Mobile contract with restrictions (e.g. child)?

Badger_Lady

OK, so it's not actually for a child - it's for my ex.

I want to buy him a phone and pay for his contract, but is there anything out there that will enable me to restrict his calls, so he can't run up stupid bills?

When I was a child, my Dad got me a phone that would only allow me to call home / family. I can't really do that to my ex, but would like to stop him calling:
- abroad
- premium rate
- anything not covered by the contract, basically!

Ideally, I'd like something where he only has limited usage per month - so, for example, if the contract is for 500 minutes a month, once he's used those 500 minutes he's stuffed until next month.

He's not a heavy phone user, and up until now has only used PAYG, but his income is so unreliable that no-one can ever get hold of him.

I'm buying it as a bit of a parting gift, but also so that I can call him if I need to (very rare - this isn't so I can nag him or anything! - but all his friends get so worried when he 'disappears').

Anyone aware of something like this?

reddwarf2002

You should check out U-Fix from T-Mobile. Once you use up the allowance you can't make any calls until you top it up like a Pay As You Go phone.

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobile-phones/price-plans/u-fix/u-fix-off-peak/plans/

Badger_Lady

Perfect - thank you very much!!!

Now I just need to find the best handset deal :-D

thesaint

I am confused, how does your ex's unreliable income have any baring on him being able to receive incoming calls?

reddwarf2002 wrote: »

You should check out U-Fix from T-Mobile. Once you use up the allowance you can't make any calls until you top it up like a Pay As You Go phone.

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobile-phones/price-plans/u-fix/u-fix-off-peak/plans/

How foolproof is U-Fix?

I would expect that it is possible to run up a bill, but i'm too cynical for my own good.

Badger_Lady

thesaint wrote:

I am confused, how does your ex's unreliable income have any baring on him being able to receive incoming calls?

I'm not sure, but his phone's been "number not recognised" for months now... I know it used to be the case that a PAYG phone with no credit stopped working altogether - maybe his SIM is that old???

Anyway, it's even more useful for him to be able to reply to communication :-)

eeek

the tesco value PAYG sim doesnt allow calls to international, or internet, or picture messages - i think.

But, it is payg though.

jazzberry

thesaint wrote: »

How foolproof is U-Fix?

I would expect that it is possible to run up a bill, but i'm too cynical for my own good.

Don't panic. You can't. Anything that isn't included in the allowance must come out of the PAYG side of the phone. The phone can be topped up like any PAYG, using a voucher or whatnot. The good thing is the credit doesn't disapeer at the end of each billing month like the allowances do. So you can put a fiver emergency credit on it and if not touched, it'll stay there months.

If you want to have complete control over the contract, my advice would be to not put an easy password on the account. That way your ex couldn't phone up and sign themselves up to extra text bundles and what not.

Badger_Lady

thesaint wrote:

I would expect that it is possible to run up a bill, but i'm too cynical for my own good.

Sorry - I missed that bit...

according to the website, once you reach your credit limit for the month you have to buy extra credit yourself (like PAYG).

So if I get him a contract for £15 a month, he'll know that he's always got that available but that if he wants to spend more he'll have to top it up himself.

thesaint

Badger_Lady wrote: »

I'm not sure, but his phone's been "number not recognised" for months now... I know it used to be the case that a PAYG phone with no credit stopped working altogether - maybe his SIM is that old???

Anyway, it's even more useful for him to be able to reply to communication :-)

I think he's taking you for a ride, buying him a contract will not help you because he will simply use the credit to call his mates etc.

I assume you have a child/children together, I think now would be a good time to take responsibility for himself, cut the apron strings.

Badger_Lady

Thanks, but it's actually nothing like that - we have no children or ties (now that we've finally sold our joint property), and we've been separated for 2 years.

He hasn't asked for this and has no idea I'm planning to do it - but he is still a friend (whether he wants to be or not - lately I think not), and whenever I speak to anyone they expect me to be looking out for him. For example, when he gets too drunk at a party, it's up to me to load him into a taxi.

And when no-one can get hold of him, we all worry and talk about how worried we are, and when someone does bump into him they report back to me. I've been living in a different country for 4 months now, so the only way to check in on him is by telephone.

Maybe I shouldn't feel responsible any more, but he needs someone to look after him (even at 43 years old!) and if I don't do it, he won't look after himself (recent past shows us this).

Thanks for your concern, though - I understand where you're coming from

thesaint

Sorry for the wrong assumption, but your answer still does not clear up why he needs credit to be able to receive calls.

Good luck anyway.