Blooming Teenagers and Mobile Phone Bills

Noghar · 12 May 2009 at 12:32PM

I want my fourteen year old son to continue to have a mobile phone. I would like the phone to be pay monthly so I am not topping it up all the time. But I would like a phone that when he reached the limit of his allowance for minutes, texts etc, automatically barred him from making any more calls - but allowed him to send texts and allowed us to keep tabs on him (without constantly being on his case).

Anyone have any suggestions?

I had him on (I thought) an amazingly generous Orange tariff and he managed to use double the minutes he was allowed... £200 bill. Kerching! :eek:

tia...

macman · 12 May 2009 at 12:43PM

Why not put him on PAYG and fund his allowance accordingly with what you feel is a reasonable level? That way he can choose to spend it on the phone or on other things if he wishes. If he exceeds his 'credit' with you then that is his choice and he learns to exercise responsibility.

JamesHP · 12 May 2009 at 12:48PM

I am currently on Vodafone PAYG. They do these pretty good minutes and texts bundles called freedom packs, which is basically contract without the contract. I'm on the £10 one which includes 100mins and 300 texts, but you can get a £15 or £20 one as well, which include 200mins and 600 texts, or 300 minutes and unlimited texts respectively. You don't need to sign up for anything, just buy them out of normal credit, and it lasts for 30 days. When everything's used up it's basically like a PAYG phone out of credit.

mcmanlyn · 12 May 2009 at 12:49PM

I agree with PAYG - you can carry a top up card and add money on it as and when you feel it's required (then at least you don't need to worry about him spending the cash on something else!)

It's difficult to put an actual cap on a contract - you almost always go over as the reporting of it is not real time...so you may put a £5 cap on it but you can often go way over this. It's not ideal if your son has already proven to be a chatter/texter...

T-Mobile did a perfect tariff called u-fix for this - but I think it's been stopped

probably as it was poor value, but it did fit the bill.

ScottishChick · 12 May 2009 at 12:50PM

mcmanlyn wrote: »

I agree with PAYG - you can carry a top up card and add money on it as and when you feel it's required (then at least you don't need to worry about him spending the cash on something else!)

It's difficult to put an actual cap on a contract - you almost always go over as the reporting of it is not real time...so you may put a £5 cap on it but you can often go way over this. It's not ideal if your son has already proven to be a chatter/texter...

T-Mobile did a perfect tariff called u-fix for this - but I think it's been stopped probably as it was poor value, but it did fit the bill.

T-Mobile stopped the U-fix but have bought out "Solo Fixed" to replace it.

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobile-phones/sim-card/pay-monthly/

Works in the exact same way, once you have used up your allowance you have to top up like PAYG. still allows incoming calls etc. Also getting unlimited texts with it, so even if he does run out of minutes, he can still text you etc if there is an emergency.

Only thing is, you don't get a phone with it.

hotkee · 12 May 2009 at 12:51PM

on the lg cookie there is call costs (as with most phones) screen but additionally a "Set Limit" feature. Have not tried it myself.

banger9365 · 12 May 2009 at 1:02PM

i would not let a teenager have a contract phone because you,can read on here some horror stories about the bills they run up and that's not just £60/£70 it's more like £200/£400,
with all the trust in the world teenagers will be teenagers and they know better,don't they

Noghar · 12 May 2009 at 3:07PM

thanks for all the feedback.

I have gone with the t-mobile solo fixed sim deal. It's a 30day plan so if it does not work out I am not too lumbered. I like the idea he can text us in an emergency even if he has used up all his credit whispering sweet nothings to his bird (what in god's name do they have to talk about?) .

Teenagers will be teenagers, yes. This one is relatively sweet, smart and reliable... but when it comes to using the phone... phhht!:rolleyes:

macman · 12 May 2009 at 4:40PM

Try counting out the bill (£200) in front of him in fivers. That way he might relate the bill to real money that has to be found from somewhere.

jebervic · 13 May 2009 at 5:57PM

banger9365 wrote: »

i would not let a teenager have a contract phone because you,can read on here some horror stories about the bills they run up and that's not just £60/£70 it's more like £200/£400,
with all the trust in the world teenagers will be teenagers and they know better,don't they

I have 3 children (aged 11-15) all on contract phones, none of them have ever gone over their tarrif allowances, basically it comes down to how well behaved your children are, PAYG is poor value for money.

ivinsp · 13 May 2009 at 6:35PM

I disagree that payg is poor value for money unless you only ring xnet numbers and your network charges 25-40ppm. I'm on o2 payg and top up with £15 a month and get 500 any network texts and 1000 texts/mins to up to 10 registered o2 numbers everyone I know (luckily) apart from 1 person is on o2. Some networks also offer cheap texts and xnet calls so it depends which network you're with and what they offer