My kids are getting older, and to the point that I should probably be sending them out with a simple phone when they go to play at a friend's house. The phone isn't the hard part, it's finding an affordable way to let them make the very occasional call to and from me. I'm talking perhaps 25 minutes a month. No text, no data, at least for now. We have a few older iPhones that we keep around to play games on, but we don't want to use these.

I'm looking at prepaid stuff, but what I've looked at thus far doesn't make a whole lot of sense. For AT&T, it would be I think a minimum of $10 for a GoPhone card and it expires in 30 days. It would only be $15 a month to add a line to our existing account and have unlimited data and text. T-Mobile looks like only $3 a month for 30 minutes. However I'd have to go used on any phone as theirs start at $75 vs the $15 for AT&T. (edit - I see that Best Buy has one for $20. That might be my route.)

I want to limit my search to SIM-compatible phones and plans, so I can replace phones easily and cheaply as they lose/break them. Would you do T-Mobile or something else?

 

FWIW - I don't know how old your kids are but what I can tell you is once they have phones, texting IS GOING TO HAPPEN and it is going to ramp up quickly from there. Texting is how kids communicate nowadays and to be honest if you aren't texting much today, you will be once your kids start. It's quicker and easier and more than likely all of their friends are going to have phones soon too. Just something to think about from someone who has been exactly where you are and was thinking the exact same way. Not saying your kids need iPhone 6Ss but don't paint yourself into a corner with your equipment or plans.

 

If you're going to go with the $3 Tmobile pay as you go plan, and you're looking for an inexpensive phone, Walmart has a dumb phone for $19.88: T-Mobile Samsung Prepaid T199 Cell Phone - Walmart.com

The same phone is $14.98 on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-new-SEALED-FREE-SHIPPING-New-T-mobile-SAMSUNG-T199-3G-Enabled-Phone-/251885738682?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3aa58f5aba
Make sure you have good or decent coverage with Tmobile in your area first.

My dad has TMobile's pay as you go, and he's fine with it and the coverage.


Another option is H2O wireless (an MVNO) which uses AT&T's network. Better coverage? Their cheapest pay as you go plan is $10 for 200 minutes or 200 texts. The minutes are good for up to 90 days. On a per minute basis, they're cheaper than TMobile. And you can get their Lynxx phone for $0, or you can provide your own GSM phone (AT&T or unlocked Tmobile) if you already have one.

Other MVNO's you can looking into include Airvoice (AT&T network) and PTel (Tmobile network).

 

Yo are a bad parent.

 

I had my kids on Tracfones-- the phones are cheap(including basic, texting and smart phones), they run on SIM cards and the minutes didn't expire for 90 days and can be extended. Tracfone piggybacks on Verizon cells here in SoCal.
I believe Tracfone operates a couple of other pre-paid companies as well.

 

My oldest are 9, and are homeschooled. I get your point, though. One of the reasons I was looking at pre/postpaid with cheap monthly payments and not much of a commitment.

I bet they'll eventually be added on our plan, which has unlimited minutes and texts. However it's $15/$30 a month depending on the phone.