Cell phone help

Okay, I have 2 boys who have been begging for cell phones for MONTHS.
They even took BR and my old cell phones and take pictures iwth them. They type messages to each other and then trade phones since they dont 'send'.

I dont think a 9 or 8 year old needs a cell phone. And I refuse to put them on my plan.

BUT, I told them if they saved money they could buy themselves a cell phone. ( track phone) But I know nothing about them. can you text? how many minutes does it use? Is one company better (cheaper) than the others? Is there something to look for?

I dont want them to have the ability to call friends and such. each other is fine. or me. But not outsiders. Now I can lay down the law on this if I have to. It doesnt have to be a built in feature. They will mind me.

Just like my mom and my MIL are both bad about turning off their ringers, or ignoring their phones, they dont want to talk to someone, dont want to do something they said they would so they pretend to not be home, dont want to talk to a bill collector. and I will call to talk to my kids and they wont answer. In those cases I would LOVE for the boys to have a cell phone.

I think texting is fine. They could text each other. no problem. maybe even DH and I.

even if I wanted to get them phones, I cant afford the extra lines. So that is out. Plus I already have 5 lines (MIL, FIL, and Mother) and they never use the damn things. they 'forget' about them. GGGGGGGRRRRRRRR

Is there anything out there that would fit the bill?

OH and my kids dont have video games, they just saw a PSP for the first time last week. They dont sit around watching TV all the time and never spend time on my phones calling people. I wouldnt let them use their own money to buy a video game. or other stupid toys. I am just a mean om that way.. It might be their money, but certain things dont 'live' in my house.

I did a test for Kajeet phones, my son has been begging me to turn it back on for him. I won't.

I know there are 'text/911' plans only, but I think they are thru providers. I found this article :

http://cellphones.about.com/b/2008/07/15/reader-question-cell-phone-plan-for-kids-answer-atts-smart-limits-for-wireless.htm

Most of the pay as you go cell phones charge $0.10 per text

Try these CNET reviews ? http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3504_7-6260217-5.html?hhTest=1

Friends of mine have a Net 10 and I believe a text is .05 each. You can buy them at WalMart for about $30 and they have 300 minutes with that (I think).

I have Virgin Mobile. The phone was cheap, something like $19.99, and thecheapest plan costs $15 every 3 months. I can text, never do. They charge by the unit, or minute, 10 cents flat. When I make a call, it's 25 cents for the first 10 minutes of a day, then 10 cents each minute thereafter.

The next plan is to buy "top up" minute cards. The $15 each 3 months requires a credit card on record.

Here's a link that explains the plan http://www.virginmobileusa.com/rates/minute.do

NET10 is cheaper per minute than Trac phone, and works in your neck of the woods. YOu can text, it charges 1 minute per text I think, but it is 10cents a minute.


It seems to me that what you are wanting is a Firefly( yes I did a bzz campaign on this one, BUT they never sent me my kit so I didn't bzz the damn thing)

Firefly has 5 Preprogrammed buttons, so they could call, you, home, each other, 911, ....you decide.
I got one for Bayley last spring, for ball practice, after school stuff etc, and it is great.

http://www.fireflymobile.com/

Chelle, I had tracfone for years and loved it. Unlike other plans, you do not get charged for texting because you can only use what you have paid for. When those run out, you buy some more. Texting uses about .02 of a minute to send or receive.

I actually got my tracfone for free because someone at amazon.com sent me a link that I could use and she would get extra minutes and I would receive some for signing up. Under my own plan with them, I got two or three people to sign up and received like about two hundred minutes for it. It was a plain no frills phone but it worked when other people I was on a trip with couldn't get any bars or were getting dropped.

The only reason I don't have it anymore is because I received one for Christmas with all the bells and whistles AND no bill, lol.