The Best Kids’ Phone Plans

Cell phones let you stay in touch with your kids at all times of the day. Once their schedule starts to get a little more complicated, a cell phone makes it easier and less stressful to keep track of their practices and other activities. A cell phone ensures a constant line of communication between parents and their kids. 

Alas, deciding when your kid, especially if they are the oldest, needs a cell phone is very difficult. There is no right age or right time, but they will need one eventually. It is worth looking into whether or not a phone is a right decision for your child, especially if they’ve been asking for one. So much of their time is spent with other kids, and if those kids have phones it is likely that they will start asking about one in the near future. There are many pros and cons to getting a cell phone for your child, and before we get into the best kids' phone plans, we will discuss some of the ups and downs. 

While we have a few great plans on this list, you can check out our cell phone plan comparison tool for information about the best phone plans in your area. 

When Does Your Kid Need a Cell Phone?

Cell phones give people a crazy amount of connectivity. Basically unlimited talking and texting at any time of the day, access to the internet, the app store, and social media on the go. Video and audio streaming in and out of WiFi zones, and much more. Giving a kid that amount of access to the virtual world will always be a hard decision, and kids are starting to ask for phones at younger and younger ages as their peers get phones. 

The biggest challenge is the fact that there are so many benefits to letting your child get connected with a phone as well. At the end of the day, it is up to you to decide whether these pros outweigh the cons or vice versa. 

Advantages of Having a Phone

Bond with Friends

Kids are interacting with one another at all times of the day due to having a cell phone. The debate that started at soccer practice can continue long into the night as they stay up texting. Friendships are created and solidified on these small devices. Once their peers have cell phones and they do not, your kid cannot take part in these virtual discussions with the ease that their friends can. 

Your kid is making friends in person, but a phone gives them an added time and place. Exchanging phone numbers is a great ritual for kids of all ages, and it lets them feel like they’ve made good new friends. 

Stay Connected

Giving your kid a phone plan lets them stay connected at all times. They are connected at school, out with friends, at their after-school activities, and anywhere else they may be. They can give you a call if they need anything, and you can give them a call whenever just to check-in. 

Establish Trust

A kid’s first cell phone comes with a huge responsibility. The internet is a vast place, and cell phones provide a line into it that’s available at all times. Even if you start them with a non-smartphone, it is still a big step for them. We recommend accompanying the talk about a phone line with a chat to let them know about the responsibility 

As a child, receiving a cell phone is now a huge responsibility. Having that constant access to the internet is a big moment for anyone, and giving a cell phone to your child lets them know that you are trusting them with a phone. It is best to accompany the cell phone with a chat, and let them know that while there are bad things on the internet you are trusting them to avoid delving into those deep, dark places. This is a great moment to establish trust with your child and let them know that you are getting them a phone in spite of the dangers therein. This is a big moment for your kid, and we hope that it strengthens the bond between your child and yourself. 

Disadvantages of Having a Phone

Constant Connection

Just as a cell phone fosters good connections with friends, dependence on their cell phone is not good. Kids are using phones more and more, and that can lead to late nights, using phones at inappropriate times (dinner, class, etc), or for longer in the day than is healthy for them. There is more content to consume on the internet than there are hours in the day. If kids let that sea of content overwhelm them, they may have trouble managing their time for schoolwork or other extracurriculars in which they are involved. 

This is a hurdle that all kids face, but the question is when is the right time to give your kid their first phone. 

Few Parental Controls

While there are some ways to install parental controls and some plans that have a few built-in, the differences between a kid with a phone that’s kitted out with parental controls and one that’s on a normal plan are distressingly similar. There are just too many possible ways for kids to get around any blocks put up or, if you go too far, risk your kid’s wrath when they are seemingly blocked at every turn when they are just trying to use their phone normally. There’s no way to reliably limit your kid’s phone use.

All smartphones come with serious internet access. Make sure you are okay with your kid having that access (restricted or otherwise) along with their phone. If you are very worried you can always get your kid a feature phone that can only talk and text before getting them a smartphone at some point in the future. 

Best Kids Phone Plan

Now that you have some of these pros and cons in mind, let’s talk about some of the best kid's phone plans. Before we get into this list, think about whether or not your phone plan works for your kid. Most companies have pretty great multi-line savings, and being able to consolidate and only have one account running all the family’s plans makes everything easier. There are times when your plan doesn’t work well for your kid’s new plan, but if that’s the case, you can always look to switch. When perusing this short list of plans and carriers, think about whether or not any of these companies would work with you as well! Switching to a more affordable MVNO plan or a plan with limited data could be a great way to save money on your phone plan while securing a good line for your kid on one of the best kids' phone plans. 

Unreal Mobile’s 12 GB Plan

Quick Facts: 

• $40 a month
• Unlimited talk and text
• 12 GB high-speed data
• Contract optional
• Runs on T-Mobile and  AT&T’s network

Unreal Mobile has a tremendous list of plans, but we want to highlight their 12 GB plan. It is a great mix between value and a good amount of data. Kids, we think, will use about as much data as you give them and we think that bringing in a plan with a medium amount of data is a good way to introduce them to using data without being on their phones at all times. 

If you are willing to go in on a three-month contract you save $10 on the monthly cost, bringing it down to $30 a month. The $ 10-a-month savings when getting 3 months at a time is awesome. Thirty dollars for 12 GB is competitively priced, and a three-month contract keeps your options open way more than their 12-month contract. This is a good contract length for kids, as they may want to switch plans or carriers as they grow. 

