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Texting Questions - Apps

K

KonaBlue

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 10, 2015
5
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Okay, here's the situation. I've got two phones with AT&T on the unlimited data plan, and we each have the $5 text message plan with 200 messages. Simple enough, and it works for us.

Getting my son an iPhone 6 for Christmas, however I cannot add him to my plan unless I give up unlimited data. Not going to happen. So, he's getting his own plan with 3GB of data, and his own number. Now I need to figure out texting options. AT&T doesn't offer the $5 texting option anymore…and $20 is insane, especially for a kid. He will want to text with his school friends, but not everyone has an iPhone. And not everyone has AT&T.

I've done some searches, but my results are vague at best. So I turn to the collective….are there any apps that seamlessly allow him to text to friends with different carriers, and receive texts on his phone? With his 3 gigs of data, will this be a limiting factor?
 
If his friends have iPhones, iMessage will not count against the texting plan and will be considered data. He will ultimately end up downloading SnapChat and probably Kik to communicate with most of his friends which again will not count as text messages.

Unless you need unlimited data and have very high usage, I would give that plan up to get the unlimited texting plans on the family share. Of the two, communication is very important and you guys sharing a 10/15GB plan with rollover is more than plenty.
 
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It will mostly depend on what the friends are using. If most of them have some app like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger or some other similar app then that could be used. If they all truly just do regular texting, then perhaps some combination of iMessage and Hangouts (for those with Android) could be used, or Google Voice could be used for texting as well, or perhaps AT&T has some app for texting (like Verizon does).
 
To preserve his 3GB of monthly data, give him a stern talking to about only using Facebook while on WiFi. My daughter, a junior in college, racked up 12GB of data usage mostly on Facebook in one month. Considering we were sharing 10GB per month between four of us, that really sucked!
 
rambo47 said:
To preserve his 3GB of monthly data, give him a stern talking to about only using Facebook while on WiFi. My daughter, a junior in college, racked up 12GB of data usage mostly on Facebook in one month. Considering we were sharing 10GB per month between four of us, that really sucked!
Click to expand...
Can't live without UNLIMITED DATA
 
rambo47 said:
To preserve his 3GB of monthly data, give him a stern talking to about only using Facebook while on WiFi. My daughter, a junior in college, racked up 12GB of data usage mostly on Facebook in one month. Considering we were sharing 10GB per month between four of us, that really sucked!
Click to expand...

Might be a good idea to set some apps to not allow cell use at all. FB seems to not respect boundaries like no background updates.

C
 
KonaBlue said:
Okay, here's the situation. I've got two phones with AT&T on the unlimited data plan, and we each have the $5 text message plan with 200 messages. Simple enough, and it works for us.

Getting my son an iPhone 6 for Christmas, however I cannot add him to my plan unless I give up unlimited data. Not going to happen. So, he's getting his own plan with 3GB of data, and his own number. Now I need to figure out texting options. AT&T doesn't offer the $5 texting option anymore…and $20 is insane, especially for a kid. He will want to text with his school friends, but not everyone has an iPhone. And not everyone has AT&T.

I've done some searches, but my results are vague at best. So I turn to the collective….are there any apps that seamlessly allow him to text to friends with different carriers, and receive texts on his phone? With his 3 gigs of data, will this be a limiting factor?[/QUOTE

the 3 gig plan comes with unlimited talk and text.
Click to expand...

you might as well just get changer to a newer plan with 3 lines because the older unlimited plans will be going away soon.
 
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I don't know how old your son is, but I think it's unrealistic to expect his friends to remember that he can only be texted using a certain app. Kids text....actually, so do adults. My son and I average about 6000 texts each per month. I think that unless you go with an unlimited texting plan, you're setting yourself up for some painful overages.

I had the grandfathered unlimited data plan for years and was so reluctant to give it up. I finally did, and went with the 10GB family share plan (that they recently bumped up to 15GB for the same price) with unlimited texting, and I have three lines - me, my 18 year old son who is a freshman in college, and my dad. I haven't regretted giving up the unlimited plan for a second. How much data do you and your partner average per month? Is the unlimited plan really necessary?
 
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I don't know if this is an option, but perhaps Verizon has a plan that will suit your needs better. I have their lowest tier plan and it has unlimited texting but not unlimited data. Works for me, not to mention superior coverage in my area (San Jose, CA).
 
SisterBlue22 said:
I don't know how old your son is, but I think it's unrealistic to expect his friends to remember that he can only be texted using a certain app. Kids text....actually, so do adults. My son and I average about 6000 texts each per month. I think that unless you go with an unlimited texting plan, you're setting yourself up for some painful overages.

I had the grandfathered unlimited data plan for years and was so reluctant to give it up. I finally did, and went with the 10GB family share plan (that they recently bumped up to 15GB for the same price) with unlimited texting, and I have three lines - me, my 18 year old son who is a freshman in college, and my dad. I haven't regretted giving up the unlimited plan for a second. How much data do you and your partner average per month? Is the unlimited plan really necessary?
Click to expand...


Agreed. When you factor in rollover as well it feels like unlimited anyway.
 
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