Best Phone Plans for Kids

Getting their sticky little fingers on their first mobile phone is a right of passage for kids. For them, it’s a sign of their growing independence. And for Mum and Dad, it affords peace of mind knowing they can be tracked and traced while out of the family home.

Choosing the right phone is the first step – and often the most contentious. Child’s thinking iPhone 15, parents are thinking OPPO A58. We’ll not venture into that murky territory here, except to say whatever phone you choose, it pays to invest in a robust case for it!

Choosing the right phone plan is the second step, and one that needs careful consideration.

→Related article: Best Cheap Smartphones

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Best Phone Plans for Kids: In this article we cover: 

• Things to consider
• Prepay vs monthly plans
• Best phone plans for kids
• Best shared data plans

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What to look for when choosing the best mobile phone plans for kids

When it comes to picking the best features for your child’s mobile plan, you’ll need to consider their age and how they are likely to use their phone.

Younger, tween children aren’t likely to be out and about on their own very often, and away from the family home’s wi-fi. So, they’ll subsequently use less data. Well, as long as you drum into them not to watch HD YouTube videos in the back of the car! Teens, of course, will be more data hungry. While unlimited texts and calls are great to have on a plan, whatever your age.

When choosing a plan, some of the key considerations should be:

• Unlimited texts: no matter your child’s age, unlimited texts are a really good idea. It means they’ll always be able to reach you in the event of an emergency, and be able to text their friends without exceeding any plan limits.
• Data limits and costs: a phone plan with at least 1GB of data should be enough for light use of basics such as Google Maps, web browsing and using messaging apps. Heavier data use, especially social media apps with video, such as TikTok, will use a lot more data. Also consider any plans with cheap excess data rates, and with a usage warning system – for example, SMS alerts when 50%, 85%, and 100% of the monthly data allowance has been used.
• Longer expiry periods: be wary of the expiry period of some cheap prepaid plans, as these are sometimes only 7-10 days. Instead, look at prepaid plans with 28-30 day expiries, as this reduces the risk of your child having no credit to call or text you, while also removing the hassle of recharging regularly. Short-term plans might be cheap, but consider how many times you’ll need to recharge each month, which can really add up.
• Adding your child to your plan: endless data plans, or ones with large data allocations, come with larger monthly charges. But some providers allow you to add additional family members at a reduced rate.

Best mobile phone plans for kids: prepaid vs monthly plan

The first and most important decision to make in regards to your child’s phone plan is whether you want to go prepaid or sign up to a monthly plan.

Prepaid pros

The best thing about a prepaid phone plan is that your child can only use the fixed calls, text and data that come with their plan. There is no bill shock with prepaid: once your credit is up, that’s it, unless you manually recharge.

This is a great way to help kids understand budgeting. Another positive is that, if you’re short on money one month, or if you need to take your child’s privileges away, you can simply not recharge their plan. With a monthly plan, you would have to cancel the contract entirely.

Prepaid plans also tend to have more options surrounding cheaper plans with less data allowance, which may be ideal for younger children. Whereas almost all monthly plans come packed with data, whether you want it or not.

Prepaid cons

The most significant drawback to a prepaid plan is that once you reach your limits, you can no longer use data, make calls or send text messages. This lack of credit potentially takes away the safety net of your child being able to call you in an emergency.

Prepaid plans also tend to have shorter expiry periods, which could mean you find yourself having to recharge every week or so, or 13 times a year, rather than 12 times. And, as a general rule, prepaid plans lack the same value as monthly plans.

Monthly plan pros

Even the cheapest monthly phone plans offer unlimited calls and texts, so you can rest assured that your child will always be able to contact you. Monthly plans also take away the hassle of having to manually recharge your plan (although some prepaid plans do allow users to auto-recharge). You are also likely to get better value with a monthly plan.

Monthly plan cons

The biggest negative of monthly plans is their cost. While they tend to offer better overall value than prepaid, they have higher starting price points – usually around $40. Plus they require you to sign up to a contract, meaning you’re locked in to the monthly charges, unless you cancel.

Best mobile phone plans for kids: under $40

Once you’ve considered your child’s needs and your budget, you can start your research into the best mobile phone plans for kids. To help, Canstar has compiled a round-up of some of the cheapest mobile plans and prepaid deals currently on offer for under $40 per month.

