Disney Customers offfered free phones and credits to switch

by Elizabeth Blair York | October 16th, 2007

If you are a customer of Disney’s Mobile Phone services, you probably already know that they are ceasing business as of December 31, 2007. What to do for a phone service to go with your new MoGo headset?

Not to worry, several other kid-focused cell services are courting Disney customers in a big way.

Firefly is offering a free  phone plus $10 credit is you switch from Disney to Firefly (6 month minimum contract, executed prior to Oct. 31).

The recently re-vamped flyPhone  is a fully functional kid-tough phone with a cool ‘morphing keypad’ feature that changes the keypad display to adjust to the controls needed to make calls,  play MP3’s, videos, or games. It can store up to 500 phone numbers.

It also has some of the parental-control features that lured customers to Disney in the first place, including :  : limiting incoming and outgoing calls to numbers stored in the phone book while also restricting what numbers are held in the phone book. There are also texting controls, pay-as-you-go plans,

The glowPhone, meanwhile,  looks and works much like the younger-child restricted phones previously offered by Disney. Kids are restricted to only numbers that parents have placed in the address book and a couple of ’speed dial’ buttons on the keypad.

What’s missing? The ‘Child Find’ services that utilize the phone’s built-in GPS to allow you to see where your child is whenever you wish.

This may be part of the reason that Disney is recommending Verizon for their customers.  Verizon is offering Disney-switch  customers Disney ringtones and wallpapers as well as 3 months free of their Chaperone service, their package  that locates the child’s phone from either your PC or your Verizon phone.

What’s missing from this plan is the gee-whiz kid-friendly phones .  Verizon’s offer comes with the same selection they make available to all grown-up new customers, with no products specifically geared for the younger set. Parents may be a little nervous about giving their 6 year-old a RAZR headset, and with good reason. Children are notoriously rough on their kit, and cell phones are hardly an exception.

Kajeet is also attempting to lure form Disney customers with kid-freindly services and a $50 credit.

Their phone offerings are also from the traditional line, although the prices are reasonable . However, they  do add a feature many Disney customers grew to love - the configuration management software. This allows parents to block the use of the phone during set hours (like school hours) except for calls to/from specific numbers (like 911 or a parent), as well as track  who your kids is texting and talking to.

Kajeet was the option Yahoo tech mom Dory Devlin chose in switching from Disney. Her review of her experience is here.

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