Can I put a spend limit on a mobile phone contract ?

Babiesmummy_2

My daughter currently is on PAYG with T-Mobile, the signal is pants and we are soon moving and the signal is even worse where we are moving to.

She currently has PAYG for £10 per month with unlimited texts & internet which I know I can't beat anywhere.

She has previously been on a contract and has ran up large bills going over her limits on minutes / texts and wondered if there were any providers that would cap / put a limit on the contract.

Any help would be appreciated.

gjchester

Babiesmummy wrote: »

My daughter currently is on PAYG with T-Mobile, the signal is pants and we are soon moving and the signal is even worse where we are moving to.

She currently has PAYG for £10 per month with unlimited texts & internet which I know I can't beat anywhere.

She has previously been on a contract and has ran up large bills going over her limits on minutes / texts and wondered if there were any providers that would cap / put a limit on the contract.

Any help would be appreciated.

Not easily.

Billing is not in real time on contracts (no idea why they can do it for PAYG) and so hard to enforce a limit.

T-Mobile used to do a U-Fix that gave so many minutes then if you needed more you can top up ala PAYG, but it's been discontinued.

3 will let you set a zero credit limit but also state in the T&C that this is not to be used for budgetting, and you are liable for any calls that are billed regardles of if it's broken the credit limit you set.

If you daughter can't be trusted not to exceed the minutes you nee dot stay on PAYT, although there are contract that give you unlimited calls / text / internet they will not be in the £10 a month category. Remember you'll be the one paying the bill if she goes over.

DarkConvict

T-Mobile and 3 were the only options, but as gjchester agrees you can't do it anymore.

If she can't be trusted do not get her a contract, let her wait until she is 18 and can do it in her name, so if she runs up bills she has to pay them least she wants to end up in court.

robt_2

DarkConvict wrote: »

T-Mobile and 3 were the only options, but as gjchester agrees you can't do it anymore.

You still can with 3 - but has been said, it is not guaranteed, but is extremely reliable (it wouldn't be whilst roaming abroad though).

mazza111

You can set a credit limit with Virgin too. But that's no good if u don't get a good signal on T Mobile.

superrhinos

Tesco mobile have some capped tariffs, starting at £10 per month.

gjchester

superrhinos wrote: »

Tesco mobile have some capped tariffs, starting at £10 per month.

thats new then. sound like the old U-Fix tarif TNM used to have. In that if oyu use it all up you have to top up by voucher.

Tesco use the 02 network..

space_rider

Got nil credit on 3 for my daughters mobile. She hasn`t put it to the test yet as she regularly checks how many mins she has. She has unlimited texts and doesn`t use all the mins. My other daughters had contracts too and they only ever went over it once. Money for the bill was taken out their savings account.

gjchester

space_rider wrote: »

Got nil credit on 3 for my daughters mobile. She hasn`t put it to the test yet as she regularly checks how many mins she has.

The problem is billing is not real time. If for any reason it gets delayed (say using it out of the UK, not on three's network (roamin where there is no 3 coverage in the UK maybe, or just systems being slow) then you can run up a bill even though you have no credit limit.

I know it sounds daft, if they can't control it why offer it but it's in the terms and conditions of Three that it's not to be used for budgetting reasons and they can't be held responsible if you run up a bill due to a failure on their part.

fiish

T-Mobile do 'fixed' SIM only pay monthly tariffs at the £15 and £20 price points, which work in a similar way to the U-Fix tariffs (use up the allowane and you have to top up pre-pay style) but are a lot better, since they now offer the same number of minutes, texts and flexible boosters as their equivalently priced regular tariffs.

kingofherts

gjchester wrote: »

The problem is billing is not real time. If for any reason it gets delayed (say using it out of the UK, not on three's network (roamin where there is no 3 coverage in the UK maybe, or just systems being slow) then you can run up a bill even though you have no credit limit.

I know it sounds daft, if they can't control it why offer it but it's in the terms and conditions of Three that it's not to be used for budgetting reasons and they can't be held responsible if you run up a bill due to a failure on their part.

Three's zero credit applies in the UK, the only thing that is excluded is international roaming as these charges are applied by an overseas network, however you can just request for international roaming to be barred. I work for three and we apply this for customers every day and have not had a single person back saying they have exceeded. Remember you are only obliged to pay the monthly line rental every month, phone networks scoop huge profits when you go outside of your allocated bundles so i am proud of three for allowing the consumer the choice to pay their line rental and nothing more