Paying for kid's cell phones

[Carpediem]

Just curious how many folks are still paying for their kid's cell phones. And if you're not, got any advice for getting them off your plan?

We still have 3 on the mom and dad plan - ages 24, 23, and 23 (blended family). Their phones were recently paid off over a two year period reducing our monthly bill from $375 to $250. Now, they're itching to get themselves a new phone. We've told them we are NOT making any changes to our plan so if they want to find an individual plan for themselves, go for it. Of course they're not too anxious to do that.

 

[CaliKid]

Just curious how many folks are still paying for their kid's cell phones. And if you're not, got any advice for getting them off your plan?

We still have 3 on the mom and dad plan - ages 24, 23, and 23 (blended family). Their phones were recently paid off over a two year period reducing our monthly bill from $375 to $250. Now, they're itching to get themselves a new phone. We've told them we are NOT making any changes to our plan so if they want to find an individual plan for themselves, go for it. Of course they're not too anxious to do that.

I think this is, sadly, the norm right now. I personally am ok to pay for cell phone coverage for a period of time in their 20's but new phones are on them in my opinion. Their old phone works or they can, dare I say, downgrade to an older model!?

 

[MichaelB]

It's been a while but I recall we still had our kids on our family plan at those ages. They were motivated to get their own service about the same time they moved out, probably because they wanted some privacy in their lives and we started charging rent.

 

[Sunset]

Never paid for them.
I never had one as a kid and I see it as a learning experience about want vs need.

I don't even view it as healthy as nowadays it seems like they never even look up anymore to experience real life.

 

[Texas Proud]

I made my DS pay for his phone and I paid for a cheap plan... T-Mobile...

He found ways around the normal call and text where he could use wi-fi....

When he broke his expensive phone, I did pay half for his next phone... but when he wanted a newer one, he paid 100% of the cost...


Now he is at university and he changed plans to unlimited phone and text with I think is 1.5 GB.... like $25 per month.... but HE pays the full amount out of the money we pay toward college.... and he knows there is a limited amount of money we will give him so he needs to operate cheap....


DD is just turning 13 and I do not think needs a phone.... and I prove my point when I say I will buy her one like mine and she says 'no way'....

 

[CaliKid]

Never paid for them.
I never had one as a kid and I see it as a learning experience about want vs need.

I don't even view it as healthy as nowadays it seems like they never even look up anymore to experience real life.

Few will dispute this but it's real life today. I hate to say phones are mandatory but it's pretty close to that. They don't have pay phones everywhere like when we were kids. Carrying a dime in your wallet doesn't work anymore. Once kids are about 13/14 they are so active phones are really necessary for everybody. What type of phone is a different question of course.

 

[erkevin]

We are paying for our son's cell while he is still in college (21 yrs old). However, he is on Republic Wireless, so it is only $10/month!
His place or work, the entire campus, and his apartment are all wi-fi, so he does not need a data plan with his phone. For the $10, he has unlimited talk and text and data (over wi-fi).

 

[travelover]

As a guy who was married at 20 and have been paying my own way before that, I have to shake my head. I have PagePlus and it costs a minimum of $10 every 4 months. I have an Android smartphone that I bought used on eBay.

I am, however, available for adoption.

 

[Carpediem]

..... nowadays it seems like they never even look up anymore to experience real life.

Very true! I once told my son, "you need to put that phone away and look at everything you're missing".

 

[DrRoy]

We have one son near min wage and the other doing better. The first son uses virtually no data and we cover the bill. The other son is a data hog and he pays.

 

[exnavynuke]

I don't have any kids, but I've got my dad on my phone plan (my sister has our mom on her plan).

 

[Music Lover]

Few will dispute this but it's real life today. I hate to say phones are mandatory but it's pretty close to that. They don't have pay phones everywhere like when we were kids. Carrying a dime in your wallet doesn't work anymore. Once kids are about 13/14 they are so active phones are really necessary for everybody. What type of phone is a different question of course.

I agree that a cell phone is almost mandatory...I can't remember the last time I saw a phone booth. But, an old flip phone on a cheap plan is good enough for the basics.

 

[Golden sunsets]

I must admit we have our 31 and 33 year olds still on our plan. They both earn good money and are responsible. One is even married and the spouse is still on her parents plan. I can't give you a good reason why we do this. WE don't however absorb the cost of an upgrade with increased monthly costs anymore.

 

[Louis2]

I still have both my daughters (26 and 24) on our family plan, but they both have full time jobs and pay me every month for their share of the bill (which includes new phones). They are also still on the family car insurance and pay me that amount every month as well.

