Re: Frugal Cell Phone

On Wed, 3 Dec 2003 19:31:21 -0500, AxelandarFlemming wrote
(in message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>):

> "George Evans" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
>> My teenage son wants
> 
> Your son does NOT need a cell phone.....he wants.   Big difference..   
> 
> Give him a prepaid calling card for fifty bucks.    Let's see how much the
> balance on the card is come March.
> 
> 
> 

If he's like my teenager, it will still have darned close to $50 bucks in 
March.  I let my kid carry my Virgin Mobile prepaid cell phone once in a 
while, so she could call when she needed rides, etc.  She's been so good with 
it, and it's turned out to be so convenient for me that I let her have the 
phone.  She's never come close to $20 in any month, and really does use the 
phone in a responsible way.  At home, she's quite happy to use the landline 
for "free."

I made it abundantly clear that if the phone was misused, it would be revoked 
immediately.  DD knows that I don't make idle threats, and the first thing 
she asked me was how to check how much money she had remaining on the phone.  

If your kid understands that misuse of the phone means it goes away, I 
recommend Virgin Mobile.  The phone (they call it the "party animal" model) 
is reasonably sturdy and not heavy, the service we've had has been flawless, 
and there are lots of games and ring tones that the kid can download for a 
dollar and have fun with. Playing games is free.  :-)

Kathy