My daughter NEEDS a Cell Phone !

[CETERUS PRIME]

So, my 14 year old daughter wants, no wait, NEEDS a cell phone for Christmas. Here's my dilema : she lives about 5 hours away with her Mom. Long story short, I got burned before for letting someone ^^^ use my cell while I was at work. I haven't had one since, yeah, it was bad ! So, I spoke with a Telus rep today and asked her what my options were. Obviously, she gave me the run around, just trying to sell me something, but I finally got her to admit that if I were to purchase a plan for my daughter, there was no way I could limit her usage to the plan, and could therefore get charged extra if someone were to abuse the phone's usage plan. The plan I was looking at is called the Voice 25, includes 200 local anytime mins, unlimited nationwide family calling, unlimited local night and weekend calling (9pm), and one added feature by choice, which would probably be unlimited fav 5 etc. Now I know there must be some folks on here who rely on these things like a last breath of air, so who knows what I can get for her that isn't going to cause me to snap if this phone gets into the wrong hands and gets abused once again ? Is there any way I can get her a decent smartphone with the most common features without the possibility of someone ringing up a bill that will put me in jail I'm probably crazy for even considering this

Any help or advice appreciated, cell phone advice that is

[Buhawi]

prepaid card cellphone?

[CETERUS PRIME]

Originally Posted by Buhawi

prepaid card cellphone?

Thanks for the reply, Buhawi. Yeah, that's what I was thinking too, but holy smokes, she'll eat up a card in no time ! The fees for pre-paid are a lot higher than what you get with a plan, which explains why most people purchase a monthly plan, but at 14 years old going on 21 , I just can't do it, not with the way kids are today, and not unless she was living here with me so I could keep an eye on things at least. Any other suggestions ?

[Buhawi]

let her eat up the card. she'd be lucky if you pay for it not with her allowance. actually, add a little bit more to her allowance to pay for half of her cost. I think 10-20 dollars a month should be fine.

when I was her age I had 7$ allowance per week... *waves cane*

[Jeepmanhastj]

Is Telus your only option? I find many friends leaving them these days.
There are student deals out there as well. Especially those made for High school students and college kids.
You know all she's going to do on it is be on Facebook and send text msgs anyway... She's 14!
You can get a phone pretty cheap these days its just that the company you sign up with will contract you for 2-3 yrs.

Alternatively, you can buy a phone with no contract commitment (usually on ebay new or used) get a plan and then you'd be able to get rid of the plan if you find something better later on - or the plan your on just isn't working. You at least have a way out this way.

I recommend to find the phone first (most will work on all networks) then look at the plan that suits her teenager life (ie unlimited messaging and social networking)
The flavour of the year for cell phones are the Blackberries and the iPhone. But unless you do a contract they won't come cheap.
I got my Nokia E71 for $230 from a guy in Quebec unlocked on Ebay and because I didn't buy it thru Rogers I didn't have to sign up for their mandatory smartphone minimum $20/mth data plan. Paid for the phone right there.
Thing has Wi-fi capabilites anyway so any hotspot hooks me up to the net!

How much do you want to spend on the phone and then on the monthly?

Regarding protecting the call usage, Prepaid would give you the least headaches. but you'll get the worst rates.
But see about adding the unlimited messaging and social networking (Facebook, MSN)
You might still end up having the same prices ...maybe.

[Buhawi]

i hope she does not want a smartphone. if so be firm dude. she's fourteen and does not need this. actually smart phones are a waste of money for anyone who does not use for business.

does she really need to be on facebook and online 24/7? I just deleted mine. its a waste of precious time.

[Deemar]

I worked at Telus for 18 months, I can answer any of your questions with no runarond. I was the top level of support for all the data devices, basically if I couldn't fix your problem you got a new device.

You will need unlimited text messaging and instant messaging, I've seen 20,000 text messages in a month, easy. Lastly for security you can put a lock on the phone so nobody can make calls with it if they don't know the code, it's basically just a screen lock. I have one on mine where I have to swipe my thumb in a certain pattern (HTC Hero) to unlock it because I pocket dialed too many people. I called my mom once and got her out of bed at 3am...."HELLOOOOO? HELLOOO? ARE YOU THERE? I CAN'T HEAR YOUUUU!"

[UltraPrimal]

I think you should tell her to get a job.

[Dark Rage]

I know you want to be a great dad and all, since her mom is divorced/separated/whatever the case may be, but it's not helping the girl at all.

It's just going to teach her to learn how to spend on luxuries and not necessities, which may have more dire consequences in her decision making later on in the future (Hmm...post secondary or FT job at clothing store?)

You see those morons on the Rogers Wireless commercials Facebooking/tweeting/surfing/watching shows on their smartphones all day? They're just teaching young people and kids to learn how to piss away money and continue to make the Rogers family wealthy as fuck, while pissing away their own earnings (if any).

Her racking up the bill won't land you in jail, but it will land your credit rating in the dumpster if you can pay her bills. It just looks like it will be a double edged sword: pissing away your money, while pissing away her productivity.

Use prepaid; it will teach her to use a phone intelligently (no, not smartphone), not sending dozens of texts like "LOL" "i'm bored" "wat r u up 2?" or the popular "lmao!"

[Joalro]

My advice is this: There are many contracts you can get that are month by month. So get a month by month plan, and tell your daughter, very clearly, that if she does over her limit that month, that month will be the ONLY month she has a plan for. How long she can use her phone depends on how responsibly she can use it.