Verizon gets LG's Migo emergency phone

We don't know many kids who'd be stoked to have this as their cellphone — most eight-year-olds we've spotted with cellies these days are sporting RAZRs or Sidekicks — but it looks like Verizon has finally started selling the Migo, that emergency cellphone that LG was developing for them (which we first heard about back in August when it was called the VX-1000). Like most of the cellphones-for-kids-and-old-folks that are out there, the Migo is a pretty basic handset that's primarily meant to be used for emergencies or in a very limited capacity (like so that your kids can call you at home or work). The phone can only call five pre-programmable numbers (one of which will presumably be set to dial 911) and can't be used to send or receive text messages. Sells for $99.99 with a new two-year service agreement.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this one in]

[terra @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

Hmm, maybe they should market this to senior citizens instead of elementary school kids.

[mrjiggles @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

everyone these days have a cell phone.. ive seen 11 year olds with cell phones that even use them to call other 11 year olds...why pay $100 for a crippled phone? i could buy a full featured phone for 100 dollars and cripple it like this myself if i wanted to so that at least when the time comes that the kid needs more features, u dont have to pay more money for it.. this idea would have been good about 10 years ago maybe..

[Jason @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

What piece of crap is this? It's even worse than the Firefly. Seriously, there really is no reason to get these phones -- I'm 14, and I'm sure that the younger kids I know would rather have no cell phone than be seen talking on this one.

[Kesey @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

Shrek-phone. Nice. =/

[BB @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

Fabulous phone that does what it's designed to. I don't care about others' lax parenting, but my kid wouldn't be getting a cell until 15 - and until then this is enough for communicating on the go.

[Tonicboy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

I think you are all missing the point of this product. First of all, it's the parents who buy it for the kids so the fact that no kid would be "caught dead" with this is irrelevant - they're not the target market. Parents just want a way to contact their kids in emergencies, or to be contacted.

Maybe a lot of kids do have cellphones, but I'd bet you it was their parents who bought it for them and pay the bills. If a product like this were available back then, which one would they have chosen? Also, maybe 12-year olds have phones but do 10-year olds? 8? 6? If I had an 8-year old, I would buy him/her this phone just so I could keep in touch. This product is genius because it opens up a whole new market segment - infant to 12-year old.

[mrjiggles @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

touche. i guess if you give it to them before they even care about having a cell phone, before its the "cool thing" to have, its pretty useful. thinking back now, i wish i had something like this when i was little,i could have had much more freedom. my mom wouldnt ever have gone for a full fledged cell phone but something like this woulda been perfect.

[Mr. Kim @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

I think this phone was made to restrict kids abusing their cell phones
many kids in korea even 7~10 years old, use cellphone and they abuse it, which means they text message to friends all day instead of studying.
this phone is for parents who want their childeren to study. kkkk
I appolozie for my sucks english writting. kk

[Grant @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

I'm 14 years old, and I can vouch for kids younger than me (let's say 8-11 yrs old) that this is a compeltely unnapealing phone, even to 8-year-olds. Kids are getting cell phones younger and younger. I didn't get my phone until I turned 13 (end of 7th grade), but now kids are usually getting them in 6th grade and sometimes 4th or 5th grade if the kid really needs to call his/her parent.

It's not like this phone is cheap. If it was cheap, like 20 bucks for a 2 year plan after rebate, then a parent might be it for his/her 8 or 9 year old child. But 100 bucks isn't cheap. Like a poster above said, you could just buy a phone and cripple it the way this is crippled. Instead of paying 100 bucks for this POS, just buy the 2 year plan for Verizon's free flip and disable all the good stuff like TXT messaging, or buy a pay-as-you-go phone or something.

And could they make this things any uglier? This, the firefly and the ticktalk are just really ugly. It would be nice if they made them look like cell phones at least. Then they'd have a little more appeal to children.

This idea would have worked out great...about 4 years ago, when cell phones were still becoming popular and not as money younger kids had cell phones. But with kids getting cell phones sometimes in as young as 4th grade now, children will look at this thing as a stupid toy.

