Review: Kajeet Cell Phones for Kids

I should probably get to my disclosures up front in this one, because there are a few. I first heard about Kajeet, the new cell phone service for kids, when I got an e-mail from Craig Peters, their director of online marketing and communications. Craig wrote me back in June because he'd found the Jumping Monkeys podcast and he wanted to introduce me to Kajeet. He gave me a little bit of background about the service and we discussed the possibility of Kajeet sponsoring Jumping Monkeys.

Kajeet sounded really interesting, but I have to say that I didn't spend too much time thinking about it. Kajeet is aimed at tweens and we're light years away from that stage in our house (or so I'd like to believe.)

A few months later MomCentral asked me to review a Kajeet phone for their blog tour. I signed up and they sent me a phone and a $20 phone card to try out the service. I played with the phone for a few weeks, checked out all the features on the phone and the Web site and I was really impressed. It's obvious that the Kajeet phone service was designed by parents, not just people who try to imagine what parents might need.

Kajeet used kid beta testers to help design the phones, so I would hope that that means that tweens would like them. Since I'm not one and I don't have one, I can't tell you whether all that tween-speak on the Web site and the phone controls is appealing or annoying to kids. I can say, however, that as a parent I'm very impressed with the parental controls.

I never gave much thought to kids cell phones, but the more I read the more I learned just how dangerous it might be to give your child a regular cell phone. First consider the fact that standard phones allow your child to call anyone (thereby automatically giving anyone their cell phone number). Many plans allow you to buy ringtones and sign up for difference services. That's basically the same as handing over your credit card to your child. They'll be charged for those services and you'll be the one who has to pay.

Here are a few ways Kajeet can help you manage your child's cell phone:

• You set who your kids can call.
• You set the hours when your kids can call, to help keep them from making calls at school. (The exception to this is that they can always call home and they can always call 911.)
• You give your kids a phone allowance, which can help teach them how to budget their money. They can buy ringtones. They can buy wallpaper. They can text or make phone calls. One they've spent their allowance, that's it.
• There are no contracts and no monthly fees, thereby allowing you and your children to be fickle about the plan. Instead you get charged by the day.

I am not buying my children (ages 4.5, 2.5, and 2.5) a cell phone anytime soon. But when the time does come I'm definitely going to consider Kajeet and I'd recommend it to anyone with tweens who they think are ready for their own phone.   

Comments

[Ed Hawco]

There are other parental control solutions out there as well. Some, like the Kajeet, are based in the handset. Others, like AT&T's Smart Limits and ACE*COMM's Parent Patrol, are based in the carrier's network, which means they will work with any phone.

I admit I'm biased, because the company I work for makes Parent Patrol. Regardless, there are certain advantages to using network-based parental controls, including the fact that it means your kids can use any phone they want, or they can use hand-me-downs from parents or older siblings. It also means the child doesn't have to use a specialized carrier, so you can take advantage of family plans and the like that might be offered by the parents' carrier.

Parent Patrol is just starting to get out there. We have some carriers in Canada using it, and two regional carriers in the U.S. are launching it in the next few weeks or so (unfortunately I can't name them). In all cases they're marketed under a different name, but you can cross check them on the parent-patrol.com Web site as they become available.

There's more talk about this topic at our blog: www.kidsandmobilephones.com

[Susan]

Children need cell phones when they are independent enough to need a safety net. A child who is capable of using a cell phone to call their parents in times of distress as a safety measure should have the communication skills to understand when and how they should use their phones. Many parents trust their children to use cell phones appropriately. They use open communication to teach their kids why they need to use proper safety when using the phone, weather that be house or cell.

In general, I oppose parental controls because I feel that they inherently block or hinder parent-child communication. Furthermore, Children are aware of their vulnerability and powerlessness—something adults often forget. Rather than trying to control children’s actions, shouldn’t parents get to know their kids and develop a strong sense of mutual respect? I feel that creating dynamics where children have responsibility and some control over their sense helplessness helps kids grow up feeling understood and helps parents know what’s really going on in their children’s lives. If we block the TV, the cell phone, and the computer, don’t we run the risk of assuming we know everything about our children’s lives without first asking?

I also object to tween marketing. Tween speak in annoying to adults. As responsible parents we should encourage our children to use eloquent language and be able to communicate easily with adults and other kids alike. Tweens are old enough to feel the need to be included in the adult culture in which their parents participate. Marketing unnecessarily to tweens only furthers the gap between children and their parents at a critical developmental time in the children’s lives.

Susan

[Craig]

An interesting pair of comments from Ed and Susan: One is focused on the development of parental controls, while one is generally opposed to the notion of parental controls. Which, I think, is a microcosm of the discussion at large happening among parents: Opinions of how a parent ought to be involved in their child’s cell phone use land all along the spectrum.

Which is why at kajeet we designed our service to be less about control and more about cooperation and conversation between the parent and the child. We recognize that for a child having a cell phone represents not just freedom but also responsibility. That responsibility is shared by both the parent and the child and we feel strongly that it's up to us to help facilitate those family conversations about the responsible use of mobile technology.

kajeet is a company founded by parents, with a name that's an anagram of the first letters of the founders' kids. Many of us who work at kajeet are parents and we take parent-child conversations extremely seriously. We've all worked very hard to take a thoughtful and responsible approach to the topic of kids and cell phones.

So when someone asks, "When is the right age for a kid to get a cell phone?" the answer isn't "8" or "10" or "12" or any number. The answer is: "When the child is ready for one." In some families, a child is ready at age six. In other families, a child may not be ready at age 16. But that's not for any marketer to decide; it's up to the family to decide, for parents and kids to decide together. And if they decide that kajeet is the answer to their cell phone needs, we're here to provide a pay-as-you-go service that is cost-effective, easy to use, and very customizable from both a service and a financial perspective.

I really don't want to turn this post into a sell job, and I fear I've already done too much of that. Google kajeet and see what moms are saying about us. Take a look at the press room on the kajeet Web site: There are some great links to things like a CBS News story about us, a TIME magazine piece on our beta testing, a C|Net review, and so on. Better yet (yeah, this is the shameless blatant plug portion of this post): Take a look at our phones and pick up a kajeet brochure in Target, Best Buy, Toys R Us, Limited Too or Longs Drugs.

Bottom line, I guess, is: There ARE companies out there striving to market responsibly to families and the jumping monkeys in them. kajeet is one of them.

Craig Peters
Director, Online Marketing + Communications
kajeet

Companies PR & service deptartments need work. Computer glitches cost the consumer bank deductions..."oops sorry..." is the complaint's reply. I don't think they are really sorry to have borrowed my money for five days. I wonder if you stole thirty dollars from three thousand people, how much daily interest could one earn???

[brenden kelly]

i hate u son of bictchis