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

5 people on a plan that costs $250/mo? Maybe that works for some, but that's ridiculous to me! Much cheaper options exist.

 

[Carpediem]

I must admit we have our 31 and 33 year olds still on our plan. They both earn good money and are responsible. One is even married and the spouse is still on her parents plan. I can't give you a good reason why we do this. WE don't however absorb the cost of an upgrade with increased monthly costs anymore.

Golden, Are your kids not contributing to the monthly bill at all? Have ya'll talked to them about getting their own plan? Just curious.

 

[euro]

I still have both my daughters (26 and 24) on our family plan, but they both have full time jobs and pay me every month for their share of the bill (which includes new phones). They are also still on the family car insurance and pay me that amount every month as well.

Do they both live at home still? If not, be careful about the car insurance. Those are usually written based on where a person lives (except when away for full time studies at university), so if they live elsewhere and are still on your insurance, there may be trouble when it comes to filing a claim if insurance co finds out.

 

[euro]

Just curious how many folks are still paying for their kid's cell phones. And if you're not, got any advice for getting them off your plan?

We still have 3 on the mom and dad plan - ages 24, 23, and 23 (blended family). Their phones were recently paid off over a two year period reducing our monthly bill from $375 to $250. Now, they're itching to get themselves a new phone. We've told them we are NOT making any changes to our plan so if they want to find an individual plan for themselves, go for it. Of course they're not too anxious to do that.

I booted my kids off my plan after high school graduation. Gave them a raincheck for one new phone each and then they would be on their own. DS updated his phone right away, DD made do with her flip phone for another 3 years.

Mind you, I ended up paying indirectly because I gave them money for college, but they got a fixed amount of cash and had to fit whatever phone plan they felt they needed. Both decided they could make do with a "bare bones" plan, once Dad quit paying for the fancy one....

 

[jazz4cash]

We have 5 on a family plan that's $300/mo but that includes some addl devices (not mine!). My share is 30/mo. Kids pay their own share since leaving undergrad. I don't think we have any data hogs in the family so it's pretty easy to share. The girls priced going out on their own and it was a powerful incentive to stay on the family plan. They get free phones every 2 yrs also.

 

[ivinsfan]

Just curious how many folks are still paying for their kid's cell phones. And if you're not, got any advice for getting them off your plan?

We still have 3 on the mom and dad plan - ages 24, 23, and 23 (blended family). Their phones were recently paid off over a two year period reducing our monthly bill from $375 to $250. Now, they're itching to get themselves a new phone. We've told them we are NOT making any changes to our plan so if they want to find an individual plan for themselves, go for it. Of course they're not too anxious to do that.

advice for getting them off? Just tell them to take their phone number with them and find their own plan. Now some people will say just have them pay you for the phone bill, but that can just lead to more hassle down the road.When they asked for new phones, did they offer to pay for the phones? You do know since it's your phone bill, you can cut them off anytime you want to?

 

[ivinsfan]

We have 5 on a family plan that's $300/mo but that includes some addl devices (not mine!). My share is 30/mo. Kids pay their own share since leaving undergrad. I don't think we have any data hogs in the family so it's pretty easy to share. The girls priced going out on their own and it was a powerful incentive to stay on the family plan. They get free phones every 2 yrs also.

But it's always going to be cheaper for them to piggyback onto your plan, what happens when they are 30, 40 or older?

 

[Walt34]

Harumpf!

When I was a kid we had one telephone. It was black, had a rotary dial, was hardwired to the connection, was owned by Ma Bell and kept in the living room. If we wanted more than that we were invited to pay for it ourselves. We somehow survived the deprivation.

I see no reason any kid, especially those out of school, shouldn't be paying for their own telephone. Even a minimum wage job will pay for a Tracfone or similar.

 

[RetireAge50]

We keep them on our plan because it is cheaper overall and the phones are free every two years.

 

[mpeirce]

> Just curious how many folks are still paying for their kid's cell phones.

We still have youngest son on our plan. While he's in college we're playing for it and have two more years before he's done with grad school. Then he's on his own.

It's pretty cheap for us though. We've transitioned to owning our phones outright, so we're not paying for the phones over a contract period.

We have an ATT "family" plan with a generous pile of data, adding a person on to this is about $20. We also have both my parents on this (they pay me $20 a month).

Total bill for 5 of us is about $175.

 

[Taxman59]

We paid for the phone through college and for one year after they graduated. After that, they are on our plan, but they have to pay for their share. That is still cheaper than a plan for just themselves.