Mint Mobile’s Unlimited Plan

Quick Facts: 

• $30 a month
• Unlimited talk and text
• 35 GB of high-speed data
• 3, 6, or 12-month contract
• Runs on Verizon’s network

Mint Mobile’s Unlimited Plan is at an affordable $30 a month with the caveat that this price is only available when you buy a 12-month contract. Mint’s plan puts unlimited on the table if you want to get your kid a lot of data. While these unlimited plans only offer 35 GB of high-speed data, 35 GB is still a lot. We recommend high-data plans for kids if they spend a lot of time on buses or another time when they are out for a while without anything to do. If you are concerned with using over 35 GB in a month, you can check out Unreal Mobile’s 50 GB plan, but that’s more expensive than we would want for a kid’s phone plan.

If Mint’s unlimited plan is too pricey, they have three other options at lower price points that offer unlimited talk and text with limited data. If you don’t think this is enough data for your kid, then you can check out the T-Mobile Essentials plan later in this list. A lot of MVNOs offer a nice selection of plans that offer small amounts of data very affordably.

Verizon Wireless — Just Kids Plan

• Cost varies from $50 to $25 per month
• Unlimited talk, text, and data
• Parental controls

Out of all the plans on this list, Verizon’s Just Kids plan has the only real parental controls. Lots of the other plans are cheap and provide great data coverage and competitive rates, but this one comes with significant parental controls. This plan lets you monitor their contact list, track the phone's location, block content, and cap the time they can spend on certain apps as well as total screen time. It’s a pretty significant package.

We recommend this plan only with younger kids as it does not show trust in a way that the other plans do. It is very limiting to the kid, and it caps their contact list at 20 people. We recommend this plan primarily to parents who want to have that extra level of control. 

One last thing about this plan, it is only eligible for already existing Verizon unlimited plans. This plan, unfortunately, cannot be a single-line plan like the other ones can. 

Twigby’s 4 GB Plan

Quick Facts: 

• $20 a month
• Unlimited talk and text 
• 4 GB high-speed data. 
• No contract 
• Runs on Verizon’s network

For $20 a month, Twigby’s phone plan offers unlimited calling and texting with 4 GB of high-speed data. This is one of the best kid’s phone plans because it is affordable with a nice bit of data. Kids might want to use more data than the plan allows, but there are a lot of fair reasons to limit the high-speed data on your kid’s plan, especially with providers that don’t charge data overages. 

Visible Wireless Unlimited Plan

Quick Facts: 

• $30 or $45 a month
• Unlimited talk and text
• 25 MB high-speed data
• No contract 
• Runs on AT&T network

Visible has two plans, each with unlimited talk, text, and data. Understanding the ins and outs of Visible Wireless phone plans are a great place to start because they offer pretty robust plans for the price. The two visible wireless phone plans are as follows:

• $30 per month for Unlimited
• $45 per month for Unlimited plus

Choosing Visible Wireless is a bit pricier, but the ability to get truly unlimited data for a price as low as $30 a month is a fantastic deal. People often use more data than they think just because so many processes on smartphones chew through data. A lot of stuff is going on in the background, and then loading webpages, social media, and streaming audio and video use so much data that it is altogether too easy to chew through any amount of data allotment and be left with 3G or 2G speeds for the last few days of the month. If you don’t remember what it’s like — that’s slow. Just about everything on phones is designed with 4G LTE data speeds in mind, so even applications that are optimized for mobile devices will take ages to load. 

T-Mobile Essentials

Quick Facts: 

• $60 a month
• Unlimited talk and text
• 50 GB high-speed data
• No contract 
• Runs on T-Mobile’s network

From a major wireless network, we have T-Mobile Essentials. While it is expensive at $60 a month, it does come with a fantastic list of benefits while not getting too out of hand. We recommend this low-cost cell phone plan for people who need a ton of data during the month. The major benefit of using a major wireless provider instead of an MVNO is, of course, that MVNOs have to slow down the data speeds of their users whenever the bandwidth is being used. If any area is running low, all the MVNO customers will get their data speeds capped in order to ensure that all of the major network’s customers are still able to enjoy their lightning-fast speeds.

Another big benefit of switching to a major network is that they often have a pretty good new customer deal waiting. Don’t fall for something that will result in you getting locked into paying more than you want to, but enjoying some savings is always nice. We recommend this plan if you want your kid to have access to high-speed data as often as they want it. This provides an unlimited amount of high-speed data, perfect for kids who are streaming video and watching social media whenever they are out and about. 

Tello Economy

Quick Facts: 

• $10 a month
• Unlimited talk and text
• 1 GB high-speed data
• No contract 
• Runs on T-Mobile’s network

Tello Economy is a great plan for people looking to save big time on their kid’s cell phone bills. We have it as one of the best low-cost cell phone plans because it comes in at only $10 a month, runs on a great network, and comes with a little bit of data. With only 1 GB, this plan won’t let your kid spend too much time on their phone unless they are in a WiFi zone. 

Is Your Child Ready for Their First Phone? 

There are a lot of factors to consider when deciding whether or not your kid is ready for their first mobile phone plan. Also, remember that there are still new feature phones that, naturally, have no need for mobile data. Phone plans for feature phones are incredibly cheap, and the phones themselves are similarly very inexpensive. If you want your child to have that mobile connection without having any internet access, this is the way to go.