If you don’t have enough money, consider asking someone to help you out. Try asking grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and older siblings – trustworthy adults who won’t tell your parents. If possible, don’t tell them that it’s for a phone.
Store your cash in a secret place: under a mattress or in a piggy-bank. Your parents might not care about you saving up – but it will be easier to keep the phone a secret if you don’t need to answer questions about what you’re saving for.
If you want the mobility of a phone, an iPod touch or a similar Internet-connecting device could be used in areas where WiFi is available. Buy an iPod touch on either eBay or the Apple Store.
Consider buying your phone online. If you buy it online, do not order it to your house; order it to a friends house. Your parents may get to it before you.
Consider whether you really need a phone with Internet and app capability. If you just need to text and call your friends, then the simplest phone will do.
Seriously consider a pay-as-you-go minute card. These plans are designed for people who want the convenience of a phone without the cost and commitment of a long-term plan. Don’t add your phone to your home WiFi if your parents are tech-savvy. They might notice that a device called “your-name’s cell” is logged into it.
If you plan on getting a clandestine cell phone and you are over 18, It is possible to get a PO Box rather than providing your home address. Again, this will cost money.
Keep up normal habits. Don’t disappear into your room and text/call friends for hours on end when you are at home, or someone will suspect that something is up.
Keep in mind that there is no possible situation where you would truly need the cell to ring loudly. Don’t tell yourself you will just turn it off again afterwards. At some point, you will very probably forget about that – and then you’re in trouble.
Never charge it overnight or when your parents are at home and you aren’t – at least not in easily visible places.
Treat the phone like something transient. If anyone sees it, it disappears. Don’t have it out texting all the time.
