Cheap and cheerful first mobile

busyjelly

Hi all,
Firstly, apologies if this is the wrong place. I am thinking of giving my son his first taste of freedom in the summer holidays but I'd like him to have a phone to take out with him so he can contact us if necessary - or more likely, we can call him when he loses track of time and doesn't come home on time!!
That said, he is not overly careful with his things and has a good track record of losing (or breaking!) things so I'm looking for a cheap and cheerful pay as you go mobile just to see how he gets on. There are so many handsets/deals out there, I really haven't got a clue where to start.
Has anyone recently done this for their child/have any pearls of wisdom to offer?
Thanks in advance

Nile

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GlynD

Nip into any major supermarket and you'll find pay-as-you-go mobiles for £5 upwards - honestly, they're so cheap. If you have an old mobile yourself you can get a Sim card only deal for free or without any fuss for £1.

Guys_Dad

If your son is not overly careful, then under no circumstances get him either a sim-only or standard monthly contract. The loss of a £100 handset would pale into insignificance if he lost it or had it stolen with a non PAYG sim in it. Just read through this forum.

Go into Carphonewarehouse and buy a handset with a PAYG sim there. The reason? Handsets in your price range are all unlocked and if the network you choose with the phone has poor reception for where he goes, he can get a sim from another network and simply swap them over.

busyjelly

Thanks for the tips guys, both useful to know. I had already decided a contract would be no good from a freedom to spend point of view!
And does anyone know of a particular handset that might be more sturdy than others should it get dropped from, say, a tree which is likely where he will mostly be found!

GlynD

Not really. The little Nokia I have but don't use anymore seems sturdy enough but a good crack on the ground would suely end its usefulness. The only saving grace is that these things are dirt cheap.

Idiophreak

I used to have a Nokia 5100 which was built to take a beating - and I certainly gave it one (think BMX, mountain biking, mosh pits...), it just kept on ticking. Not sure if there's a more recent "rugged" phone that's cheap, or you could look for a refurb 5100 on ebay - but won't be as cheap as the supermarket options...

Snakeeyes21

busyjelly wrote: »

Thanks for the tips guys, both useful to know. I had already decided a contract would be no good from a freedom to spend point of view!
And does anyone know of a particular handset that might be more sturdy than others should it get dropped from, say, a tree which is likely where he will mostly be found!

Shhh, you shouldnt say such things out loud around these parts,
you will be hung drawn and quartered for allowing your son to have any freedom or
come in contact with any kind of potential danger :rotfl:

Here you go, cheap and cheerful, built like a brick s*ithouse.
Will fare better than your son if it falls out of a tree.

You can get £5 back via quidco, if you use such sites.

£12.95 delivered including £10 credit
http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/buy/ALCATEL-OT-209-VRW10-WEB10

essexman77

In the way of paygo sims I would go for giffgaff which runs on the 02 network and get giffgaff sim yourself then you can call each other for free for 60 mins a day.

Plus calls and text are quite cheap 8p min and 4p min.

I would never encourage a child to spend lots of mins on phone due to health risks though.

busyjelly

Snakeeyes21 wrote: »

Shhh, you shouldnt say such things out loud around these parts,
you will be hung drawn and quartered for allowing your son to have any freedom or
come in contact with any kind of potential danger :rotfl:

Ah, silly me, forgot my PC head there for a minute. Obviously we're only talking hypothetically here

Snakeeyes21 wrote: »

Here you go, cheap and cheerful, built like a brick s*ithouse.
Will fare better than your son if it falls out of a tree.

You can get £5 back via quidco, if you use such sites.

£12.95 delivered including £10 credit
http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/buy/ALCATEL-OT-209-VRW10-WEB10

This looks absolutely perfect thanks :T
Ordered one last night only sadly have email today telling me it's out of stock and I need to ring them to discuss - hmmm, cynical side says this is just a ploy to sell me a more expensive deal. May go down the supermarket route after all or look for one of these elsewhere. But it is just what I was after and doesn't look too naff either though my son may have other ideas...

Thanks again everyone

Guys_Dad

look at the carphonewarehouse site http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/pay-as-you-go/phone-finder

8 phones under a tenner all unlocked