All figures correct as of 13/03/2024

2degrees

Monthly

$40 Plan:

Features: Unlimited Texts to NZ & OZ, 300 Carryover Minutes to NZ & OZ ­– 5GB Carryover Data

Extras: Daily free hour of data, hotspotting, unlimited calls to 2degrees mobiles, shared data

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Prepaid: Calendar month

$10 Plan:

Features: 100 Carryover Minutes & Unlimited Texts to NZ & OZ – 250MB Carryover Data

Extras: Daily free hour of data, unlimited calls to 2degrees mobiles, free voicemail, hotspotting

$19 Plan:

Features: 200 Carryover Minutes & Unlimited Texts to NZ & OZ – 1.5GB Carryover Data

Extras: Daily free hour of data, unlimited calls to 2degrees mobiles, free voicemail, hotspotting

$30 Plan:

Features: 300 Carryover Minutes & Unlimited Texts to NZ & OZ – 3GB Carryover Data

Extras: Daily free hour of data, unlimited calls to 2degrees mobiles, free voicemail, hotspotting

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Mighty Mobile

Prepaid: Calendar Month

$40 Plan:

Features: Unlimited Minutes and Texts to NZ & OZ – Unlimited Data (capped at 10Mbps)

Extras: Hotspotting

Also available for $399/year ($33.25/month)

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Rocket Mobile

Prepaid: Calendar Month

$25 Plan:

Features – Unlimited data at 2Mbps, unlimited talk/text across NZ/OZ

Extras – 10GB hotspotting

$35 Plan:

Features – unlimited data at 10Mbps, unlimited talk/text across NZ/OZ

Extras – 20GB hotspotting

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Spark

Monthly

$15 Rollover Plan

Features: 100 Minutes & Unlimited Texts in NZ ­– 100MB Rollover data

Extras: Unlimited minutes to Spark mobiles, hotspotting

$27 Rollover Plan

Features: Unlimited Texts & Minutes in NZ ­– 750MB Rollover data

Extras: Team Up eligible, voicemail, hotspotting

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Prepaid: Four-week period

$20 Plan:

Features: 200 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts in NZ – 1.25GB Rollover data

Extras: Save $7 on Spotify Premium, hotspotting, data stack

$30 Plan:

Features: 300 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts in NZ – 2GB Rollover + 2GB Socialiser Data

Extras: Save $7 on Spotify Premium, hotspotting and data stack

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Skinny:

Prepaid: Four-week period

$9 Plan

Features: 100 Minutes & Unlimited Texts to NZ & OZ – 250MB Data

Extra: N/A

$17 Plan:

Features: 200 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts in NZ & OZ – 1.25GB Rollover Data

Extras: Unlimited minutes to other Skinny mobiles

$27 Plan:

Features: 300 Rollover Minutes & Unlimited Texts in NZ & OZ – 3GB Rollover Data

Extras: Unlimited minutes to other Skinny mobiles

$40 Plan:

Features: Unlimited Calls & Texts to NZ & OZ ­– Endless Data (speeds reduce after 5GB)

Extras: Hotspotting

NB: Skinny also offers similar weekly plans, although they work out slightly more expensive.

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The Warehouse

Prepay: 31-day period

$9 Plan

Features: 100 Minutes & Unlimited Texts to NZ & OZ – 300MB Rollover Data

Extras: Free calls to Warehouse mobiles, free voicemail

$15 Plan:

Features: 200 Minutes & Unlimited Texts to NZ & OZ – 1.25GB Rollover Data

Extras: Free calls to Warehouse mobiles, free voicemail

$25 Plan:

Features: Unlimited Minutes & Texts to NZ & OZ – 3GB Rollover Data

Extras: Free voicemail

$35 Plan

Features: Unlimited Minutes & Texts to NZ & OZ – 6GB Rollover Data

Extras: Free voicemail

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One

Prepay: 28 day period

One’s MyFlex Prepay gives you the freedom to design your own plan with your unique combo of data, minutes and texts. Popular combos include:

$15 Plan

Features: 100 Minutes & Unlimited Texts to NZ & OZ – 1GB Rollover Data

Extras: N/A

$20 Plan

Features: 200 Minutes & Unlimited Texts to NZ & OZ – 1.5GB Rollover Data

Extras: N/A

$30 Plan

Features: 300 Minutes & Unlimited Texts to NZ & OZ – 3GB Rollover Data

Extras: N/A

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Orcon

Prepay: 30-day period

$20 Plan:

Features: 200 Carryover Minutes & Unlimited Texts to NZ & OZ – 1.5GB Carryover Data

Extras: N/A

$25 Plan:

Features: 300 Carryover Minutes & Unlimited Texts to NZ & OZ – 2.5GB Carryover Data

Extras: N/A

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Kogan

Prepay: 30-day period

$15 Plan:

Features: Unlimited Calls & Texts to NZ & OZ – 1.5GB Data

Extras: N/A

$25 Plan:

Features: Unlimited Calls & Texts to NZ & OZ – 4GB Data

Extras: N/A

$35 Plan:

Features: Unlimited Calls & Texts to NZ & OZ – 15GB Data

Extras: N/A

NB: Kogan offers a discount if you pay for the plan upfront for a year.

