Contract for kids phone

rockrat

Hi all,

my daughter is now about to start high school in septemeber, and whilst i have always said she "doesnt need a phone because she is never on her own", that will change when she starts shcool and getting the bus each day.

so, i would like to get her a basic phone contract, something like my tesco £10 a month deal, but... i have a concern.

what i want is to have the ability to spend to a certain amount say, £10 a month, but once she has hiut that limit to prevent further costs, WILST still having the ability to call at least one emergency number..i.e me if needed.

what should i be looking for, and where?

thanks for any advice

robbiecaratiger

Hi

I understand where you're coming from entirely

My teenagers are on the Tesco Sim only deal

They get 100 mins of calls a month and unlimited texts for £6.00 a month. Periodically, throughout the month I check their usage online just to see that they're not in danger of breaching their quota (they never have) and find this suits our kids well

For instance.... My 14 year old daughter generally uses about 60 mins a month, but sends around 1,500 texts !! So for £6.00 I guess that's good value.

The good thing with these Sim only deal is its a 30 day rolling contract, so you can move around at your leisure without too much difficulty if you find a plan isn't really working for you. I'd take a Sim only deal up and casually monitor the thresholds aren't in danger of breaching - if they are I'd upgrade my kids on to my Sim only deal (500 mins and unlimited texts, unlimited data for £10 a month for instance).

grumbler

rockrat wrote: »

what i want is to have the ability to spend to a certain amount say, £10 a month, but once she has hiut that limit to prevent further costs, WILST still having the ability to call at least one emergency number..i.e me if needed.

Normally networks don't set a spending cap for contracts. However, AFAIK Tesco is on of very few providers allowing this. You have to specifically ask them to set the cap, otherwise you daughter can easily spend, say, £500 p.m. on £10 p.m. contract.

PAYG is much safer for kids.

seafarers_wife

if your on vodaphone they do a friends and family thing, where you can nominate a few numbers (must all be on vodaphone) and pay something like £5 a month and you can all call each other for up to an hour and it doesnt cost the person making the phone call, as its included in the £5 monthly charge.

my mum has this set up on her phone so i can call my parents mobiles or my hubby or brother for up to an hour and it doesnt cost me any of my minutes and vice versa for them. it works on pay as you go as well as contract as my brother and dad are on pay as you go.

peterod1

I put my daughter on GiffGaff for £10 per month with no contract you get 250 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited internet there is also a £5 a month option but you obviously get less, uses the o2 network same as Tesco. Also call rates are significantly cheaper than other networks i think 8ppm and txts are 4p if you go down the traditional payg route, also free calls between other giffgaff users. Very good in my opinion.

gjchester

rockrat wrote: »

Hi all,

my daughter is now about to start high school in septemeber, and whilst i have always said she "doesnt need a phone because she is never on her own", that will change when she starts shcool and getting the bus each day.

With respect you may be doing her a huge favour learning about budgetting if you get a PAYG phone at top it up with a tenner a month,once the credit has gone then dont apply any more that month, it's down to her to do so if she wants to use the phone.

Orange do a PAYG with a "reserve tank" of £2.50 but it comes off the next top up and can't be restricted to a set number

http://www1.orange.co.uk/service_plans/payasyougo/reserve_tank_overview.html

Bear in mind that she could use it and call her friends, but she may learn about budgetting now rather than get a contract later and find out the hard way that phones are not free.

Heretic_osjc

t-mobile do sim only contracts from £15 that can be restricted so you cannot run up a bill however as a flexible booster you can choose say unlimited landline calls for free so she can always phone the house

gjchester

Heretic_osjc wrote: »

t-mobile do sim only contracts from £15 that can be restricted so you cannot run up a bill however as a flexible booster you can choose say unlimited landline calls for free so she can always phone the house

Not sure they do, they used to do the U-fix plan that did that but thats not available to new customers any longer

Heretic_osjc

gjchester wrote: »

Not sure they do, they used to do the U-fix plan that did that but thats not available to new customers any longer

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/sim-only/tariffs/

They do goto the link select which price point you want (£15 and above) and you'll see a 12month and 2 30day versions one those will be the fixed one

sophsnan

we put our daughter on contract if i remember it was about £15 per month she never kept within it and we had to pay the extra but funnily enough when she left home and was paying her own bills she never goes over bless her.

gjchester

Heretic_osjc wrote: »

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/sim-only/tariffs/

They do goto the link select which price point you want (£15 and above) and you'll see a 12month and 2 30day versions one those will be the fixed one

Thats as clar as mud then... Thanks