My granddaughter has been begging for a cell phone. I told her I would get her a phone for her 14th birthday but I wasn't signing up for a contract because if she lost the phone or got it taken away because she was not working in school it or something - I would be stuck paying for the next 2 or 3 years.

So, we got the phone. She HAD TO have unlimited texting. So I told her - you will have to text during the daytime, because on a $20 card, which is what I am prepared to buy a month, you only have $9 left for talking, which if you use the talking part in the evenings and weekends, you will have about 200 minutes of talk time!!

I guess it went in one ear and out the other!

Yesterday, she emails me - she only activated the phone last Saturday -- what is that?? 5 days ago!! She has now only $2 of talk time left. Could I get her unlimited talk and text. So I phoned the Sasktel mobility call centre. Well, there is no such think as permanent unlimited talking - you could get 8000 minutes a month but that costs $480. So I told her, if you can get someone to pay $490 a month for unlimited talking and $10 for unlimited texting - I guess you can have both!!

Anyway, I guess it was a useful lesson.

We looked at all plans. Telus was stupid. Unless you get a contract with Telus you can't have a Sask phone number!! On a prepaid deal she could only have a Manitoba or Alberta phone no. She could phone me and it would be a local call. If I phoned her - it would be long distance! How stupid is that!

Anyone else have a similar experience with a young teenager and the first phone? She just did not realize how expensive cell phones are. That is why adults use them sparingly! For a time a few years ago my son did not have a landline phone, but he still was careful with how much he used his cell.

I had a similar experience with one of my daughters - it cost me $200 to "buy out" of the contract. Apparantly a "pay as you go" simply wasnt cool enough for her, she ran up huge bills and guess who had to pay?

As far as i am concerned, cell-phones are the new "drug of choice" for teens (and tweens), I totally refused to co-operate in the purchase of another one unless it was pay as you go.

I had a hard time convincing my kids that I managed the first 30 (yes 30, oh how deprived I was) years of my life without a cell phone, and managed very well thankyou. They find it very odd as you can imagine ("but dad, you dont understand!")

As for me, I tell my kids constantly that i would love a house in The Beaches, a BMW, and vacations in the carribean twice a year. BUT, I cant afford it as just have to live within my means - as must they!

Kids and cell phones just dont mix - and I think especially with girls.

Both of my kids havemobiles in the uk - hannah can go thru about £20 per month where as nate took 9 months just to use up £25

Gaynor
x

Mine are exactly the same.My eldest went crazy for a cell when we first got here and insisted it had to be a contract.I persuaded him to get a pay as you go.
This cell phone he couldnt live without was in constant use for a week or so,then it ran out of credit. He had his pocket money every week but refused to top the phone up,so guess what.....its sitting gathering dust in his room.
So much for "he,d just die" if he didnt have one eh?
I think hes waiting for me to top it up............

Mandi

Well, I caved in to my two teenagers. i must admit I think i bought them each a cellphone mostly for me so that i can always know where they are .It has worked out for me in the sense that I bought them a pay as you go one each. They buy their phone cards with their pocket money. If they dont do their chores... no money , no funny is my motto.

My decision now that we are in the Big City is do I allow my 13 yearold and my 14 year old on the metro (subway) by themselves to go to their freinds house? So far, I am escorting them every where , but the kids think I am pathetic chaperoning them and say that I am the only parent they know who does this ( ofcourse they would wouldnt they!). When are kids ( yes, they are responsible) considered old enough to ride the metro without an adult?

Well I am a relative newbie to the world of cell phones here in Canada. I didn't shop around, I just wanted the cheapest most basic pay as you go phone that there was becuase I knew that 90% of calls would be incoming and wouldn't cost me a thing. Err no actually, I have since found out that even incoming calls cost me money! That is something that I am not used too.

By the way I have a PAYG phone with Bell, it's called Solo mobile? So far I've done $40 in 2 weeks and only made a few local calls.

I think the novelty has worn off a little bit. At least, she seems to be mostly texting. I even found out how to text. We must both have the same brains because I cannot for the life of me fathom out how that "T9" or whatever its called - works. Neither can she. She said she tried to text me, I forget what she said she was TRYING to say, but the phone guessed "ass". I just change mine to alpha and spell it out - as does she!!

She says her friends say its easy, but neither of us finds it easy at all!

The first time I came across the stuff where it guesses what you want to say was when I borrowed my sister's phone in England. After having it guess ridiculous things, I gave up and phoned!!

You refer of course to "predictive text" - it is a bit a different and takes a bit of getting used to, and it would be useful to have someone show and explain the logic, then it will be more sensible to you, and it is much quicker to text that way, and also has the ability to "learn" words, which again makes life easier - if one gets the hang of it that is.
Good luck if you decide to have a another try.

Rob.