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Best phone plans for kids: shared data plans

If you’ve already got a monthly phone plan, it’s worthwhile looking into shared plans for your children, especially if they are data-hungry teens.

Shared data plans typically involve a main plan, with similar plans clipped on at a discounted rate. The largest three telcos (Spark, One and 2degrees) allow additional members to join shared plans for $30 each.

That means, for example, if you’ve a 40GB Endless Data plan from Vodafone ($80 p/m) your child can get the same plan for just $30 p/m.

You can see a breakdown of shared data plans below:

Spark

Customers on a Spark $27 Rollover Plan, $90 or $70 Endless Plan can add up to three companion plans.

You can see a breakdown of the costs below:

Plan	You + 1	You + 2	You + 3(+)
$27 Rollover Plan	$21.60 $750MB data Unlimited calls/texts	$18.90 750MB data Unlimited calls/texts	$17.55 750MB data Unlimited calls/texts
$70 Endless Plan	$56 18GB at max speed – endless data at reduced speed Unlimited calls/texts) Add Spotify Premium for $9.99/month	$49 18GB at max speed – endless data at reduced speed Unlimited calls/texts) Add Spotify Premium for $9.99/month	$45.50 18GB at max speed – endless data at reduced speed Unlimited calls/texts) Add Spotify Premium for $9.99/month
$90 Endless Plan	$72 Unlimited data at max speed Unlimited calls/texts Free Spotify Premium	$63 Unlimited data at max speed Unlimited calls/texts Free Spotify Premium	$58.50 Unlimited data at max speed Unlimited calls/texts Free Spotify Premium

Note that prices are per person.

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2degrees

2degrees allows customers to add up to five companion plans for $30 each to select plans.

All companion plans are identical to the primary plan, with their own data allowance, so you don’t have to worry about one member hogging all the data. All plans include a free data hour everyday.

 

Plan	You + 1	You + 2	You + 3	You + 4	You + 5
$50 Rollover Plan	$80 10GB rollover data Unlimited calls/texts	$110 10GB rollover data Unlimited calls/texts	$140 10GB rollover data Unlimited calls/texts	$170 10GB rollover data Unlimited calls/texts	$200 10GB rollover data Unlimited calls/texts
$60 Rollover Plan	$90 16GB rollover data Unlimited calls/texts	$120 10GB rollover data Unlimited calls/texts	$150 10GB rollover data Unlimited calls/texts	$180 10GB rollover data Unlimited calls/texts	$210 10GB rollover data Unlimited calls/texts
$75 Endless Plan	$110 100GB at max speed – endless data at reduced speed Unlimited calls/texts)	$145 100GB at max speed – endless data at reduced speed Unlimited calls/texts)	$180 100GB at max speed – endless data at reduced speed Unlimited calls/texts)	$215 100GB at max speed – endless data at reduced speed Unlimited calls/texts)	$250 100GB at max speed – endless data at reduced speed Unlimited calls/texts)

Note that price is inclusive of entire group, not per person.

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One

One’s group plans allow for customers to sign up for a One Premium or Medium endless data mobile plan, and to then add up to three companion plans at $40 each (or $35 each for a Medium Plan).

Each companion plan receives the entire primary plan, with their own data allowance.

Endless data reduces to a maximum speed of 1.2Mbps after the maximum speed allocation has been used.

Plan features:

• Endless data – all plans endless data till max speed limit, then reduced to 1.2Mbps
• Hotspot – is included with all plans

Plan	You + 1 – 3 People
$80 One Plan	$40/person Unlimited max data Endless calls/texts to NZ & OZ 250 minutes and 50 texts to 20 countries
$65 Medium Plan	$35/person 15GB at max speed – endless data at reduced speed Unlimited calls/texts) to NZ & OZ 250 minutes and 50 texts to 20 countries

*Further information on pricing can be found at individual retailer websites. This should be used as a starter guide and not considered an actual quote.

Nova Energy

Nova offers unlimited mobile plans that feature four different max data speed caps, from 4GB to 32GB.

Plan features:

• Endless data – all plans have endless data till max speed limit, then reduced to 1.2Mbps
• Talk & Text – unlimited NZ/OZ
• Hotspot – included with all plans
• Bundle and save – save extra $10 per person per month by bundling with power/gas/broadband

Below is the average cost of the plans per person, depending on the number of people in your group. Does not include further $10 per person bundle discount or current sign-on offer.

Speed	You	You + 1	You + 2	You + 3	You + 4
4GB Max Speed	$39	$39/person	$39/person	$39/person	$39/person
8GB Max Speed	$49	$44/person	$42.33/person	$41.50	$41/person
16 GB Max Speed	$59	$49/person	$45.67/person	$44/person	$43/person
32 GB Max Speed	$69	$54/person	$49/person	$46.50/person	$45/person