contract mobile phone

BLUEBIE

Hi

Please help, my daughter wants a blackberry/iphone type thing for christmas. I only have a basic phone and have only ever been on payg.

How can I find out the best deal and what am I looking out for as far as internet connection goes? Can anyone give me some pointers?

She'll be 11 if that makes any differnce as I have been told the blackberry is quite hard to use?

Thanks

B

*Chattie*

I think 11 is far too young myself for a high cost mobile such as a BB or Iphone. Who is going to pay the monthly charges for her using the internet via a phone? Also what control will you have over the content she may view.

Ste_C

Jesus!

Is that the norm? 11 year olds with mobile phones sounds crazy enough, but 11 year olds with contracts and blackberries? Wow. How times change.

OneADay

At 11 - think the blackberry isnt really for her - and you have to consider it getting lost.

Saying that the best deals I have seen for blackberry phones have been buymobilephones.net and CPW do one deal for £15 a month. You can also checkout dialaphone.

Any phone you get for internet is likely to be a bit expensive for it to be any good - so choose one which she will like in long run. The nokia e71 has the same qwerty type keyboard as the blackberries.

Wallhart

11. Get her a nokia 3300

Seriously kids are growing up fast these days. Seriously you have to think hard. Im not saying don't get her one and of course you don't want to dissappoint her but I do honestly feel a top of the range phone for an 11 yr old is a bit excessive. Especially the way other kids can be - to steal etc.

The nokiaa 71 as posted above is a great phone.

Mini_Bear

The problem is if u get her a contract fone and pay the bill there is no way of stoppin adult content on the fone as any1 with a contrcat fone has 2 b 18+
also it can b difficult to limit her usage so u could end up with a whoppin bill at the end of the month.
its unfortunate, i cant find any decent pay as u go contracts wiv internet connectivity too.
if this is ur daughters first fone i wud get her sum sort of nokia, slightly less flashy but easiest 2 use 2 start wiv. also if she had the iphone/bb nicked the perpetrator could run up a huge bill b4 u realised and could cancel it.
just b careful!

BLUEBIE

Thanks for your replies, what are the best alternatives to these type of phones.

I was told that if you tell them its for a child, once they have used up all their credit for that month, then that would be it? i.e they wouldn't be allowed to go over their monthly allowance?

B

property.advert

BLUEBIE wrote: »

Thanks for your replies, what are the best alternatives to these type of phones.

I was told that if you tell them its for a child, once they have used up all their credit for that month, then that would be it? i.e they wouldn't be allowed to go over their monthly allowance?

B

Tesco have SIM only deals whereby you cannot spend more than the monthly fee as well as others where you can !

I second the advice that an 11 year old child does not need a phone but even I consider that argument to be a losing one. Camera and music are probably the two they will most desire but as has been mentioned, theft is an issue. Were it not a phone, you would never consider giving an 11 year old £2/3/4/500 of jewellery to carry around, throw on tables, show off to friends and generally misuse would you ? Well, don't do that with a phone.

I'd set a budget of £50 for PAYG but on Vectone (5p a minute to all networks and landlines - but phone them to turn off voicemail - it piggy backs on T-Mobile aka Virgin, Asda etc.).

Use of the internet not only needs a more expensive phone but also needs you to set a policy for things like Facebook. I think 11 is far too young to be giving all control to a child but I do see the immense problem that comes with restricting access.

johncaduk

I've just finished a 2 yr contract with O2, £20 per month for 200 minutes and 200 texts on a Blackberry 8120 Pearl. It's been a good phone except my scroll Pearl has clogged up with 'gunk' from my thumb and has not worked properly for nearly a year now. I suspect that young peeps would collect more gunk than me on their thumb - so if you're persuaded into getting a Blackberry, get one without a pearl.