<p>Right now, my kids are extra lines ($9.95) on my cell phone plan. When they go away to school, do they need to have a separate phone plan from the local area? (I guess it also depends on what carriers work best in the area.) I have time, but I was curious about what people do.</p>
<p>I go to school about 2 hours from home. I am on my parents' phone plan.</p>
<p>Check to see if you're on a nation wide plan. If so, you should be fine with what you have. Stop into local cell phone carrier's store or call and check with them. You might want to increase the text message option. For some strange reason, college kids seem to text often.</p>
<p>Depends on the school. I was on a nationwide family plan (Sprint) but when I got to school there was NO service. Not even roaming. I had to switch to Verizon (but we didn't have to pay a cancellation fee to Sprint since their nationwide wasn't really nationwide)</p>
<p>DD is on our Verizon family plan we're in VA and she is in TX.. No problems.</p>
<p>DD is on our family ATT plan. We are in Ohio and she is in Texas. We have no problems; it works well.</p>
<p>Definitely don't make the cell phone decision till you check with a student who goes there. He or she can let you know which carrier has the best service and whether or not the other services cover the area. </p>
<p>If coverage is good enough, then no need to get a phone from the local area. If you've ever seen a college kid's cellphone bill, he or she calls all sorts of area codes each month--and that is just to talk to the kids across the hall!</p>
<p>Agree with el. It is a riot to read D's bill. We are AT&T. Buy down nights and weekends. Pay extra for text. $9.95 add a line. Works like a champ. We are in Texas. She is in Memphis.</p>
<p>Like every one else said, do not worry about the area code, worry about the quality of service, if you can keep her on your plan that is cheaper. My oldest drove me crazy with little overages & calling information etc, so I kicked her off our plan and she has her own. My other one has an international plan, but the youngest will stay on our plan for $25/mo for phone plus unlimited texting plus tax and includes unlimited MTM to other ATT people & weekends & nights. As long as DD keeps her friends on ATT & does not use up my minutes, I will keep her on my plan!</p>
<p>It IS a riot to read the bills. Two months ago, my son had $50 in texting charges, most to some number in Minnesota farm country. That's how we found out he had a new girlfriend. (Who lasted another couple weeks after we found out about her.)</p>
<p>I still have my older son on my plan and he graduated last year. He gets his own plan next month. Makes it easier for them to call us for "free". Any overages they pay.</p>
<p>We're in CT, D is in school in NC. We have an amazingly inexpensive Sprint plan w/ 5 phones sharing minutes so were very pleased that the service was fine at school. Had to go to unlimited texts, though -- clearly a case of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." Honestly, don't these kids ever talk in person?</p>
<p>Absolutely get unlimited texting. They text all the time. DD and I text each other too, especially when we are not sure if the other can answer the phone.</p>
<p>It's crucial to find out which cell phone companies have good coverage in the college's area.</p>
<p>My kids are both on our family's Verizon plan, but if we had been with any other company, my daughter would have had to switch because Verizon is the only company with really good service on her campus and in the immediate vicinity. We just got lucky.</p>
<p>My kids are on our plan. We are in CT, S is in central NY state. </p>
<p>BE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN you have unlimited texting!</p>
<p>If you have a nationwide plan where they are not paying any roaming charges. it is a great thing. We had sprint and verizion and neither gave us any problems. Remember on your family plan should your kids decide to call you or anyone else in their network they are not burning any minutes.</p>
<p>JHS, </p>
<p>Until you said Minnesota, I could have sworn your kid was texing mine when I got the phone bill with the text messaging charges :eek: I signed up for the unlimited texting.</p>
<p>Texting -</p>
<p>Here is where the Cone of Silence surrounding some of our S's comes in handy. My S NEVER texts (if he did, it would be on his nickel, but he's just not interested).</p>
<p>So, you don't necessarily need an uber-text plan.</p>
<p>Like most everyone on this thread, we've found that, if coverage is good, doesn't matter where they are and NO ONE CARES about area code. They don't know each other's numbers, anyway. They enter the friend in their phone book and they never use the actual 10 digits again. Our plan works for the various family members who are/have been in New Orleans, Maine, Baltimore, California, even Mexico (great coverage, but roaming charges in this case, so we rarely use it there).</p>
<p>My roommate is on the nationwide plan, she uses the name plan and number that she had back home in Oregon. We're in Iowa.</p>
<p>We are in CT and S is in AZ; his phone is still part of our family plan with shared minutes. He's limited (at our request) to 500 minutes, but he pays us $20/month for the unlimited texting option. S2 (rising HS junior) hasn't yet had the need to text, but when he does, he will also pay the premium.</p>
<p>We used this</a> web site to check cell coverage at son's college, but it may not be the most up-to-date source.</p>
<p>It is important to see which cell phone companies have good service where your child will be living. Our whole family is on Verizon, but only my D and I share a family plan. Nationwide plans, unlimited night and weekend minutes, and unlimited in-network voice minutes and texting have been useful for us. Area codes become pretty much irrelevant, except if people with landlines want to reach a student whose cell phone requires long-distance calling--and in my experience even many landline plans now have unlimited long distance. Verizon cell phone ervice has been good in most areas in our experience (there is poor or nonexistent service in parts of central Vermont and along I-91 in the upper Connecticut River Valley--but I don't think that is unqiue to Verizon).</p>