mobile for teenager help

ladylace_2

my 15 year old daughter is hassling me for a new mobile phone. She seems to think pay monthly is going to get her the best phone at the best price. However, i am very reluctant to put her on a contract because i am worried about over usage...add in to the equation that we live in a very rural area where only vodafone seem to get a good reception although the other providers do work out in the garden.

she tells me she is not interested in `minutes` but in texts and facebook

any help to a mobilephobic mum greatfully received
thanks in advance
jo

Dime_Bar

Do you have any idea what phone she wants? This will be important when working out cost.

Don't rush into a contract for her.

pegginout

Im on orange, the 'dolphin' package.
If you top up a tenner you get 300 texts and £10 worth of calls, free facebook!!!!!

Sucker_for_sweeties

pegginout wrote: »

Im on orange, the 'dolphin' package.
If you top up a tenner you get 300 texts and £10 worth of calls, free facebook!!!!!

Same for my DD........thankfully she's too young to have sussed facebook yet.

5867dude

Remember that you will not get a phone cheaper on contract(overall) than PAYG. Get a 1 month rolling SIM only for her existing phone and get her to save up for a phone like the Nokia 5230 (I have it, great phone)
Sadly vodafone are quite un-competitive and to get what you want it will cost £20 a month from vodafone, however Talk-Mobile use Vodafone and they do for £15 a month, 200 minutes/unlimited texts/unlimited data (facebook etc) - http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/buy/TALKMOBILE-PAYM-SIMCARD-TX15S-FCON


The first few months on a contract are great, you have a new phone for seemingly little money, but after that you just have to keep paying.

Feel free to PM me for advice

Sucker_for_sweeties

5867dude wrote: »

The first few months on a contract are great, you have a new phone for seemingly little money, but after that you just have to keep paying.

I often wonder if the sofas advertised in the latest greatest 'double discount debt forever' are still around when the 4 years interest free credit finishes...deferred by a year too:eek:

PAYG until a birthday/PT job or something comes along then she could get a 'fancier' one?

movingforward2010

pegginout wrote: »

Im on orange, the 'dolphin' package.
If you top up a tenner you get 300 texts and £10 worth of calls, free facebook!!!!!

i dont think 300 texts will be enough, im 27 and send 2000 a month :eek:

DarkConvict

There is no way to protect a contract from over spending anymore, T-mobile and 3 had it but they were dropped and are no longer guaranteed. As such i strongly advise you after reading dozens of (my son/daughter has ran up a bill of £100+) on this forum.

It is easily done with teenager texting and not watching data usage. For a 15 year old who is after the latest phone "fashion accessory" put her on PAYG and tell her when she can have a contract in her own name then she can go and get one at 18 years old. Although saying that i spend a long time on the debt forums and every 2 months we have a 18-19 year old in debt due to taking out contracts and defaulting on them not realising what they were doing.

As you only have vodafone signal in your area just find the best deal on here - http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/pay-as-you-go/hub/vodafone/ , then buy a vodafone or unlocked mobile phone separately.

gjchester

ladylace wrote: »

my 15 year old daughter is hassling me for a new mobile phone. She seems to think pay monthly is going to get her the best phone at the best price.

She's quite right at 15 she can't take out the contract so mum or dad will be paying

Tesco do a capped deal but it needs to be done instore so it depends if you have a Tesco phone shop in your local store

MissKeith

It depends on how responsible she is really, I think it's unfair to tar all teenagers with the same brush. Both myself and my sister have had contract phone since the age of 13. I have never exceeded my monthly allowance, my sister did it once, was made to pay the difference and had her phone taken off her for a month. The threat of that was enough for both of us to check our balance on a daily basis. If she knows what she can and cannot use on the phone and you feel she has her head screwed on, then why not?

If the phone she wants is cheap enough, buy it PAYG and do a 30 day rolling sim deal. That way you can cancel if she does abuse it. If she doesn't abuse it, you know she could handle a contract responsibly. Make sure that if you put her onto contract that you don't opt for the cheap deal where it would be tight, go for something over and what she estimates she uses so if she does have a month where she overspends, she's unlikely to exceed her allowance.

T-mobile solo fixed deals are good, they will switch to payg if she exceeds her allowances.

DarkConvict

T-Mobile solo fixed is no longer available.

However Tesco have started a new capped tariff, so if you use up the allowence you have to make manual payments like PAYG.