This Sneaky Hack Saved Me a Ton of Money on My Son’s First Phone

Earlier this year, I decided to buy my son his first phone as he entered high school. I wanted something affordable, reasonably durable, and not so powerful that it seemed slow. I seriously considered buying an unlocked phone outright, but even the cheapest options were over $100 unless I wanted nothing more than a glorified paperweight. Considering some kids are less good with phones than others, I really didn’t want to spend a lot here.

That’s when I decided to try another route: buy a prepaid phone at a discount.

With the holiday season just around the corner, I decided to write this as a guide for parents considering purchasing a phone for their young children. Here’s why I bought a prepaid phone and how it saved me money, even after I moved it to our family’s Verizon postpaid account.

I quickly decided on Straight Talk as a provider for several reasons. First, it’s a Verizon Value brand. That’s important because, in most cases, these phones now automatically unlock after just 60 days, at least in theory. This isn’t true for all prepaid carriers, as some lock phones for several more months and, in cases like Boost Mobile, up to a year.

Straight Talk also has a decent variety and there is a Walmart within walking distance of our house, so my son could look around with me and decide what he wanted in person.

Another big reason to choose Straight Talk is that it offers some of the best discounted prices you’ll find on any prepaid brand. I would say Cricket is probably the best, but it is also known for being more complicated when it comes to unlocking certain devices. The downside is that Straight Talk’s plan pricing isn’t as competitive as other prepaid providers, but it all evened out in my situation.

Once again, I didn’t need a fantastic phone, just an acceptable one for an almost twelve year old. I found this in the form of a discounted Moto G Play 2024. Admittedly, it didn’t get a good rating in our own review, but this was mainly when we saw it as a $150 device. The main issues are that it lacks NFC, has a relatively dark screen, is limited to 4G, and won’t receive many updates. For my son’s initial phone? None of this really matters.

In total, I paid over $95 for the phone. This included not only the $19.99 plus tax that Straight Talk charged for the phone, but also two months of Straight Talk’s 10GB Bronze service. If you had purchased the phone outright, you would have paid around $149.99 (plus tax) for the same device. Not to mention you would still have had to pay for monthly service with another provider.

Obviously, there are more expensive devices as well, so I can’t guarantee that they will all be great deals. Typically, the more budget-oriented a phone is, the bigger the discount.

As long as you do your homework ahead of time, a prepaid phone can be a great way to save, especially if it’s a Verizon Value brand. As mentioned above, these unlock faster than the competition due to Verizon’s agreement with the FCC. Here are some reasons why I recommend this route:

• In many cases, you will pay the same or save money compared to purchasing outright by spreading the costs (initial purchase plus 60-day service).
• Many cheap phones with carrier discounts are actually more durable for kids. They often use cheaper metal or plastic backs that may not look as good, but are much less likely to break than glass backs.
• It’s a good way to check the liability of a first phone. Even if it’s damaged or lost, you’ll only be out the initial $29.99 or so and a month or two of service. The risk is much lower than giving a child something better or more expensive.

Of course, it’s important to note that Verizon Value phones like this are only a good deal if you plan to use them on Verizon or a carrier that uses their network. While T-Mobile will technically work, you may be missing some important bands that could limit the experience. Unfortunately, AT&T is not eligible in most cases.

For me, that’s not a factor since I know Verizon is the best option in my area and there are tons of prepaid networks that work with it.

Once the 60 days were up, the moment of truth came: I tried to unlock the phone.

At first I ran into some problems. Straight Talk claimed that the phone should unlock automatically, but when I installed a SIM card from another carrier, the phone still appeared locked. I dialed #TFUNLOCK# and the device returned “the device is SIM locked”. After contacting Straight Talk customer service, they gave me a solution. They directed me to Motorola, which only resulted in Motorola telling me I was out of their control.

I had read online that many people had success after filing a complaint with the FCC, and unlock requests were often processed within weeks. I thought about doing it myself, but I got to work and left my phone off for a few days. When I tried again later, the phone suddenly registered as unlocked. Most likely there was a delay or error in the unlocking system, but waiting seemed to fix it on its own.

I probably lost about an hour and a half on this process in total, which I could have spent on something else, but it didn’t seem like a big deal. If I had to file with the FCC, the worst case scenario would have been that my son would have been without a phone for a week or two. That would have been frustrating for him, but not serious overall.

Shortly after, I was able to activate the phone and add it as a BYOD option to our family Verizon account. This did not increase our monthly bill beyond taxes. If I had purchased it directly from Verizon, I would have had to pay full price or commit to a longer payment plan and continue paying more.

I won’t deny that this could have been a hassle, but I would do it again with my youngest son when he is old enough. I am sure, based on my past experiences, that an unlock would have been achieved eventually even if I had needed the FCC’s help.

Now it’s your turn. Have you ever tried something like this yourself? How successful were you?