Review and Giveaway: Kajeet

With the holidays quickly approaching, one of the big gift items that I know is sure to be on just about every tween or teen’s list is a cell phone of their very own. Whether for peace of mind in emergencies, or just to be able to have our own phone lines free and available for use – I know that many parents are considering the idea as well. Well, there’s an option out there that I want to share with you about, because it’s different from any other that I’ve seen or come across for kids – it’s called Kajeet.

What it is:

Kajeet is the only cell phone service that’s specifically aimed at and configured for kids. And for parents too – we control the money, so we have ultimate control over how that money gets spent, and how often. Kajeet takes that into consideration and gives a 2-tier account management system that helps keep everyone happy.

From the website:

We believe kids are smart. At kajeet our entire philosophy springs from this simple core idea. We want kids to be agile with technology. We want kids to have fun. We want them to be empowered and safe, and we want to help them respond with confidence to what’s happening in their world.

Not incidentally, we want their parents and guardians to be involved too. Because having a cell phone is not just fun, it’s a responsibility – a shared responsibility. (We’ve put “use it for good” in our logo for a reason.) So we’ve designed kajeet to incorporate a full suite of tools (we call it the kajeet Configurator) to help families customize and manage every aspect of their kajeet experience.

How does Kajeet work? Well, let’s start with the phones themselves – definitely something that’s a high priority on kids’ minds. And Kajeet phones don’t look like ‘kid’ phones. There are no oversized buttons or ‘kid-tough’ construction. The phones look like any other cell phones, and have the same features as well. Phones from well-known brands like Samsung, LG and Sanyo are available in fun colors that kids love, and with the features that they insist on – everything from cameras to bluetooth, picture messaging, speakerphone and voice dialing. Kids can even customize their phones with ringtones, games and more.

So what is the Kajeet difference then, if the phones look and act just like your ‘normal’ cell phones that you can buy through any major cell carrier? The difference is in how the accounts are managed. First and foremost – there are no contracts. No activation fees. And, no early termination fees. If you don’t like the service, you simply cancel it.  That’s amazingly easy.

And so is the rest of the Kajeet service – easy, and affordable. There is a full suite of parental controls available that let you sit down with your child and determine when, how often, how, and to whom the phone’s minutes are used. You can set controls that block texts and calls from specific numbers, you can set limits for when the phone can and can’t be used (limiting access during activities or study times, for example), and you can even set up a GPS locator to keep track of where your child’s phone is at any particular time.

Here’s my take on it:

So, with my oldest daughter only age 7-1/2, we haven’t had a huge need for them to have their own cell phones yet. Not that there isn’t begging (there is), or pleading for them to have phones, or at least access to phones. And I have run across several situations when I wished that I had an extra phone to be able to give them to use. For example, several weeks ago my oldest went to a birthday party at a local roller rink. Even though I knew the kids there, and the mom holding the party, and even though I left my cell phone number, ‘just in case’, I wished that she had a phone to be simply be able to call us on if something had come up. I’m not always comfortable with the idea of my child having to go through an adult if she needs to reach me quickly – whether from a party or other event, the playground, or their various activities. Now that my kids are a bit older, I’m not always right there at every second.

With our Kajeet phone, I can make sure that my girls have it with them when they need it. They’re not old enough to be using it for games, texting or other ‘social’ activities yet, but for them to simply have the phone on hand in case of emergencies puts my mind at ease. We even have the phone numbers of various family members and friends programmed into it, so they don’t have to remember multiple numbers or last names to be able to contact someone if they need to. We haven’t used the phone much yet, but I know it’ll be invaluable for our family.

The bottom line:

I love the idea of my kids having a phone that grows with them as they get older and their needs change. Right now, it works for us in case of emergency, but in a few years, the girls will be able to use this phone for additional calling or texting – as much and in whatever ways we come up with together. Kids can go online and check the status of their own ‘wallet’ – while parents can check their kids’ wallets and keep track from the ‘parent wallet’ as well. Various voice and text plans are available – starting as low as $4.99/month! And everything is pay-as-you go, so if grandparents or other family members are looking for holiday gift ideas for your tween or teen – adding minutes to their Kajeet account is definitely something that will go over well. 

Where can you find it? (and a couple of great deals!):

You can find information about phones, pricing, plans and more at the Kajeet homepage at http://www.kajeet.com. But – I have a special deal for you as well! If you click on the ‘Kajeet’ links anywhere in this post, you will be taken to a page where you can save an extra 10% off if you purchase from that page, or use the promo code listed there (and you’ll help me out as well!).

And – if you purchase and activate a phone, use the code “Bonus10″ to receive a $10 bonus credit to your account! (Credit will last until either fully used or the service is terminated – offer expires 2/1/09)

Here’s a giveaway for you:

Courtesy of Mom Select, I have lots of Kajeet stuff – all featuring the cute little characters found on the website. I’ve divided them into a few prize packs – one grand prize winner will receive a Kajeet t-shirt, bandana, notepad/pen set, magnet set, button set, luggage tag set, and pencil. Two other winners will each receive a bandana, notepad/pen set, magnet set, button set and pencil.

If you’d like to win one of these fun Kajeet prize packs, here are the rules:

1. Enter by visiting Kajeet website, taking a look around and then leaving a comment here to let me know what your favorite feature of the phones or service is. Please don’t just say ‘choose me’, or your entry will be discarded.
2. The contest will run until Friday, November 21st at 11:59 pm EST. The winners will be selected through random drawing, contacted by e-mail, listed on this post and also submitted to PRIZEY.Fetch. US entries only, please.
3. Please leave a valid e-mail address or other way to contact you! If you don’t wish to leave your e-mail address, please make sure that you leave a unique name and check back with PRIZEYWinners to see if you won. If any of the winners haven’t responded within 3 days, an alternate winner will be chosen by random drawing.
4. If you’d like an extra entry or four, you can either:

• Subscribe to my RSS feed (click on the orange icon in the upper right sidebar) or subscribe via e-mail – leave me a separate comment to let me know.
• Mention this contest on your blog with a link back to this post, and leave a separate comment with the link to your post so I can find it.
• Either Twitter about, ‘Stumble’, ‘Digg’ or ‘Kirtsy’ this post – leave me a separate comment with your username at whichever site you chose (one extra entry).
• Give me some feedback in a separate comment about Kajeet. Do you have any questions about the service? Do you know anyone who uses it, or do you use it for your own kids? Any helpful feedback is welcome!

So that’s a total of 5 comments/entries if you do all of the extra entry options.

Good luck! 

THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED – for the grand prize, the random number generator has chosen comment #19:

Congratulations to Crystal (no blog) who said, “I love that it has a GPS feature! So cool! Thanks!”

For the next two prizes, the random number generator has chosen comments #15 and #10 as the winners:

Congratulations to MaryBeth I, whose entry for blogging about this giveaway has won for her, and to Michele Pineda who said, “I like the GPS locator feature, very important so you can check on your kids and make sure they are where they are supposed to be!“.

I will be e-mailing all three of you shortly to work out the details.

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