T-Mobile KidConnect to help parents and children keep in touch

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A new tariffing innovation from T-Mobile named KidConnect plans to allow parents to provide their children with a way to get in touch without also allowing them to run up a huge bill

T-Mobile has launched a new tariff in America called KidConnect. As long as both the child and parent are both on T Mobile they can make unlimited calls to each other, so they can always keep in touch.

The child gets a minimum of 50 ‘whenever minutes’ each month which can be used for calls or text messaging. The child can then trade in a minutes call time for 4 text messages. The parent can add additional whenever minutes to the child’s account if they want to. Once the child has used up all their ‘whenever’ minutes they are still able to make calls to other T Mobile phones and call cross network at weekends. This allows the parent to control the child’s account and ensures they don’t run up a large phone bill while still allowing them to keep in touch.

This tariff can be used on any mobile phone you choose to purchase, or you could even pass down your old T-Mobile phone and just purchase the KidConnect sim card.

It's unsure at the moment whether the plan will become available in the UK but it would appeal to a lot of parents who would like the reassurance that there child could always contact them should they need to, and that they won't end up paying a lofty price for this basic safety. This tariff does a good job of breaching the gap between Pay as you Go plans that can be topped up with a set amount of credit, but once your credit is used you are unable to make any calls, and monthly contracts that the child can run up a high bill on as the parent has no control over the amount of call time their child is using.