Brain Overload, please whats the best deal?

hethmar

I have a slightly disabled teenage son who has a payg phone. Unfortunately when he runs out of credit he has been using our land line for calls to mobiles. I cant even tell you what the phone bill was last month as it makes me feel ill - suffice to say luckily the phone company sussed something wasnt right and barred calls on the line.

Nuff of that. He has a job but up to now we have resisted him having cards or cheque books because of his slight autism but I guess we have to try to help him sort himself out at some point.

So, my question is, PLEASE is there any genius out there who has analysed all the contract mobile offers and can advise me what phone we should tell him to get on a contract. The highest number of minutes free is the most important thing as he forgets how long he has been on the phone until we scream at him.

Ive looked at the Link where they have an O2 phone with 1000 minutes for the first 3 months down to 500 minutes. This is priced at the equivalent of £17.50 for the first 9 months and then £35 for the next 9 months of an 18 months contract. IS this a good deal or is there something more suitable please. Ive seen the £4.50 a month type but note that they have low minutes allowances and so you would quickly knock up more than the monthly cost of a more expensive contract just on extra minutes calls.

VERY grateful if some kind soul can just point out what is the best idea for him.

Many thanks.

gizmoleeds

Whatever you do DO NOT GET A CONTRACT.

If he is running up such huge phone bills that the phone company have intervened then you sould not be giving him a mobile phone set-up that will allow him to do the same there, because, believe me, not all companies are as nice as your landline provider.

Keep him on PAYG as otherwise you will have some nasty surprises when his phone bill arrives.

thelawnet

hethmar wrote:

I have a slightly disabled teenage son who has a payg phone. Unfortunately when he runs out of credit he has been using our land line for calls to mobiles. I cant even tell you what the phone bill was last month as it makes me feel ill - suffice to say luckily the phone company sussed something wasnt right and barred calls on the line.

Nuff of that. He has a job but up to now we have resisted him having cards or cheque books because of his slight autism but I guess we have to try to help him sort himself out at some point.

So, my question is, PLEASE is there any genius out there who has analysed all the contract mobile offers and can advise me what phone we should tell him to get on a contract. The highest number of minutes free is the most important thing as he forgets how long he has been on the phone until we scream at him.

Ive looked at the Link where they have an O2 phone with 1000 minutes for the first 3 months down to 500 minutes. This is priced at the equivalent of £17.50 for the first 9 months and then £35 for the next 9 months of an 18 months contract. IS this a good deal or is there something more suitable please. Ive seen the £4.50 a month type but note that they have low minutes allowances and so you would quickly knock up more than the monthly cost of a more expensive contract just on extra minutes calls.

VERY grateful if some kind soul can just point out what is the best idea for him.

Many thanks.

payg is obviously correct as it will stop huge bills. Or ufix. O

If he is running up huge bills on the home line, get a discount mobile call plan on your home phone.

hethmar

Thanks guys, we thought the same, thats why he has had a payg up to now BUT he is 19 and in law ..................... So just trying to find the best deal costing him no more than about £35 a month.

I have to say I was really grateful to talk talk for ringing me to say about unusual activity on the line. Bless them. Im sure BT would have waited until the bill was bigger than our mortgage.

What is u fix pleaSE

Appreciate your thoughts but he is twice the size of me and is keen to be independent. :mad:

gizmoleeds

If he wants to be treated like an adult he should act like one. Using your phone to run up huge bills is not adult behavior. Has he paid you for them?

What would happen if he ran up a huge bill on a contract phone - can he afford to pay?

When you say he is "in" law I assume you mean studying law. If he wants to practice he will really need to grow up first.

gizmoleeds

U-fix is a tariff from T-Mobile where once your contracted minutes are up you have to use top-ups to make any more calls.

It is rather expensive though, not really for moneysavers.

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/Dispatcher?menuid=weboffers_personal_ufix

BarGin

On the O2 website their I-Mode and 3G phones are £35 per month for 1000 mins + 150 texts.

http://shop.o2.co.uk/shop/

BarGin

hethmar

Many thanks again guys. Sorry, perhaps I wasnt clear, I meant in law he is an adult and can get these things without our permission. So choosing the right phone for him is the lesser of the possible evils

Yes he is 19 but he is autistic so doesnt quite follow what a "normal" kid of that age could.

Ive had a look at the deals on O2 and they do seem very good, many thanks. They seem to have a talker or texter tarrif. talker is 1000 minutes talk time plus 150 texts. Texter is 750 minutes talk plus 750 texts.

I just wonder how he would know when the free minutes have been used up? I will email them.

NB Just to update, O2 tells me that they set up an online account where customers can check the number of minutes they have used and how many left. So not ideal, but perhaps the best bet so far.

gk172

What about the 3 network on contract? my daughter got her friend to get her one :eek: and she can talk, but when she went over her limit they stopped all outgoing texts and calls except emergency 999 and the allowance started again as usuall the following month, you can go online with 3 via mobile or internet to check how many mins he would have left and it might help him use what he has and stick to it.

3 price plans

hethmar

Thats sounds brilliant. Unfortunately 3 has very poor reception in this area and so we probably need O2 or Vodafone.

gk172

If reception drops then 3 will go onto the 02 network, also heard that if you use a nokia on 3 then most problems are sorted, you could always give it a try and if reception is still bad return the phone within the 14 days;)