Home Fun StuffTechnology AT&T GoPhone Prepaid Plans & Phones (Great for Teens) + Samsung Galaxy Express Review

AT&T GoPhone Prepaid Plans & Phones (Great for Teens) + Samsung Galaxy Express Review

by TerriAnn
AT&T GoPhone Prepaid Plans and Cell Phones. Great for teens. Incl. review of Samsung Galaxy Express #GoPhone

It’s been several years since my daughter has had her own cell phone. That’s also “x” number of years that we’ve been paying that much extra on our already outrageous cell phone bill. We’ve been thinking long and hard about how cut down costs and weigh it against what services we really need. It may just be time to ditch the contract and go for a prepaid phone for my daughter. You can imagine how timing worked out perfectly when I was asked to check out the AT&T GoPhone plan.

AT&T GoPhone Prepaid Plans and Cell Phones. Great for teens. Incl. review of Samsung Galaxy Express #GoPhoneDISCLOSURE: This post is sponsored. All products mentioned and reviewed on this page are compliments of AT&T. All opinions of the products are my own.

We knew from the beginning that we wanted our daughter to have a smartphone with internet connectivity. The main reason was for safety. We wanted to be able to track her location to make sure she was okay (tweens are infamous for “forgetting” to check in when they arrive places) or in case of emergency. It was also important to us that it was easy for her to text and share photos with friends and family, especially since much of our family lives far away. And, while we try to discourage Munchkin from playing on her phone too much, having games at her fingertips does help keep her busy on long shopping trips and lessens the “I’m hungry,” “I’m tired,” and “Are we done yet?” statements.

AT&T GoPhone Prepaid Plans

Since she rarely talks on the phone and does most stuff via Wi-Fi, it just doesn’t make sense for us to have her on a full cell phone plan that costs an arm and a leg to keep up. AT&T GoPhone offers seven prepaid plans for their phones.

For Smartphones:

  • $60/month
    Unlimited nationwide calls
    Unlimited messaging
    Unlimited text to Mexico, Canada, and over 100 countries
    2.5GB of data (Not shared!), Wi-Fi hotspot capability enabled
  • $40/month
    500 minutes calling
    Unlimited messaging
    Unlimited text to Mexico, Canada, and over 100 countries
    500MB of data
  • $25/month
    250 minutes calling
    Unlimited messaging
    Unlimited text to Mexico, Canada, and over 100 countries
    Add a data package for $5/50MB

For Basic & Messaging Phones:

  • $45/month
    Unlimited nationwide talk
    Unlimited text
    Unlimited text to Mexico, Canada, and over 100 countries
    Unlimited data with first 2GB at speeds up to 3G
  • $25/month
    250 minutes talk
    Unlimited text
    Unlimited text to Mexico, Canada, and 100 countries
    Add a data package for $5/50MB
  • $2/day used
    Unlimited nationwide talk
    Unlimited messaging
    Unlimited text to Mexico, Canada, and over 100 countries
    Data pay per use 1¢/5KB
  • 10¢/minute
    20¢/minute nationwide talk
    25¢/text
    25¢/text to Mexico, Canada, and over 100 countries
    Data pay per use 1¢/5KB

AT&T GoPhone Cell Phones: Samsung Galaxy Express

For a teenager, there are some basic features that the phone paired with that plan should have. Those one-button walkie-talkies just would not do the job. AT&T has a nice variety of phones at different price points that work with their GoPhone plans. We received the Samsung Galaxy Express. It’s basically a “light” version of the Samsung Galaxy with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, touchscreen with good resolution, plays video, good sound for talk and music, and you can use all the Google Play apps including the Kindle for Android app.

I’ve had no issues testing out this phone at all with speed or functionality. In fact, our internet was out a few days and I was able to get super fast speeds when tethering my laptop to the phone’s super-fast AT&T 4G LTE connection ($60/month plan). I only wish this version didn’t have a sub-par camera. Photos are decent but nowhere near the “S” series phones. Good colors but pretty low resolution at only 5MP.

AT&T GoPhone Prepaid Plans and Cell Phones. Great for teens. Incl. review of Samsung Galaxy Express #GoPhone

Making the Switch

My husband and I have been impressed with the phone, service, and plan options. When my daughter’s contract is up, we may give her this AT&T GoPhone Samsung Galaxy Express and then do either the $40/month or $60/month plan. The camera issue won’t be such a big deal as she has a small digital camera for those shots that deserve more megapixels and need some zooming in. This will also lessen the fear factor that she’ll lose or ruin a fancy-schmancy smartphone that will cost some $600 to replace or that she’ll have to use with massive cracks all over it. Hey, who knows – if it works out, maybe we’ll all be switching over to prepaid soon!

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12 comments

Angela July 15, 2014 - 2:51 pm

This GoPhone looks like a great option for teens. They tend to easily go over the minutes in the limited plans.

Tammy Litke (@threedifferent) July 15, 2014 - 11:29 pm

We did pre-paid for all of us for many, many years. Last year we finally switched to a “plan” although it isn’t a contract plan and we can cancel whenever we want. If you need a really good service in an area where other carriers don’t get decent connections this is probably a good option as AT&T has a pretty broad coverage area, but the costs seem pretty high for the smartphone plans compared to other companies.

Kelsey Apley July 16, 2014 - 6:06 am

That is really an affordable price for sure!!! I didn’t realize they offered something like this, good to know!

Crystal July 16, 2014 - 2:21 pm

That’s a great way to train teens to use their phones responsibly. I’m not quite ready for my young children to have phones, but they will need it soon enough. I’ll feel better knowing that they can use it reasonably using GoPhone.

Jenn July 16, 2014 - 4:30 pm

Thanks for sharing, those look very affordable!

vanessa: thequeenofswag July 17, 2014 - 7:58 pm

Looks like a great phone that would be perfect for my teen.

Ty July 28, 2014 - 8:31 pm

This GoPhone looks like the perfect option for teens, and even college students who’re trying to save for books. I’ve been really thinking about taking my kids off my family plan and getting them a GoPhone, seems more affordable.

Marcie W. August 4, 2014 - 7:20 pm

I am looking into getting my 10yr old her first phone to use strictly while she is at school, a friend’s house or an extra curricular activity. Just as a way to stay in touch. The GoPhone looks great and I love all of the amazing plan options!

lisa jones August 5, 2014 - 3:45 pm

This Sounds Great I Need To Get A Few For My Kids Thank You!

Mitch August 5, 2014 - 4:25 pm

I have to look into this as my son enter middle school next month. That means it is cell phone time and i am not spending a lot of money!

Kasandria Reasoner August 5, 2014 - 6:30 pm

I think I’m doing this for my daughter. Thanks for all the great info!
Kas

Angela S August 5, 2014 - 7:41 pm

I hadn’t heard of this before. It does sound like it’s the perfect phone for teens.

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