It totally depends.  My DS20 got his first at age 14 but that was only because my mother got it for him and added him to her plan because she insisted that he "needed" one and he'd feel left out with all his peers having one. WTF ever.  Like that peer crap argument ever worked on me!?

But she was paying for it so I didn't care.  And when he lost it and she had a cow I told her that she was the one who decided HE was ready, so it was her problem!  ;)

Anyway later on he did need it, when he started doing things more on his own and apart from to/from school and then of course later when he had a job.   He is 20 though and is still pretty bad with phones.  He doesn't lose them but he always manages to break them.  I think he gets mad and throws them, honestly, but when I am not around to see it! 

DS14 didn't get one until this past year (9th grade) because he is super horrible about losing things.  Every time he has had something small and expensive, like handheld game systems, cameras, etc., he loses the thing. It's been bad so we were super hesitant.

We decided to go ahead and get him a phone when he started walking home from school from time to time (it's a mile and a half away), or going places with friends, or having extra responsibilities like picking up his little sister from school (her school is just a few blocks from his).

Not to sound like an advertisement but we went with this company called Kajeet (kajeet.com) that offers prepaid cell phone service geared towards kids.  Cheapest plan is $15 a month for unlimited text and sixty minutes of talk time per month, cheapest phone was very simple flip phone for $29, and there is no contract.  Oh and they also have an option for true "emergency use" only where there is just like an hour a month for $5 a month.  Good choice if you really can't afford it but you want them to have SOMETHING so they can call you in an emergency.

 Because of his track record we didn't want to be worrying about him losing a phone and us having to replace it plus replace the sim car at $20 a pop and we did NOT want a contract for this reason.  This service doesn't use sim cards.  And the coolest thing is the parental controls.  We can choose what numbers he can call, what numbers can call him, during what hours of the day he can use it, and there is a GPS location tool for 99 cents each time you need to use it.  We liked that, not to find him hopefully but just to find the phone if he loses it!  All the parental controls are accessible via the website.  We haven't had to use them, actually, but it was good to know that we could control stuff if he got in trouble for using the phone during school hours or whatever.

 But he's been good.  In fact one of the biggest problems is he turns it off like he is supposed to during school then forgets to turn it back on at 3:30 when he gets out, which is when we need him to have it on so we can get in touch if we're running late or whatever.

 Anyway it's worked well for us because if we're short on funds we can just not pay the service for a month and then start back up again with no penalties.  There are fancier phones available and much more elaborate plans with internet and so forth but for us we told DS that when he proved he could keep track of this phone for a while then we'd talk about an upgrade to something "cooler". 

But anyway yeah, if we didn't see a legit reason for him to have a phone we wouldn't have gotten him one and it depends on your kid.  Honestly if they are never apart from you besides school, or if they are always with another parent or other adult, then I don't think they need a phone at the ages many kids get phones.  We don't think they need them until they are going to branch out on their own or with friends and no adults around, which for us isn't until the teen years.

Ds10 hust got one. We don't have a landline and he's home alone for about 15 mins after school. He doesn't carry it to school though. And he can't text. We could add him to our line for free basicly so it was cheaper than a landline. But its not a big deal. He knows its a tool not a toy.

I was just talking about this with Dh about getting Ds7 one.  At the moment he really doesn't go anywhere so it's no biggie but I would love to get him one when he goes to visit his father for the summer so he can call me anytime he wants without asking his daddy.

My DS10 got a cell for his birthday last year, and never used it.  The only thing he wanted it for was web access, which I didn't allow on his phone.

MY DD8's bio dad got her one when she was 6! I keep taking it off of her.  She doesn't need it.  I don't allow her to have it when she's home with us.  I give it back to her when she goes to her dad's.  No web on that one either. 

I did learn a lesson, though, regarding cell phones and children.  PRE-PAID!  I added a line for my son, and since he never really used it, I had to pay the fee to cancel his line.  Never again.  He can have a pre-paid when he decides he wants one again.  He says he wants a smart phone, but I told him he can have one when he can pay for it.  Until then, it will be a pre-paid with talk and text only.  Cricket has a $25/month plan with unlimited talk and text.  So that will be the route we take.

It all depends on the situation that your family is going though. Divorce/after school activities/parents both work late...

My 16 yr old has one, but she pays for it herself and I have complete access to it. I keep a prepaid phone for the other kids to share. I give it to them when I leave one of them somewhere they might need to call me, like the movie theater. I hate bad cell phone manners so we talk a lot about how NOT to act with your phone. Don't carry on loud conversations in public,don't talk while checking out with a cashier, and number one; don't text while your mother is talking to you. Phone calls are rarely more important than live conversations with real people.   

My dd 9 yrs old has one because she stays with her dad every other weekend and dumbass ex never answers his phone. And a bonus is my dd texting me about how much she misses home and me when she is over there with dumbass.

It depends on each child, some kids can be more responsible than others. Personally, I think they shouldn't get their first phone until around 13-15. But my little girl isn't there yet, and I'll probably get her a disposable phone at whatever age I feel comfortable letting her go out with her friends without supervision. If she wants a phone before that (and I decide to get her one) it'll be one of those pre-programmed kids phones with two numbers in it, plus 911.

I agree, it depends on the kid, but personally, I think Junior High age is young enough:  they're now old enough to be away from you and  payphones pretty much don't exist anymore...

I really don't think kids should have them just to talk to their friends until they can buy it themselves, but its true payphones are few and far between. I'm sure there would be one at the school but if dd starts going places with friends and activities outside of school, and does need one before then to call me and so I can keep track of her it will be one of those kids ones. She won't be able to call or text anyone but me, grandma and 911. Absolutely no internet. Maybe if she does well with it, keeps her grades up and gets in no trouble I will get her a better one but it won't be unlimited talk/text, if she uses all her time too bad and still no internet. And no talking after a certain time at night. If/when she gets her own I will still have access to everything on it until she turns 18 or moves out lol

My 12 yo son has the cheapest one I could find with no camera. I buy a $20 pack with only talk minutes. I don't want to have to worry about him taking pictures of things he shouldn't or txting crazy things. He is a good kid and I want to keep it that way as long as I can. He only has it when he is alone at home or out with friends.

I got my ds 13 a phone when he was 7. I t was one of those firefly ones from att that you had to pre program the buttons. We had a family plan with 200 bonus min. Per line. And his line was 10 bucks a month.