<p>Hope you don’t mind, but I would love to get a parent’s spin on this. I really want an iPhone for Christmas, but my parents simply don’t think I need one. As a girl who will be going to college next year, do you think there are any reasons that I should have an iPhone? It doesn’t have to be specifically related to college, but I thought I would just say that.</p>
<p>I would love to get your opinion. Thanks!</p>
<p>I am not willing to pay the monthly data fees. My son has a computer and an iPod touch; if he wants an iPhone, he will have to come up with the monthly fees. If they do away with the fees, then he can have an iPhone when he is due for another phone.</p>
<p>What if your son paid for the monthly fees and all you actually paid for was the phone? Then would you see any benefits?</p>
<p>Yes, my kids always had iphones. I don’t think they could live without them. The part they can’t live without is the data service. They check their emails all the time. It was particularly useful when D1 was interviewing for jobs on campus. They would notify her during the day when her interviews would be (career center). She was also involved with a lot of on campus activities, she received emails during the day which she needed to respond to. They use the GPS feature quite a bit and Yelp for finding restaurants, subway route.</p>
<p>I have never paid for cell phone service for any of my kids. I might buy them an Iphone or something similar as a gift, but the fees are their responsibility. There’s no reason a kid aged 14 or up can’t make $50/month doing odd jobs, babysitting, or getting a part time job.</p>
<p>There’s no way I’d get one for my kids because of the monthly cost of the data plan. They don’t need a phone for emails, browsing the internet, etc. since they have a laptop for that which is perfectly fine for the purpose. I also don’t pay for a text plan for them, if they want to do texting they have to pay for that (and they do). I’m not going to pay for the stupid way most kids text (one liners back and forth every other minute for a long time racking up the number of texts - most of which are fairly useless).</p>
<p>My kids were too involved with their studies to be distracted by random emails all day long. But really, most students text nowadays rather than sending each other emails and they’re enough of a distraction.</p>
<p>To answer your question - no, I don’t think most college students ‘need’ a smartphone. Most might ‘want’ it, but they don’t ‘need’ it. If you really want one then offer to pay the required monthly data plan from your own earnings. You can buy the phone as well if you don’t get one for a present after telling your parents you’ll pay for the data plan. If paying for the data plan seems too steep for you, now you know why a lot of parents don’t want to pay for it either.</p>
<p>We gave our oldest a smart phone for Christmas his senior year. He never wants anything. He had an unlimited data plan which he used a lot. He never texts. Really! There are less than a dozen texts and less than a dozen phone calls when we pay the bill. His laptop broke at some point and he was doing everything on the phone for a while. Come to think of it, I have a feeling we are still paying that bill which is silly since he’s gainfully employed now! Younger son (college sophomore) just has a regular phone with a misbehaving simcard, we are up for new contracts in January and we’ll consider it then. He’s likely to spend a junior year abroad - so that will factor into any decisions.</p>
<p>Both of my kids are very involved with their studies, they were never distracted by their iphones. It’s kind of inconveneint to carry a large laptop around just to get emails, plus there are places without wifi service. Kids send each other texts, but professors and administrators still send emails. My kid’s professors have rescheduled their meetings during the day via email. As a club and sorority officer, D1 has had to send out many official emails.</p>
<p>D1 is eligible for a new phone now, will be ordering her the new 4S phone. She could pay for it herself because she is working now, but I am happy to do it. She currently has unlimited data plan, so she is not going to move off our plan for now.</p>
<p>Each person has their own idea what’s necessary when it comes to technology. I am someone who carries 2 phones, ipad and laptop when I travel. In my mind, I can’t imagine my kids not wanting those convenience either.</p>
<p>Both of my kids have iphones. My daughter first got hers as a freshman in college and is now a first-year med student. She’s super-busy, not at home much and doesnt carry her laptop around in class or lab or at the hospital, so the iphone has been wonderful. My son also has one and he is a Marine either on deployment or in a location other than home. I would say the iphones have made it super easy to keep in touch often with both of my kids and that is worth any price!</p>
