Free 'dead ring' from teenage daughte when trying to contact mer?

smallbiznewbie

I have a 15 year old daughter with a Pay as you go mobile. If she gets any credit she spends it within a day or two, so effectively she never has credit on the phone (because I'm not a millionaire).

If she wants to contact me she rings 0800 reverse. I pick up the phone, hear the automated message saying I have a reverse phone call from (daughter) and I put the phone down. A minute later, once the automated message has finished, I ring her back.

In the past this method would work for many months until the phone company would put a stop to it, at which point I'd buy a new SIM for a couple of quid and we'd start all over again.

However ... things have changed. It's not an automated service any more, so every time I get a reverse call I talk to a human. I don't know if this is across the board for everyone, or just for people who have a suspiciously high amount of reverse calls. I can see the reverse charge method being stopped a lot sooner than in the past, however ...

Two things to know: I can't afford reverse charge calls - they cost an absolute fortune, and my daughter calls me several times a day.

My daughter won't carry anything obviously 'naff' around with her, not even a mobile phone from a year or two ago (sigh).

DarkConvict

You could tell her to get a part time job, paperrounds etc to pay for her own phone contract or top up for the PAYG.

Another option could be getting something like T-Mobile Solo Fixed, so you pay a set amount per month for an allowance like a contract, but you cannot go over your assigned limits, this would prevent her running up a bill.
As to wanting a trendy phone, i do not know if solo fixed comes with one, but either use an old one, or you or her buy a new phone separate to the contract from t-mobile.

If she wants to get in contact with people she needs to learn to be responsible with it.
Whatever you do, do not give her an uncapped contract if she uses up her allowence you could be opening a can of worms to £100'sa months bill if she goes over the allowences.

smallbiznewbie

Thanks DarkConvict.

I wonder if there's a way that I can fix it so that the only number she can dial is our house phone? Or is there a forwarding service somewhere that will only forwards to our number and that I pay for?

cannbryant

Could you not bothe get 3 sims then you could call each other free of charge anyway? Just an idea, I think you can get them free at the shop and you can get free calls even when credit is out.

Silk

If you were on O2 and your daughter was too you could have the family bolt on costing you £7.50 a month and you could call and text each other without further charges etc.

smallbiznewbie

Silk, that is exactly the sort of idea I'm looking for. She's on orange at the moment, I'll have to find out if it's possible to get on 02, what a brilliant idea that is!

WychWeird

I'd second Silk's O2 option - I'm looking to do the same thing so that if our daughter runs out of credit she can always call me and the better half.

spinningsheep

If you and most of her mates are on 02 as well, you put her on 02 unlimited tarrif, top up £15 and she gets unlimited calls and texts to all 02 users and she still has £15 credit to call and text those who aren't on 02.Simples!

[Deleted User]

Why not give her a BT Call Home card? It'll only call 5 numbers you specify, and can only be used at a BT Payphone.

Soon she'll realise not to use up all her credit.

smallbiznewbie

Thanks for all your suggestions.

She needs to be on a mobile definitely to call from school and as she moves around friend's houses.

She tells me that O2 is naff and she doesn't want to go on it. It might be naff, or it might be peer pressure .... I'll have to have a talk with her :-) since she's never got any credit on it anyway I can't see that it matters ...

Silk

smallbiznewbie wrote: »

Silk, that is exactly the sort of idea I'm looking for. She's on orange at the moment, I'll have to find out if it's possible to get on 02, what a brilliant idea that is!

Cheers :beer:
The good thing is if you have other members of the family or freinds they can be on it too ..I think it's up to 5 in total all for just one payment of £7.50.
So partners or Grandparents etc might be another contact available should she be in an emergency etc