[Mr. Kim @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

I am not insulting Americans or people from other nations, but it is just so interesting that whenever I read comments realated to Cellphones, I feel like I am in at least 3 years past.
Forexample, many korean parents will think this product is very useful and i honestly think it's a brilliant idea. Since, so many young kids play with cellphones at school, some schools even install cell phone jammers at schools in korea.

I am pretty sure 3 years later when many little kids start to abuse their regular cellphone, you guys wouldn't say that the prdouct is stupid or pointless.

again, please understand my bad english grammar.

[tiuk @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

To the guy that said six-year-olds shouldn't have cell phones, there's something to be said for always being able to contact your child. What if they're at school and there's a tornado, or a fire? You can't contact the school, but you can reach your kid. It's situations like that that IMO make something like this smart.

But the price, come on. If this was being offered free with a suitable plan that would be one thing, but for the price I'd sooner get my kid a real phone and either find a way to cripple it, or just live with them being able to make calls.

[BB @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

It was at 6 that my parents started to let me walk to school by myself. Only a mile, but a massive distance in responsibility. My mother admits to following and observing at a discreet distance the first few times, hiding behind trees, in order to give her peace of mind. Kids really don't need to be escorted everywhere, and my parents would have been the ideal target market for this phone.

Knowing that all your child has to do is press a big red button when a) a gang of bullies has them cornered, b) someone is following them in a car, c) they feel unsafe - is priceless.

[Robert Brodrecht @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

I'm not saying it doesn't have it's uses, but EVERY phone Verizon has costs about two times what it's worth (I saw $200 price tags for several phones w/o even bluetooth). Seriously, 99$ WITH a contract? I saw this thing the other day. With out a contract, it goes for $150. I don't see how they (Verizon, LG, whoever) can sell phones for as much as they do and not laugh at the people while they are buying.

[late @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

I can see some ways this phone could be very useful. Certain workplaces, young kids, trekkers who want to make sure calling emergency numbers would be quick and painless. Problems:
1. $100 with a 2-year contract? Crap.
2. Size? Crap.
3. Weatherproofing? Crap. If it doesn't come with all the fancy extras, it might as well be able to handle extremes.
4. Can anyone call it?
5. Service price? Crap. It should be $10/mo. in addition to the purchase of regular service on the "parents" phone.

[david @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

It's expensive because Verizon has once again priced it from an internal rather than external/customer/market point-of-view. They see that this phone can only make so many calls and you can't abuse it, therefore cannot rack up your cellphone bill, so they rather make the money up front than subsidizing it like the add-a-phone to your plan strategy to get more minutes used.

Kids shouldn't be getting phones in the first place. This thing is over priced for what it's trying to do. Capitalizing/selling on fear is unethical. I don't see Verizon helping parent putting limits on their kids phones. Just pushing for more younger users to use cellphones.

Really, why do we want to be like Korea in three or less years? Is that a good thing?

[chop @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

i wonder how you get number assigned to the buttons...

[Godmanchester @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

This is much like the Teddy Bear phone which has been on the UK news channels this week.

Quote "A mobile phone, shaped like a small teddy bear and designed to make it easy for parents to stay in touch with young children, was launched today amid a health row."

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2146861/kids-teddy-bear-phone-sparks

[Cyberblade @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

I'm 17, and don't have a cell phone, and this about the only use for a cell phone I would possible have. Call parents, emergencies. I don't get what is so awesome about using a phone everywhere, when I barely even use my home phone. I don't see what a kid would need a full fledged cell phone for, seeing how I wasn't allowed to use the phone without parents around till I was about 9 or 10. For a kid, this is plenty.

[z @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

When are they going to stop putting white crosses on red background (the Swiss flag) instead of the official red cross on a white background? C'mon!

[Gabe @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

#19-Cyberblade:

I didn't get my phone until I was 16� I'm 18 now. When I was 16, I didn't see any other use for it, I just called friends when I was at home so I wouldn't have to worry about reception and stuff. But since I got to college, I'm using something like 600 daytime minutes a month and god knows how many nighttime and weekend minutes. Just wait until you're out on your own. Who needs a land line?

