Virgin Mobile Custom Plans Are Great For Families #VirginMobileMom #MC

I participated in an Influencer Activation Program on behalf of Influence-Central for Virgin Mobile. I received a sample device to facilitate my review and a thank you item for participating. This post may also contain affiliate links.

We are approaching that age where cell phones for kids are a topic of discussion in our house. Our oldest son will be 10 in February and while we aren't ready to give him a phone yet, it will probably be happening within the next few years. Almost definitely when he hits middle school. Since I like to start my research early I'm already looking at best plans for kids. The Virgin Mobile Custom Plans stood out to me because not only can you build a cellular plan that suits your family and child but it also gives parents a lot of control over what a child can use the phone for.

•Virgin Mobile Custom’s top features include the ability to build, share, control and manage your mobile plans.
•Enables parents to control when and how their kid’s phone is being used.
•Lets users share with up to five lines however you want.

I was sent an LG Pulse to test out with my own Virgin Mobile Custom plan. I have to disclose that I am an iPhone girl so this was the first time I ever picked up an Android phone. There was a bit of a learning curve for me, but I am a technology and gadget geek and playing with new devices is something I love to do so I had a lot of fun exploring. The first thing I had to do was activate the phone, get a phone number and set up my plan.

Day 1

Now at the time I was setting up the phone, I hadn't figured out how to do a screenshot yet, hence the total phone shots. The entire activation and plan selection process was super easy and fast and took me under 10 minutes. You get to choose how much data coverage, text coverage and phone minutes you want and it shows you what your total monthly fee is. I don't talk on my phone much so I didn't put a lot of minutes or texts even, but I did pad up my data a bit. After all I am a social media junkie. One of the things that I love about Virgin Mobile Custom is that once you select a plan, you can adjust it at anytime. So if you see that your child is burning through texts but hardly making phone calls, you can raise and lower them accordingly.

Day 8

After a week of using the phone, first I figured out the screenshot functionality so yay! But more importantly I went in to check my usage. I find myself usually at home with WiFi so I didn't put much of a dent in at all, but it was nice to see the breakdown. And even more nice to know I have the ability to adjust the plan as I go. I really think that is perfect for a kid starting out with a phone. I also though it was neat how I could delve deeper and see what my data usage was for. See, social media junkie.

Now while the ability to customize and adjust the cellular plan is awesome, what  make Virgin Mobile Custom even better is all of the parental controls that you can put in place. You can limit apps, web browsing, approved phone numbers that can call and text and so on. I honestly really feel this is the perfect option for families with children using a cell phone. Especially a first phone. Even if you are locked into a cell carrier for your own phone, setting up just one phone for your child with Virgin Mobile Custom is so easy and inexpensive. I was able to set my plan up for under $35 a  month and you could easily go less for a beginner.


I quickly want to add that while parental controls and locks are absolutely needed and awesome, they don't replace talking to your child about what your expectations are for phone usage and what the rules are. Parental controls are there to back you up not replace you so keep those lines of communication open.

Where To Buy
Virgin Mobile Custom phones are available exclusively at select Wal-Mart stores and WalMart.com.

Connect with Virgin Mobile
Website: www.virginmobileusa.com/custom/#/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/VirginMobileUSA
Twitter: @virginmobileusa