<p>Yes and I have! Reason - because I wanted to & it was a Christmas gift. We have never been parents that reward good grades or accomplishments (that is your “job” and top performance is expected and the true reward is the job well done). The IPhone was something my son REALLY wanted so we purchased it as a Christmas gift and we pay for the data plan etc… He never asks for much and never really expresses a desire of “things” but he really wanted an Iphone. He had been working very hard at school and had accomplished some really great goals. The Iphone was a gift for Chrstmas and the data plan was for being a good kid.</p>
<p>We got our S2011 a smartphone for graduation. We pay the data fees while he’s in college. Total it’s the same amount we gave his brother at graduation towards a car. A gift is just that, a gift. It’s not always necessary but it’s something the recipient would enjoy. </p>
<p>On a selfish note, we can reach him much easier because he doesn’t check email frequently during the day on a laptop. He does now. I text so I’ve never had a problem but his dad would rather email. His university has a great app with bus routes in real time and lots of other features. It’s very handy. </p>
<p>I would suggest asking for this for graduation when your parents are looking forward to the use in college. Getting dorm things early doesn’t increase the cost. Getting the phone in December adds six months of data charges before you are a hs graduate/college student…the time you are arguing you need it.</p>
<p>We have a family plan (with a corporate discount) that has unlimited data, so probably no matter how old they get, we’ll keep them on our plan. We have helped them get iphones when they are eligible for new phones. Older s has gotten his own. Younger s does with our assistance. But if they break theirs, they pay to fix/replace. Younger s pays for an insurance plan. And they have strong protective cases on their phones now.</p>
<p>My son had an iPhone but when the contract on that expired, he asked for, and got a Windows phone. [Windows</a> Phone - Wireless from AT&T](<a href=“http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/windowsphone.jsp]Windows”>http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/devices/windowsphone.jsp) It has all the features of an iPhone but he thinks it’s better. The rest of the family has iPhones, and I have to say, once you get a smart phone, it would be very difficult to do without one!</p>
<p>I think Sprint is the only one that still has an unlimited data option. If you commit to a two year contract with AT&T you can get a free iPhone 3G. I think
The 3G is the better option for someone without the unlimited data plan because you can turn off the 3G and only use wifi which is free. You always have the option of turning it back on if you are away from your free wifi and need to look something up.</p>
<p>I use a free texting app on my iPhone called “TextNow”. Completely free texting. No limits. My kids also have iPhones. It is invaluable to be able to communicate with my kids whenever I want via email and text.</p>
<p>I believe on iphone4 if there’s wifi, it automatically switches over saving data usage limit. I would prefer a real keyboard but I find the google on the iphone quite useful when traveling. I get the real time traffice report on the map.</p>
<p>We are a Verizon family–Fios tv, internet, wireless, and home phones–except for my iPad which was only available 3G with AT&T. We have a second home in an area that does not get AT&T service or have an Internet hookup. I am thinking of replacing my iPad in the spring with one through Verizon. If I can get a good data plan, I will consider an iPhone. So far, my son hasnt wanted one but maybe that is because he knows I am not willing to pay monthly charges.</p>
<p>OP, so you really “want” an Iphone for Christmas. Now the question is, how/why do you “need” the Iphone (as opposed to a non-Iphone) - do you have another basic phone or a smartphone? What will the Iphone give you that you “want” or “need”???</p>
<p>Just bought my D an Iphone last week. But she is a spring 2011 college graduate! We offered to buy her the phone - not the newest model, but the Iphone 4 ($149) - she had had her previous non-smartphone for over 3 years so she had stretched her $$$ on that one. So the phone was a gift from us, but she will take care of the data charges.</p>
<p>I have the i4 and can toggle off 3G/wi-fi settings as well. I’m sure the i4s can do this as well. Luckily I have unlimited data from the original iphone days with AT&T. My son has never had a problem with data as his university is entirely wired. All the buildings and common areas are wi-fi. He’s never gone over.</p>
<p>Until <em>I</em> get an IPhone with data plan, I will not be paying for my KIDS to have IPhones with data plans.</p>
<p>We might, however, give one kiddo money to replace his three year old IPhone with a new model…it will be his birthday/Christmas present. We do not pay for the cell service at all for this kid.</p>