.
10:01 am
October 21, 2008
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Teen’s Mom said:
Keep in mind with teens, they can text a LOT. Ask your son how many friends he has who text. Rogers has a plan 2,500 free outgoing (incoming is free) texts a month, and that is not enough for some! I did some research, and the average teen sends 2500 texts a month, many send much fewer, so many send MUCH more (my daughter is one).
I got a Rogers pay as you go with the 2500 texts/month package. He seldom calls anyone, but texts like a maniac. The only downside is I got him a Nokia like the 5130 that Speakout now sells! It might have been cheaper to buy the phone from SO (on sale) and buy him a Rogers SIM. Ah well, the important thing is that he has a useful phone and I think I got the plan right for his needs.