[TelecomProf @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

So there are very differnt opinions about the use of such a phone. What if you could buy a regular phone that had the ability to manage usage. Look at this site and tell me what you think.

http://www.parent-patrol.com

[Concerned Mom @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

My husband and I got the Migo for my 11 yr old son because he is at the age now where he is becoming more mobile and when he is out and about he will have the safety of being able to call us right away or vice versa - I believe he is too young for a cell phone but this lets me have control over who he can contact and who can contact him and still be able to keep in touch with him at all times.

[David @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

Hey TelecomProf. That Parent-Patrol thing is just the thing that I was griping about in post#17. Anyone from Verizon reading this out there?

Personally I think it'll be a tough sell because they don't want to limit usage to limit their profit. That is, until enough parents complain about it.

[Shannon @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

I think this phone looks pretty good for it's purpose. It's cute too, I like the way it looks like it has ears. I think the real problem is not enough programmable numbers. with only 5 and 1 being taken up by 911, that's 4. In an emergency, I would want my kid to be able to call home, mom's cell, dad's cell, mom's work, dad's work, grandma, the "safe neighbor", etc. If they needed to. If they were to put programmable numbers up to 15 or 20 like the Firefly has, then it would be a competing product.

Aside from emergencies, this could help in more common situations, like a child getting lost from their parent in a store. As a child, I remember this being a traumatic experience. Also, I used to work at Disneyland, and if a kid was wearing those big nametags with a picture of their parent on it, okay, it helped a little, but if they had had a phone with them. I could have said "Oh, can you call your mom? I'll wait with you until we find her."

[Claire @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

We're getting this phone to keep in touch with my dh's children. They live with their mom and unfortunately she has been having difficulty financially. (I'm being very polite here.) This difficulty has caused her phone line to be cut off and thus our contact with the kids has been cut off as well. This is unacceptable, especially since the kids' school called the other day asking us why the children werent in school and we had no way to communicate to find out. In order to keep this from happening again, we are getting the kids this phone so that we can stay in contact with them. I think it's the perfect solution because it will also keep "others" from abusing the cell phone for usage outside of calling just us. To me, I think this phone is brilliant. Will the kids think it's the coolest thing ever? I'm not sure, but this way they can always call us without worrying about long distance or having any other worries from either end period.

[ji @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

this is kinds of Parent targeting product to give a picee of mind for their kids safety & to protect kids' not controled operation. This phone is good in terms of design looking & features, i think. Very same GSM(like a Cingular network)product named "Firefly" already launched in market.

[kim @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

I encourage ALL of you to contact VERIZON and let them know your feelings.I did-Probably wont do any good, but what the hell, it cant hurt-

[Jayman @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

I think it is brilliant, let's face it ... The world is not as safe as it once was. I could remember getting chased a mile when I was 10, screaming for help. With this device my daughter would have another safety net from the baddies. Also, we would be able to keep in touch, and or tell her to get home for dinner without having to set some ridiculous check in time. I am getting one for my 8 year old, I just think it's the right thing to do!

[Tom @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

I just saw this phone at the mall today and it really caught my eye. I have been debating on getting my 9yr old daughter a cell phone for some time now and thought she was to young because of the functionality of a FULL cell phone. After talking with the sales rep, this looks like a good phone to get KIDS of any age because all they will do with a FULL cell phone is ring up the parents bills by texting/chatting with friends and we all know how expensive that can get! You can really restrict this phone by buying it and not giving out the phone number, that way friends can't call it and burn valuable air time. The sales rep told me he could give me the phone for FREE if I were to commit to a 2 yr plan, the cheapest plan is $29.99 which includes 300 anytime minutes. I think this is a little expensive when the only people the child can call is Mom and Dad's cell/work #'s and another safe person + 911. They will NEVER even come close to burning all those minutes especially when verizon to verizon is FREE! I think the proper calling plan for this phone should be 150 anytime minutes and it should cost $9.99 a month with a 2 yr contract.

That's my 2 cents!

