mobile phone for an 11 year old

MarkBargain

scotty1971 wrote: »

about £80 for the phone,with that sim card,once she reaches her limit,does that mean she can make no extra calls?

You could get a Sony X8 for £69.99 (plus a £10 top up they force you to buy). £12 Topcashback cash back.

Unfortunately after the limit they would charge, so if you prefer not to have that then go with Giffgaff (but then you won't get the £100 cash back).

MarkBargain

reclusive46 wrote: »

I doubt she would go over any of that but you can get Three to set the credit limit to 0 so it cannot go over the standard price but beware 3 coverage is the worst in the UK and if its for the child to use in school as well, there is a good chance the walls are really thick and 3s 2100mhz signal will not penetrate the building very well.

Three.co.uk/coverage check the coverage

Thanks, I didn't know they would do that, I stand corrected.

scotty1971

reclusive46 wrote: »

I doubt she would go over any of that but you can get Three to set the credit limit to 0 so it cannot go over the standard price but beware 3 coverage is the worst in the UK and if its for the child to use in school as well, there is a good chance the walls are really thick and 3s 2100mhz signal will not penetrate the building very well.

Three.co.uk/coverage check the coverage

no phones allowed in school,well not switched on anyway.if child is caught with phone on unlees for emergency reasons it may be confiscated for a month

grumbler

scotty1971 wrote: »

about £80 for the phone,with that sim card,once she reaches her limit,does that mean she can make no extra calls?

In this case you want either PAYG or a capped contract. Only Tesco Mobile and T-mobile do such contracts.

Capped contracts at t-mobile:
http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/you-fix/mobile-phones/
Consider Vivacity, HTC Explorer, HTC Wildfire S,...

For PAYG see
Motorola DEFY Mini (Sim Free Smartphone) @ Amazon - £81.95
Motorola Defy Mini Mobile Phone - Asda bargain.....!! £79!!

Use with Giffgaff £10 PAYG 'goodybag'

Poppy9

My DD been on contract since 11 as it was cheaper (in those days you could get 100% 12 month contracts with phones). She's never had latest phones and never went over contract but I have heard of some of her friends running up big bills but not so much now with internet built into so many basic cheap packages.

Sim only contracts are good, DD on one at the moment as she didn't need/want to change her phone last year when her 2 year contract was up.

She favours Samsung phones - at moment has genio slide which has been a trusty phone for last 3 years.

Don't buy a phone you that costs you more than you would be happy to lose as they do get dropped etc.

Also remind her that photo messages are not usually included in "free text" allowance.

If you are a Virgin customer good deals and they usually come with 3000 virgin minutes inclusive minutes.

grumbler

reclusive46 wrote: »

...you can get Three to set the credit limit to 0 so it cannot go over the standard price ...

I wouldn't rely on this unless '3' confirm this in writing. Far too many people have already fall victim of these false promises (to say it mildly).

scotty1971

the reason i was thinking about a tesco payg is that thet treble your money when you top up or have i got that wrong?

jb66

scotty1971 wrote: »

the reason i was thinking about a tesco payg is that thet treble your money when you top up or have i got that wrong?

Yes, but that's meaningless, it sounds good £10 = £30 but not if the calls and texts are 3x more expensive .

scotty1971

jb66 wrote: »

Yes, but that's meaningless, it sounds good £10 = £30 but not if the calls and texts are 3x more expensive .

never realised that

MarkBargain

scotty1971 wrote: »

the reason i was thinking about a tesco payg is that thet treble your money when you top up or have i got that wrong?

Calls are 25p-a-minute and texts 10p with Tesco, so even for triple credit you're not getting much for your £10-a-month top-up.