Mobile for Child going to Secondary School

I've just bought mine cheapish Orange PAYG phones and put them on the tariff which gives them 300 free texts (valid for 30 days) when they top up by £10.

Unfortunately I bought the phones and they were registered a couple of weeks before birthdays so they only had 2 weeks to use up all the texts - somehow they managed it!

They hardly text now as they know they have to pay for top ups but they will get another 300 free texts when they do top up.

Hope that helps.

personally i think the O2 pay as you go sim is a good one.

If you top up £10 every month, you get 300 texts. Plus £10 to spend, on calls, or other texts, etc.

After every text/call a message appears saying how much £ you have left. And to check your current balance is usually 2 then call, again the balance appears on screen. I prefer this to Orange where you have to ring a number and a voice tells you how much you have left. Plus in my experience O2 has best coverage.

A quick look shows they dont have the cheapest phones though, maybe get a cheap unlocked one from play or somewhere, hope that helps, cheers

I was also pondering the bluebook "feature" of O2 which would in theory allow a parent to monitor the SMS and MMS usage of a mobile phone. Would be wondering if this would be worthwhile given the alleged rise in cyber bullying. If you are honest about its existence and why you want to have it, plus stop it logging messages to and from their friends (so they maintain their privacy), surely it's a good thing? (If it is out of beta, it has a one-off cost of £5, otherwise it might be free).

If you start spending more than £22.50 a month (225 texts at 10p ) you could move to a SIMplicity one month contract (30 days notice required to cancel) for £22.50 which has 200 minutes, 400 texts, free O2 to O2 calls (for £15) and free SMS messages (via additional £7.50 bolt on). Only problem is reverse charged texts are outside the allowance, so if their "friends" text one of these £X chat lines I see advertised on TV after 11pm or in other magazines you could get lumped with a bill.... thinking of which, you can block access to premium rate numbers, can you block access to premium rate message services? Heck, I'd like that myself....

For buying phones, there's a pink Nokia 6111 for £50 unlocked on Amazon or a £30 O2 PAYG Nokia 2310 from CPW. There are cheap handsets, but it depends on whether it also need to be a status symbol.

I have just ordered a contract from dialaphone that works out at £30 for a year with a monthly tariff of 200 mins and 200 texts with the samsung e250

breakdown is £30 a month x 12 = 360

less cashback of £270 ( 90 ant months 6 9 and 12 )

less quidco of £60

Total cost = £30 for the year

cashback is paid within a week and they send you a text confirming receipt of claim. All you do is send the bill after x date and a cheque follows within a week / 10 days

My son had one last year and this year its daughters turn.

WorkingHardDFW wrote: »

Help:o

Oldest DD is going to secondary school in September and is after the ubiquitous mobile phone for her birthday in July. Sadly she is the one of only 2 in her small class currently without a mobile!

Being concious of the cost both initially and ongoing I am planning to do a few weeks of research into the best options however I have no idea what sort of call/texting pattern an young 11 year will have. Is it the calls they hammer or the texts or both?

Can any of you more experienced parents out there offer any advice?

Much appreciated.

Exactly the same scenario we are facing this year. Have done some research and if we go the PAYG route I'm thinking about Tesco with the double/triple top up offer.

Phone is not a status symbol but she would like a half decent camera and video recorder.

Quite a few good 2 year contract deals about with cashback too. Vodafone £10 per month for 100 mins and 500 texts is an example.

Any ideas much appreciated.