[joester @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

OK, my 2 cents:
As the "payer of all bills" in the house, I can say with certanty that my 2 kids will NOT have "grown up" phones until they can support the financial requirement created by them. I will not pay to have them "connected" to their friends in a moments notice, Nor will I pay for whatever minutes they use for the month unless they are talking to me, my wife, or each other. Having stated that, I will add that this "crippled" phone suits the need, but carries too much financial drain to make it worth purchasing in my book. As an "limited use" type phone, it should be less expensive. I would buy a TracFone with controllable minutes before I bought this one. Don't get me wrong, this is a great idea in my book, but just costs too much for what you get.
I also think that any previous posts where the "younger set" stated that they wouldn't be caught dead with a phone like this are spoiled rotten, and wouldn't appreciate a good thing when given to them. I believe that if you have to buy expensive gifts to satisfy your kids, you just aren't spending enough time with them and are trying to buy their love and respect. Is it wrong to buy a new X-Box 360 as a gift? No. But at the same time, look how many "baby sitter" gifts your kids have that will occupy them for hours instead of sitting with them and playing board games, ect...
To the spoiled rotten class of kids, this phone is a joke. To the rest, I'm sure this would be appreciated and the gift of connectivity would be welcomed and appreciated. It just shouldn't cost this much.

[mike @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

the migo is piece of crap and same with the fire fly dont get them for ur kids there not going to use it get them a real phone they will like u a lot more get them sell phones but not thoes kiddy fones

[Bens's Dad @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

My niece, who just turned 7, got the Migo. Her Mom and Dad's, as well as my wife and my cell numbers were loaded into it. She will be the hit of her class having her very own Cellphone, but fortunately, she won't run up my bill by calling all her friends. She can do that at home on her house telephone. This is for emergencies and to keep in instant contact with Mom and Dad. After seeing all the ragging of this, I still think it is ideal for it's specific application: TO give kids instant contact with parents and family WITHOUT chancing them running up the family's cellphone bill. However, the fatal flaw in that idea is that if OTHER kids call them, THAT counts as minutes and can run up the bill. So other parents irresponsibility will hurt my bill. If all kids had a MIGO, this would not be a problems. I know all about cell bils run up. My son ran up $400 in 2 months. My friends 14 year old daughter ran up NINE HUNDRED DOLLARS in 1 month due to ringtones, text messages and nonstop yakking!!!!!! Wish I had Cellphone company stock! I would be RICH!!!! What we need is an Insurance plan to guard against these overages. I signed up for 1400 minutes and loose sleep that that will be too little.
Atleast the Migo should be safer if not safe. Also, coming in February, is a GPS feature where a parent can go on the internet and interogate the phone to find out EXACTLY where the kid is at that moment. That is very handy!

[Bens's Dad @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

My niece, who just turned 7, got the Migo. Her Mom and Dad's, as well as my wife and my cell numbers were loaded into it. She will be the hit of her class having her very own Cellphone, but fortunately, she won't run up my bill by calling all her friends. She can do that at home on her house telephone. This is for emergencies and to keep in instant contact with Mom and Dad. After seeing all the ragging of this, I still think it is ideal for it's specific application: TO give kids instant contact with parents and family WITHOUT chancing them running up the family's cellphone bill. However, the fatal flaw in that idea is that if OTHER kids call them, THAT counts as minutes and can run up the bill. So other parents irresponsibility will hurt my bill. If all kids had a MIGO, this would not be a problems. I know all about cell bils run up. My son ran up $400 in 2 months. My friends 14 year old daughter ran up NINE HUNDRED DOLLARS in 1 month due to ringtones, text messages and nonstop yakking!!!!!! Wish I had Cellphone company stock! I would be RICH!!!! What we need is an Insurance plan to guard against these overages. I signed up for 1400 minutes and loose sleep that that will be too little.
Atleast the Migo should be safer if not safe. Also, coming in February, is a GPS feature where a parent can go on the internet and interogate the phone to find out EXACTLY where the kid is at that moment. That is very handy!

[Bens's Dad @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

Another FATAL flaw in the Migo is that it is Hackable. Therefore, it is not a good idea to give to kids over 10. That is about the age that they can learn to hack and the 4 number only feature is easily disabled. To program in a number, the parent (or hacking kid) types in a secret 4 digit code. UNFORTUNATELY, all Migos have the same code and this is probably out on the internet somewhere. Once the code is hacked, the kid can program in any number they like, until MOM or Dad finds out. LG should have made this number changeable so parents could really keep this number SECRET! If there is a way (and there is ALWAYS a way) to bypass or change this code, the kids will figure it out before the parents, locking out mom and dad! LG should have thought about that. Otherwise, the target market should be 5 to 10 at best.

