Gabb Wireless

• Trade-In Program and Birthday Bonus
• National Coverage Minus Alaska
• Safety Features to Protect Kids
• Affordable Phone and Plan
• Customer Reviews

Trade-In Program and Birthday Bonus

Gabb Wireless offers parents a few ways to save on its phones and plans. Its birthday bonus program gives you a free month of service with a few easy steps. Give a Gabb phone to your child and take a birthday photo with them holding the new phone. Post on your Instagram with certain tags and hashtags and email Gabb customer service with a screenshot and link to your post. Easy! And you get a free month of service. 

If you purchased an earlier version of the phone, Gabb Wireless offers a trade-in program, which is a nice feature. Depending on the condition of your Z1 phone, you will receive a $20 or $30 credit towards your Z2 phone. 

National Coverage Minus Alaska

Kids, like everyone, need a phone with reliable service. Gabb phones are built on the back of the nation’s most reliable network and offer great cell phone service coverage. Coverage is offered throughout the United States and customers can enter their zip code on the Gabb Wireless website to view whether their area is covered. 

Hawaii is included in Gabb Wireless’ cell service coverage; however, the company does not currently offer any coverage in Alaska.

Safety Features to Protect Kids

The cell phone market for kids is growing, and there are many options now for parents and guardians to choose from. Gabb Wireless’ phone offers several safety features to keep kids safe — no internet browsing, no social media, and limited apps to encourage life off the screen.

One of the things that Gabb Wireless says it is preventing with its phone’s limited features is cyberbullying. One in three kids is a victim of cyberbullying and social media is one of the main platforms where it occurs. While cyberbullying is a complicated issue, Gabb Wireless can help with its lack of social media access on its phone. It also keeps kids safe by not offering internet browsing. 

Affordable Phone and Plan

Gabb Wireless’ phone is $99 and can only be used on its service plan for $19.99 a month. The plan includes unlimited talk and text. Other competing phones must be used on a major cell provider’s network which would definitely cost more. The phone is best suited for older kids who want to have a smartphone.

There are phones with limited features on the market; however, many do not have the features or appearance of a smartphone. Many look or function like walkie-talkies with a GPS tracker. This can work great for a younger child, but a child who wants to fit in with their peers will likely want a smartphone device.

The Gabb Z2 Bundle also comes with a 30-day money back guarantee, an 8MP built-in camera, bluetooth connectivity, and 14 essential apps that include the following:

• Music
• Phone
• Messaging
• Contacts
• Camera
• Video
• Gallery
• Calendar
• Calculator
• Clock
• Voice Recorder
• FM Radio
• File Manager
• Settings

Customer Reviews

Gabb's mobile phones may look like a smart phone, but it is actually a dumb phone (which is a good thing).

Reviews left on BestCompany.com consist of parents thanking Gabb Wireless for creating a mobile device that allows them to easily communicate with their children but doesn't include all the headaches or safety concerns that come with modern smartphones.  

In fact, most Gabb customers were extremely satisfied with the included apps and features installed on the phone, stating that it was just enough to entertain their child but not cause them to ignore the world around them. Other customers were happy with the phone and its long battery life (due to the fact that kids can't drain the battery on internet browsing or social media).

There were also a number of reviews that mentioned the company's customer service. In particular, many customers felt that Gabb Wireless responded to their questions in a timely manner and often went above and beyond to help. 

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• Cheaper Options Like Relay 
• GPS Capability Now
• Does Not Offer Certain Parental Controls

Cheaper Options Available

If you are looking for an even more basic and affordable phone that lets you keep in touch with your child and track their location using GPS, there are lower-priced options with great reviews. While $99 is a great price, parents can find options for half that cost with even lower tech features. Think walkie-talkies on steroids with a large range.

GPS Capability Limitations

For many parents, being able to track their child’s location is one of the biggest safety benefits of giving their child a phone. The Z1 phone from Gabb Wireless does not have this capability. The new Z2 phone will have GPS capability starting in November 2020. Its GPS tracking capability will be limited. Other competitor phones allow kids to use GPS to check the weather or to navigate using a maps app. The Z2 does not have a maps app that could help your child find directions if needed.

Does Not Offer Certain Parental Controls

Gabb Wireless phones only offer one mode which gives full access to all 14 apps. You can’t turn off calls or texts during school for example. Or change the phone to only receive calls from emergency contact on the device during certain times of day or night. The only mode is full access. While the phone has a much more limited selection of apps and internet browsing capabilities than others, there is still the inconvenience of not being able to limit phone calls or texting during certain times of the day or at night. 

Competing phones often offer more parental control modes like a “school mode” or “family time mode” which gives parents the ability to change every app, or contact to match the rhythm of the child’s day-to-day life. Night mode can be especially nice because it essentially turns your child’s phone into a brick at night, preventing lost sleep.