Virgin Mobile Custom a smartphone for my son I control!

My son has been using tech devices since he was a toddler. At 2 he was adept at playing with my iPhone and when the first iPad was released he enjoyed having a larger screen to play with. I have grappled with allowing him to have his own phone because I was unsure about having him use one as a seven year old. However, with parental controls and the ability to limit usage I have decided that he is ready. When I was asked to try the new Virgin mobile custom available only at Walmart, I figured no time like the present! This plan allows me to do a test drive with a cellphone for my son. Providing him with an opportunity to call and text those close to him with a no contract plan that I can discontinue if it doesn’t work out.

The plans start at just $6.98 for 20 talk minutes and 20 text messages. I know my son will be using the phone primarily for playing games so he isn’t likely to need more than this. But if he does, the Virgin Mobile custom plan provides me with the ability to build my own plan, customized for his needs. There are data plans starting at $8.00 for 250MB and since I know he will mostly be using the phone for gaming, this is the area I will need to increase(within reason of course, limiting his screen time is still very important to me). I can make adjustments at any time depending upon his usage. If you have an older child that likes to text or talk on the phone, you can add unlimited talking for $18.00 and unlimited text for $10.00. And although we are are only a family of two, if you have multiple children in your household, you can add up to 4 lines (at $4.98 each) to the plan and adjust everyone’s talk, text and data from your phone!

You see, with Virgin mobile custom, you have parental controls directly from your current phone (iPhone or Android). Virgin mobile is on the Sprint network, but you have control even if you are on a different network. As a mother I love parental controls. Not only am I able to adjust the plan depending on our needs, I also control when and how my son is able to use the phone. During school hours I am able to turn off the internet and only provide him with access to emergency phone numbers for use in the event he needs to call me or his father during school. Not only that, I can set a curfew so he won’t have the ability to play angry birds or other games after bedtime and I can block the apps that I don’t want him to access at all. I can do this all by downloading the app to my android or iPhone so the power is right at my fingertips!

My son received the LG Pulse($79.99) powered by android but you also have the option to purchase a ZTE Emblem ($59.99) or a LG Unify 4G LTE ($129.99).  With this smartphone my son is able to talk, text, and play the games that he enjoys. I think this is a great first phone for him and we are going to see how this experiment works out. My little boy is growing up quickly and by giving him this phone I am teaching him responsibility, providing him with some independence and allowing him to contact me when he is away!