what's a good emergency cell phone for an 11 year old?

Two ways to go about that: set your child up on your cell phone provider's family plan and take advantage of some discounts, or get a prepaid plan so that there are hard visible limits to what can be done every month.

If you go for a prepaid phone, watch the pricing carefully. AT&T/Cingular will charge $1.00 each day the phone is used to communicate, plus $0.10 per minute. Daily use would make that $30 a month plus airtime, similar to what you'd be paying on a regular plan in the first place. T-Mobile charges a higher per-minute rate but doesn't add the daily surchage, and minutes you add don't expire as quickly. The other prepaid providers have similar features and might have some gotchas but they're worth looking into.

In either case, there should be some serious educating about how much it costs to use it -- talk minutes, text message charges, Internet usage, photos, ringtones, etc. can bring you some rude surprises -- and how much it'll cost to replace the broken phone. The same kind of talk you'd give for a new puppy.

If necessary, you can ask the phone company to disable some features (but not all, because they're greedy), and you can lock down the phone to call only specific numbers.

The phone itself should be durable, easy to use, and cheap to replace. A clamshell phone will prevent accidental calls and keep the screen in good shape, but a 'candy bar' phone might fit better in small pockets and be less breakable.

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I don't know. I didn't have a cell phone when I was 11. I didn't need one, cause I was only 11.

I like the Cricket phone for my 2 oldest.

We tried the trac phones, but found a lot of times the minutes didn't get added... it was a never ending headache.

The Cricket is fairly good for the price point of monthly charges, and the UNLIMITED minutes... lol no worries they will go over in time.

a really basic phone nothing high tech. i had a basic nokia when i was 11 the first ones that came out, the old ugly ones :/

of course now i have a razor so of corse im going to say that! :)

There is thie one disney phone. I dont remember what its called but yeah. My brothers friend is 12 and has a firefly that would also be another option. There are only certain people she can call on it so yeah.

I would think any kind of prepaid cell phone or a track phone!!

A Go-phone! They are not that expensive! Good Luck!

umm probably none he is way to young but if not mabie the disney phone that helps you trak it or even a pay as u go phone like tracphone

a tracfone cuz even if it runs out of minutes u can still call 911 or a flycell cuz u can program any numbers you want in it including mom and dad's