[Bens's Dad @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

Another FATAL flaw in the Migo is that it is Hackable. Therefore, it is not a good idea to give to kids over 10. That is about the age that they can learn to hack and the 4 number only feature is easily disabled. To program in a number, the parent (or hacking kid) types in a secret 4 digit code. UNFORTUNATELY, all Migos have the same code and this is probably out on the internet somewhere. Once the code is hacked, the kid can program in any number they like, until MOM or Dad finds out. LG should have made this number changeable so parents could really keep this number SECRET! If there is a way (and there is ALWAYS a way) to bypass or change this code, the kids will figure it out before the parents, locking out mom and dad! LG should have thought about that. Otherwise, the target market should be 5 to 10 at best.

[galiper @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

My sole purpose for considering this phone is for my elderly father. He is not as steady as he once was, and I worry all the time. If he had one of these in his pocket, and took a tumble somewhere - he would be able to call for help if he couldn't get to a phone. I can put it on my line for $9.99 a month. Sounds like a Christmas gift worth the peach of mind.
As far as all the spoiled brats out there goes, I completely agree with joester in #32!!!

[Dawn @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

Amen to #38. My handicapped mom needs to reach me but would never be able to figure out how to work a regular cell phone. I think the whole marketing should shift to the elderly user -- but definately at a more affordable price.

[Jaime @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

If you want a cheap cellphone for kids, try a pay-as-you-go. Because it has to be pre-loaded with value (ideally their own allowance money), it will teach kids the value of their money, through the real-life lessons of running out, scarcity, missed opportunities due to spendthrift, the value of frugality.

Virgin Mobile has by far the cheapest service-- 10-24c per minute, period. Approx $6/month if not used at all (i.e. have for emergencies only).

[David Ansel @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

I was mislead by LG. The phone has a PIN for programing the four phone numbers however every phone has the same PIN and it can't be changed. The PIN is even listed on LG's web page. The idea of only having four numbers to call is great. As for kids needing a cell phone, if you had kids and were divorced you would understand wanting to be able to contact them.

[David Ansel @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

I was mislead by LG. The phone has a PIN for programing the four phone numbers however every phone has the same PIN and it can't be changed. The PIN is even listed on LG's web page. The idea of only having four numbers to call is great. As for kids needing a cell phone, if you had kids and were divorced you would understand wanting to be able to contact them.

[JJ @ Dec 19th 2005 12:21AM]

I am sorry but six-year-olds with cell phones? Are you fucking kidding me? What ever happened to being a parent? What do six-year-olds do all damn day long? Go to kindergarten/school where they're under supervision, go to friends' houses where they should be supervised, go home where the parents are supposed to be doing their job!

For the love of God, if you can't even be bothered to spend enough time with your kid please just don't have children. Six-year-olds don't need cell phones, crippled or not, they need their parents to be there for them.

Jeez.

[Tom Lark @ Dec 27th 2005 1:28PM]

Amazing discussion. I got this phone for my granddaughter. What a nice item. First, you do not have to program the 911 capability if you don't care to. Second, those of you who think it is a substitute for parenting, you may be quite wrong in a lot of cases. It allows my granddaughter to play on the farm, to be over her at friends, etc and can she be contacted at a moments notice. It is a teaching tool, as well. Those of you who criticize, I am sure you are correct in some cases, but don't blame the phone for bad parenting. Blame bad parents for that. The phone is simple technology that puts a child in earshot range always. If you cant think of the benefits of this device, maybe you like being pecemistic. By the way, it hangs on the wall most days, but is available for this 7 yr old whenever it is appropiate.

[msvicky @ Dec 29th 2005 1:46AM]

I am so happy to have found this phone for my disabled son who at times stays home by himself. Now he can call us if he needs us with the touch of a button. I have many elderly home health clients that can also use this phone. No having to remember numbers. We have been waiting for just this phone. By the way, my son thinks he is very cool with this phone!