Well needless to say he got flimflammed. :\

He decided to go out (while we were camping), and get his own cell phone.
Out too the Mall he went and signed up for a T-Mobile deal.
25 dollars for the phone - real nice slide out phone actually.
BUT.... isn't there always a but there somewhere
He also without realizing it signed for a 2 year contract with their service and if he ever canceled within that period...well he owes them 200 dollars for the phone.Hrmmmm... not such a bargain after all.
Anyways (yes i do still poke through my sons room doesn't every parent), as i was doing this i came across his REAL contract
I believe he was pretty ashamed of what he went and got himself into so he lied to us about his monthly payment and his deposit.
Here is what the T-Mobile fiends did to him.
They sold him the phone real cheap provided he sign the 2 years contract.
He had to lay down 50 dollars deposit
Activation fee's would be on his first bill.(which thankfully he will never receive)
His monthly payment was $70.00 ... unlimited everything
I do not know how he planned to pay for it monthly.Mowing lawns isn't going to cut it i am afraid in this case.Besides winter is coming and shoveling drives probably will not cut it either.

Anyways after finding his true contract i talked to my Wife and we took a trip out to T-Mobile stand at the Mall. YAY! ... i hate the Mall.
They decided after "our little talk" to take back the phone and tear up the contract he had signed no questions asked.
They just wanted their phone back.
They also decided he would get back his 50 dollar deposit.
So hopefully our son learned a valuable lesson here.
That sometimes it's best to let Mom and Dad go with you on particular important purchases.
After i had a talk with my son afterward he seemed to understand better how this really could have messed up his future credit for school loans, and perhaps a car, and/or home loan.

These cell phone companies will sell to anyone with 50 dollars deposit and a few bucks for their "so called free" phones.It truly is sad how they fool younger folk into their snares.

I also believe these kids nowadays need to realize...yes Mom and Dad have nice phones BUT it took awhile to get there. ... just like our nice cars.Kids just want everything NOW..NOW...NOW!

soooooo, just how did you "convince" T-mobile to drop the contract? Usually one cannot get out of it no matter what.

I just asked a few questions about my sons contract with them and told them he no longer wanted the phone or service and they gave him until tomorrow to return the phone.No questions asked.
I then asked about his deposit and they said a check for the 50 dollars would be in the mail as soon as he returned the phone.

Nice people really.

Guess they just liked the way i came across to them.

We've given up on contracts and gone with the prepaid at walmart. It's a cheaper and better plan. I waited six months to get out of my contract with Verizon. Now I'm paying half of what I used to pay.

Geeze, Rod, that sounds like hiway robbery.

I learned that lesson when I was in college with an encyclopedia salesman.

My parents were greatly relieved when my "problem" turned out to be so trivial. A letter from a lawyer cancelled the contract but I never got my money back.

Lessons learned the hard way tend to really stick with you.

I don't know why people insist on dealing with these contracts especially when they can get a perfectly good phone for $27 LG900G from walmart, Then go online and get 1500 minutes with 180 service days for $108.00... You can literally have a cell phone for only $216.00 a year!! No other charges that 3000 minutes for the year.. That's plenty for texting, each text is only 2.5 cents.. The service is Net10

Not trying to sell anything just saying in tough economics why go for the most expensive when you can get the same for far less..

Glad to hear you got out of that horrible deal.. The only thing bad about Net10 is the customer service they are from abroad and are hard to understand, but theres a good likelihood you will not even need them..

Wish my parents would do something like this, but my dad's always working, and my mom's a coke head (also thinks she makes tornado's).

I spend a lot of time thinking, and when I talk to the people at Verizon I actually thought this exact thing. Luckly I was in a family plan, and my brother was paying for everything. Although my brother's well I'll say "different" as well.

There's an app for the iPod I forgot what it's called, but you can send text messages with it using your email, and when they text back it sends you an email, and you read it inside the app. Kind of like the website txtDrop.com. Unfortunately there's no way to signout of the app. The only way to do that is uninstall the app. (I wish I remembered the name of the app)

I'm a net10 customer and I'm very happy with their price and service. It costs me $15.00 a month and I've accumulated over 2000 rollover minutes. I never text, though. I can't really see the point of texting when I have a phone right in my hand. I prefer to call up the person with whom I wish to speak. From my perspective, there are only a few circumstances where sending a text message from a cell phone makes sense.

Having said all that, I'm not so sure net10 is good choice for young folks who like to text. They can send literally 100s of text messages a day and I suspect that most young people could easily burn though 1000 minutes a month, maybe in a week.

I've looked into unlimited prepaid plans and they are around $50.00 per month, after you purchase the phone. Virgin Mobile USA has an unlimited text/data plan for $35.00 per month, with 300 voice minutes per month. That's about the least expensive plan I could find for unlimited text and data.

I can't go back to a phone without an internet data plan. Gotta have my iphone with me everywhere. I know it's silly, but it's just something I like and am willing to pay for.

My Wife and i have Consumer Cellular.
500 minutes a month each, and we barely use that.
45 dollars a month, no contract.That is for both phones mind you.

I can't remember what it's called, but if you can show financial need you can get a free phone with minimal service from the government.

That sounds like a pretty good plan, Rod.

2ton, I can surf the net with the $15.00 per month Net10 plan, even on the free flip phone that comes with the service. Although, it's very limited as to what can be done with the mini-browser (and low memory) that's on there. I'm hoping that they come out with a new (free) flip phone that's a little more powerful than this one. Web access from the cell is nice to have, when you need it.

Not sure of your sons age but my boy wanted a smart phone which he got from Vodafone, on a contract...he is 16yo and was not allowed to have a contract so I had to stand for him...the only reason I allowed it was because he does work and earn reasonable money for a kid...In Australia they cant have a contract until they are at least 18yo..and even then they would need a guarantor....but he is good with paying which is good for a future credit rating.