<p>Cartera45- no worry, the girls know to put the phone on vibrate.</p>
<p>The safety thing wouldn’t generally be a concern for me. Kids these days want phones so badly to talk and text (excessively) with their friends, that they won’t be without a phone very long in any case.</p>
<p>We met a coach on our college visits that said she bans cell phones when the athletes are on their way to a game, and while at the game. She wants them to be with their teammates, not their boyfirends/girlfriends via cellphone. That coach, all by herself, was a big selling point for that school!</p>
<p>Fortunately my son has a cheapo prepaid, but the cost-per-minute is relatively expensive and 100% his to pay for. It keeps him from using the phone for excessive chattering.</p>
<p>Dumb but true phone loss story…My friend’s sixteen yr. old D dropped her phone in the toilet (at a restaurant) just after she used it (the toilet,not the phone!). Reluctant to stick her hand in “used” water, she decided the thing to do was flush the toilet and grab the phone as the clean water rushed in!!! You can guess the rest. The phone went straight down the toilet and the D was left with a red face and no phone when she returned to her table of friends at the restaurant.</p>
<p>I guess she didn’t want to have a potty mouth.</p>
<p>On the subject of phones. My 8th grader is asking for a new phone for her birthday. We went to the AT&t store today. I am in shock at what phones she thinks she should get for her birthday based on the phones that her classmates have. Like MomofWildChild’s friends the kids have Blackberries, Iphones, Voyagers (which is 300 with a contract from Verizon). She is now sulking since I told her under no circumstances is she getting any of these phones. She presently has a Motorola that does nothing. No speaker phone no camera that I got on ebay for 20 dollars. She has a Nokia with a camera that I put through the washer.
These are 13 and 14 yr olds. I sometimes think I need to move!</p>
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<p>lol!!</p>
<p>mom60, when we got new phones last year (every two years, we can get them; last year was the first time we’d exercised that option), I told S he could have a free phone, or pay the difference for a fancier phone. He paid the difference for a fancier phone.</p>
<p>A mistake, as the charger for his phone is different from the charger for H’s and my phones. His charger disappeared into the maw of his dad’s house, so S’s allowance just went to pay for a new one (which will NOT leave this house!). Next time, all phones must use the same chargers!</p>
<p>I’m a fan of the insurance offered by Verizon…new phone (well, 2 weeks old!) was run over by his car. For $50, S could have a new phone. We always get the basic phone, unless he wants to make up the difference. I pay for the insurance, he pays for the new phone(s)! Cost of insurance: $4.95 onto the monthly bill. We decided to carry only S’s phone on the insurance rather than pay additional premium for H’s or mine—good move until H dropped his in a bucket of water while washing the car!! Maybe the men in my family are victims of a weak gene!!</p>
<p>I guess I need to do a reality check - we actually may not be middle class. Neither I nor our DS has a cell phone.</p>
<p>Dad II –</p>
<p>If your city is anything like mine, cell phones are not a sign of being in the middle class or higher.</p>
<p>Don’t worry, there are plenty of other middle class and upwards folks who have them and seldom, if ever, turn them on. If you have made it this far without one you may have escaped.</p>
<p>College students do need cell phones, just as they need computers today. Son’s dorm phone has free local service, he never signed up for any long distance service. Next year in an apt his only phone will be his cell phone (no more waiting for the phone company to hook up your phone after you move in…). </p>
<p>Insurance- at $5/month it is $120 for the life of the 2 year contract, reactivating an old phone if possible sounds more cost effective. When I lost my cell phone at the college city’s mall this winter (found and returned via son, eventually on his part) it was near the end of the contract; our other cell phone loss involved H leaving it on top of the car and it flying off at a toll booth years ago. I do not use my cell phone often, but being without it alone at night on the highway in zero degree weather was scary (why it bothered me when I lived without one for decades…).</p>
<p>I vote to have the student pay for the new phone and insurance on it if she anticipates the need for it.</p>
<p>Another dumb phone story-
Son was 16, went to the beach with a very pretty girl he was sweet on. They had a cooler with ice and drinks in it. They decided to go swimming, and in his starry eyed awe-struck brain-dead state he placed the phone inside the cooler, on top of the drinks. Several hours later- the phone was drowned.</p>
<p>Both my boys have had cell phones since they were around 16, as well as keys, wallets, wristwatches, and other easy-to-lose items. My oldest has lost things from time to time since then; over the past 4 years he’s probably lost or broke either his phone, his watch, his keys or his wallet several times. My younger son never lost a thing until this past semester, when a string of unfortunate breakages and losses occured over the course of about two months. When I took a step back, though, I realized that his track record is actually much better than his older brother’s. He just had the bad luck of having it all happen within a condensed time frame.</p>
<p>My point is, it might just be that your daughter has had a string of ‘bad luck’, and instead of having this sort of thing spread out over a number of years it has happened all at once. Is it a habitual thing?</p>
<p>We provide our kids’ phones when they come up for renewal, and we usually get the best deal on the best phones. If they lose them, they are replaced with reconditioned crappy phones at their expense, so they really are motivated to protect their good phones.</p>
<p>As far as not having money- my oldest son has a part time job. My other son does not, but he has a separate checking account that he keeps gift money in (birthday, Christmas) for pleasure spending, and he has to use that money to replace the phone.</p>
<p>This is our lucky day or what. </p>
<p>DD went for a school visit this past weekend and lost her cell phone there. We just got a call and the nice lady said they found her phone.</p>
<p>^^^Wow Dad II, that’s says something good about the integrity and honesty of the people at that school!</p>
<p>DP, very true. If it does not cost us that much more $$ to send her there, that phone call could have sealed the deal.</p>
<p>As far as phone and apartments go having only a cell phone could be a problem in the event of needing to call 911 and not being able to receive reverse 911 calls. 911 calls made from cells don’t always go directly to dispatch. Having been evacuated I know the value of the reverse 911 calls. Might want to consider an inexpensive VOIP phone service registered with 911 local service.</p>
<p>Funny story. Lost my cell phone, second time my father refused to pay. Being the stubborn, money-grubbing teenager I was, I refused to pay for it either. I went pretty much the entire year without a cell phone (never used it much anyway). Turns out, I get hit by a car yesterday. Didn’t have a cell phone. Had to finish my walk to a restaurant, order my food, and walk 15 minutes back to school to find the nurse. (I wasn’t hurt badly, bloodied up a bit, bruised rib, etc.)</p>