Kajeet Review - Cell Phones for Kids

Parents, would a Kajeet cell phone help your child to stay in touch with you and learn how to manage their money while having fun? It could. And what about you? Would you like to be able to check where your children are without having to call them up all the time? Would you like an easy way to manage your child’s cell phone usage? With Kajeet, you can.

Update: iPhone 5 and 4s available

The iPhone 5 and 4s are now available from Kajeet. In addition you can bring any handset previously on a Sprint plan over as well.

---

If you’ve got an 8-12 year-old child in your family then you’ve probably thought about whether to provide them with a cell phone, and what cell phone to choose.

The cell phone service is designed to be easy to use and manage for parents as well as their children. It’s advertised not only as a cell phone, but also as a way of teaching your children to manage money.

We'll go over these cell phones for kids, but let's pause for a second and check the coverage.

Coverage with the Sprint Network

The service uses Sprint's network, so coverage is pretty good depending on where your are. In particular, the map shows good coverage in population centers and along highways (which are also population centers.) You need to check first, of course.

With that out of the way, let's move on to how you manage how your kids use the phone.

How Kajeet Works

You give them an allowance in what's called a "Kajeet wallet” of, let’s say, $20, and they can use that either for making additional calls or downloading ringtones and games. Your children then have to learn to balance those different desires within their allowance. As a parent, you decide to fund their wallet. You can exempt certain calls (such as calls to you) from their wallet. These calls then get charged to you.

Safety and Parental Controls

"Call me maybe"? Maybe not.

Basic Safety

Kajeet, of course, complies with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA).

Your child

• Can always call 911 even if the account has no money or if the number has been deactivated.
• Will NOT be able to call 900 and 976 telephone numbers, since they are blocked,
• Will only be able to download ringtones that have been "content approved".

The above safety features all work automatically. In addition, there are parental controls to customize the phone for your child.

Parental Controls

Parental controls include

• Time Management - You can set the days and times of the day when the phone can be used, but don't worry, they can always call you.
• Contact Management - You can set who can be called and who can call them.
• Feature Management - You can choose which features are activated on the phone. For example, you can disable downloading ringtones or games and gradually lift these restrictions later.
• Wallets - You can create virtual wallets, one for your child and one for you. You transfer money from your wallet to your child’s wallet. Then you can decide what gets charged to his wallet and what gets charged to yours.

All these features are free. There is one additional safety feature.

GPS Locator

All Kajeet phones are comptabile with their GPS-locator service. This allows you to locate your child's phone wherever it, and presumably, your child is. You can either check their location via a web site or set up the phone to send you alerts at particular times so you know whether she's where she's supposed to be. For example, if she's supposed to be at soccer practice by 4pm, you can have the phone send you an alert every weekday at 4pm to check if she's there.

The GPS Locator service usually costs $7.99 per month or 99 cents per locate. It's also included free on the $24.99 and up plans.

Now that you know it's safe, you can check out the plan rates.

Next