Phone for 9yr old? Any ideas?

PoshPaws_3

My son is after a mobile phone for his 9th birthday. I've got reservations about this, especially hearing about teenagers who have been attacked for their phone, just recently.

I'm thinking that its probably best, if we're going to get one for him, to get one that is light on features and heavily robust so that a) its not attractive to thieves and b) it won't die if it gets dropped a couple of times.

There are so many out there that it just makes my head spin looking at them all.

We're definitely looking for a pre-pay phone, not one with a contract, so I just wonder if anybody has any recommendations? Anything to help stop my head spinning quite so much!

kkpolobear

hi there
if you wish to get him one i would go for a nokia something like the 2310

Edinburghlass_2

I would look on the Virgin website, great customer service and you can get a fairly basic phone there.

http://www.virginmobile.com/vm/home.do

Register the number on the Virgin website and should it be lost or stolen they can get it blocked very quickly.

hm71_2

Hotukdeals have some great offers from virgin + you can get £8 cashback through quidco.

http://www.hotukdeals.com/?merchant_filter=113&category_filter=All&type_filter=All&availability_filter=All&status_filter=Active&order_by=Newest

They have a good basic nokia with 200 x mins on payg
thanks to people who listed the offers on hotukdeals. it was their hard work.

I bought a nokia 5200 but my daughter is 12 and has hand a fone for nearly 2 years.
hope that helps

hm71_2

great minds think alike;)

DesG

I would look at the Tesco Value sim, it has some features that are ideal for younger children.

Bar on making premium rate calls

Bar on premium SMS

Can't send or receive picture messages

Can't send or receive video messages


Cheers, Des.

MercilessKiller

Damn I wish I could have had a mobile when I was 9!!!! I got a PC before I got a mobile!

rash.m2k

MercilessKiller wrote: »

Damn I wish I could have had a mobile when I was 9!!!! I got a PC before I got a mobile!

I know! Not that it's really my place to say, but you don't really need a phone when you are 9 do you?

Andybez38

Phone for 9yr old? Any ideas?

A toy phone.

Why on earth would a 9 year old need a mobile phone

froggy_girl128

Andybez38 wrote: »

Phone for 9yr old? Any ideas?

A toy phone.

Why on earth would a 9 year old need a mobile phone

Not a toy phone - just a cheap phone. Try argos as well they have cheap phones if you want something you can buy in the shop.

anonymousie

My 11yr old has this one
http://www.virginmobile.com/vm/viewProduct.do?productId=F4525A10-9B51-4FCA-8B94-F38C9C3CB3F6

Robust and cheap. Has a couple of games, makes calls and txts.

Mind you he actually needs rather than wants a phone (he travels into the city 3x week on the train and on the bus daily to school, all by himself).

He knows if anyone threatens him for it, to throw it hard as far away as possible and run in the other direction!

WE kepp max of about £5 credit on it and you can manage that side of it very easily on line.

If you really want you 9yr old to have a phone because they "want" it, I guessthat is your choice. You need to find out what they will want it for though, they may actually be saying "I want a phone" that means "I want to take photos" I want to listen to music" if they've been watching adverts- they may actuallywant and MP3 or a camera...

I have a nearly 9yr old. She wont be having a phone, but in 6 months or so will havea loan of a similar brick when she pops to the shops for me etc as she starts to get more independent.

If a 9yr old wants a phone which is more than a "brick" type thing I might wonder what peer pressure she was under I would also, if I were to get her one (other than a brick!) want to use a lot of more advanced security features like a closed phone book (where I can set, with a PIN, a list of numbers and she can only use those) etc You need to know who she's calling or she could be getting sucked into all sorts ofthings.