teenagers and mobile phones

margaretwyl

Help, I have 2 teenagers who want mobile phones. They currently have a basic nokia (my daughter) and a LG 16 year old son) which has just apparently died, both on PAYG. My 16 year old wants it for MP3, radio, camera and a few texts and the odd phone call, has never spent more than a couple of pounds a week on texts or phone calls. My 14 year old wants the same only she recieves calls, makes a very few texts and wants a touch screen, camera, video and MP3. What is the best and cheapest phone and deals out there for their requirements.

eljmayes

Samsung Genio or LG Cookie would be my picks for either:).

DarkConvict

What sort of budget do you have available?

If you want contracts with free phones, then i do advise T-Mobile Solo Fixed so they can't exceed there limits.

OneADay

Decent camera - dont bank on the Lg cookie ! Try sony c510 (I am thinking of trading my cookie in for that).

Buzby

IRRESPECTIVE of the type of phone they want, both are unable to enter into a contract for service, and frankly, you would be silly to even contemplate agreeing to be the contract holder on their behalf. It is YOUR credit file that will be trashed through no fault of your own should they inadvertently be scammed or get hit with reverse-pay issues and premium texts.

Additionally, as all contract phone users are demed to be of legal age, full access is given to websites and other services that would be otherwise blocked bending age verification.

By far the best option is to get the phone you require independently of a contract, and put in a PAYG SIM. This provides a safety net that is invaluable when it comes to protecting finances, and even when they reach 18, its still never a good idea to go the contract route, as the inclusive deals are only used by 40% of thos paying for them, the rest provide considerale profits to the netowkr, for providing nothing else!

eljmayes

BootyBabe18 wrote: »

O2 Sim only contract.
Month-month, so not tied into a 12 or 18month contract.

*600minutes to any network at anytime,
*1,000texts to any network,
*Free voicemail.
*Plus a choice of; unlimited free calls to landlines, unlimited texts, 200 extra minutes, unlimited free internet.

£20 per month

For exactly the same money you can get unlimited texts on T-Mobile instead of the 1000 with O2.

angelfire

Buzby wrote: »

IRRESPECTIVE of the type of phone they want, both are unable to enter into a contract for service, and frankly, you would be silly to even contemplate agreeing to be the contract holder on their behalf. It is YOUR credit file that will be trashed through no fault of your own should they inadvertently be scammed or get hit with reverse-pay issues and premium texts.

Additionally, as all contract phone users are demed to be of legal age, full access is given to websites and other services that would be otherwise blocked bending age verification.

By far the best option is to get the phone you require independently of a contract, and put in a PAYG SIM. This provides a safety net that is invaluable when it comes to protecting finances, and even when they reach 18, its still never a good idea to go the contract route, as the inclusive deals are only used by 40% of thos paying for them, the rest provide considerale profits to the netowkr, for providing nothing else!

Whilst i agree with the internet content part of this post, I would like to post my experiences for the sake of the OP. The decision about whether to buy a contract for your teens needs to be based on your teens themselves.
Last year i bought an 18 month contract for my daughter through orange - she was 14 at the time. I was lucky enough to get £150 quidco cashback, which brought the contract down to £6.66 per month for the duration. The minute the cashback came through, i paid this into a seperate account, then set up the direct debit from that account, having already paid in the amount left to pay (over the whole 18 months for the rest of the contract).
My daughter receives 100 mins and unlimited texts. She sets her phone each month, on the payment day, to count the number of minutes used and also the texts, thus meaning she always knows how much she's used and how many minutes she has left until the payment day comes around again.
To date, we've had just one month in 12, where she has gone over her limit - this was when she was abroad with her cheer team and texted me a couple of times, so she was forgiven for that!

This has worked for us - our daughter has learned how to moderate her usage and understands the method we've used to pay, i.e. setting up an account especially for the mobile phone payments to come out of. I believe this has been a much better (not to mention cheaper), way of doing things than having a pay and go sim and running out of credit constantly.

So it really depends on your children i'd say - my daughter is no angel, but has proven that when given the opportunity to be trusted and responsible, she is capable! Having said that, the cost of NOT remaining within the allocated mins and texts would be far too much for her to bear, (namely loss of pc access and grounding!)...

Sorry to ramble, but i just wanted to give a positive point of view...

space_rider

My daughters have had contract mobile phones since around 12. They have gone over each once. I took them to the building society and made them withdraw from their savings to pay the excess. They never did it again. I am thinking of getting a contract phone for my youngest. I spoke to 3 and they can put a block on the phone so it doesn`t go over the limit.

macman

space_rider wrote: »

My daughters have had contract mobile phones since around 12. They have gone over each once. I took them to the building society and made them withdraw from their savings to pay the excess. They never did it again. I am thinking of getting a contract phone for my youngest. I spoke to 3 and they can put a block on the phone so it doesn`t go over the limit.

That won't help if it's ever used on a roaming basis, as the charges can take a few days to come back to the home network.

anonymousie

Nice too hear a positive story of teen+ contract, BUT have a look around this forum for the number of ADULTS who have come to grief re contract bills "I didn't know I'd get charged so much" I accidentally used it" "It was lost/stolen and a bill run up" and you'll find that the pitfalls are really too great for the risk, even though you could have a trouble free contract...

margaretwyl

Thank you all, still looking for answers, the main point is they don't use the phone to make calls very much, mainly texts and not many of them as they are sensible kids. I don't think I want a contract, just a simple PAYG which they will have to pay from their pocket money once the initial £10.00 each has been used as I am getting them for emergency use. They want them for the other things, camera, MP3, etc.However my dfaughter is keen on a touchscreen for some reason.