Kajeet is a pre-paid cell phone service created primarily for kids.
If you would have mentioned the possibility of Amber having a cell phone at her disposal, even a year ago, I would have thought it pretty funny.
We don't have a contracted cell phone plan, and only I have a pre-paid plan from a different service. My cell phone is only used in case of emergencies and we have never thought much about having a second one.
Now that Amber is a teenager though, and doing things on her own, the idea of her carrying a cell phone does not seem as ludicrous.
How Kajeet Works: Kajeet works in one of two ways;
1) You can either fill your wallet (that's the name they give to your account) and 32¢ per day is taken out to keep the phone active and then each call is 10¢ per minute or each text is 10¢ (incoming or outgoing).
2) You can subscribe to any number of available service plans for a monthly charge.
There are actually two "wallets" associated with each account. A Parent one and A Child one.
The parent can decide how much money the child can use for things such as ringtones, wallpapers, games etc., or calls to friends, and when the money's gone, well the kid is out of luck.
The $$ within the Parent Wallet will still cover the monthly fee or calls to important numbers like Mom or Dad, so the phone can still be used for emergencies and such.
Parents can also use the control panel online to block picture messaging and numbers that can't be called or have calls received from, as well as limit the time of day the phone can be used.
Our Take:
I'm giving this review as someone who will be giving this to my daughter as an emergency or quick access tool NOT as a way to build her social network, so keep that in mind as you read this.
The Cost: If you use the cheapest plan Kajeet offers at $4.99 per month for 10 minutes and a month of service, that is really the cheapest way you'll get a cell phone for emergency purposes without a contract. Plop some extra cash in the wallet for extra minutes just in case you go over the 10 allotted to you and you're covered. This way is cheaper than the plan I currently use.
Be prepared to use some of the minutes or money you put on to set the phone up. In order to configure your voicemail box you have to "call" your phone. At minimum you're looking at 4 minutes to do this.
There is a good assortment of ringtones on the phone already. Not fancy ones, but for a phone not getting used frequently plenty to choose from. Songs and other kinds can be purchased through the phone's on board "Navigator" and roughly cost around $2.50.
The Online Configurator: This is the web based application where you can decide which numbers to allow and block, whether Mom and Dad or Child is paying for particular services and check the balance in your account. This is ingenious. My current plan does not have an online portal, and I so wish they did.
I did not switch any money between the wallets personally since I had no need to. However, I did go in and block picture messaging, and that was ever so simple to do.
My one and only complaint is you can not block texts. You can block certain numbers so you can't send or receive them from that particular one, but not texts as a whole. I wished you could block them separately, because at 10¢ a pop, when someone sends you one your phone accepts it. Period. We had one from a wrong number. The text was not meant for us. Since we're using it as an emergency phone I don't like that. I can choose to not answer the phone if it rings, but the text will come through regardless.
The Navigator: I went through this quickly just to try it out. I think it has a bit of a learning curve, but once a kid knows what they're looking for it could be beneficial. Both my husband and I had a bit of trouble finding what we were looking for, but no surprise the teens can figure it out pretty quick! This is where the extra ringtones, wallpapers, games, and other extras (some free too!) are located.
Overall: I really like Kajeet. We've already used it for "good". I dropped Amber off at the orthodontist the other day and headed off to run some errands instead of sitting in the waiting room for an hour. When she was done she called me to pick her up. I could learn to like this ☺.
The service is good where we're located (and we don't live in a huge metropolitan area), and the price of the plans is competitive and in some cases blows away the competition.
We're planning on keeping it. We already picked up a refill card at Best Buy to keep the service going after this review is complete. So even though there was a feature I didn't care for, it won me over enough to continue using it.
Kajeet is giving one of my readers the chance to receive a phone for their family that also includes $5.00 of airtime.
To enter visit Kajeet, and tell me what your favorite feature would be about their service.
For extra entries after the above is done, you can (please leave a new comment for each one you are eligible for):
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3) Follow Myself and Kajeet on twitter and tweet this giveaway (this can be done daily!)
4) Subscribe to my feed via reader or email
5) Follow my blog publicly
6) Add my button to your blog
7) Post about this giveaway on your blog and link back to it
This giveaway will end on October 4, 2009 at 11:59 pm cst and is open to U.S. Residents ages 18+. The winner will be chosen by random.org and will be e-mailed. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to the e-mail or an alternate winner will be chosen. By entering this giveaway you are stating that you have read my **About Reviews statement at the bottom of this page and my Privacy/Rules declaration and agree to them.
* I received a phone from Kajeet and $25 in airtime, so that I could formulate my opinions about their products and services and write this review.
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