The time has come for a mobile phone...

[Bizkit]

Just need some advice really on what to get my 11yr old son.

Pay as you go?
Contract?
Basic phone?
Decent phone (like his friends)

What works for your children of similar age and what are the costs like etc?

Thanks in advance!

[Fluttercub]

Hey in a similar situation rite now dsd turns 11 September and has asked for one, but we have no clue what model to get so will be watching this thread I think, hope somebody comes along soon to offer advice

[Bizkit]

I was originally thinking just a cheap handset on PAYG but have noticed most of his friends have a smart phone and I would be worried about him getting picked on.

He already has a iPhone 3GS which he uses without a sim for games/music, so thinking to just put a sim in that but worried about having no credit in an emergency on PAYG, but I also don't want him to have a contract as I don't think he will learn the value of money and be responsible etc if he doesn't have to go and physically top it up, planning on making him use his own money (if he ever did his chores,grrrrr) and I would Obv put a bit of each month for him.

Is there any such feature for still being able to make a call or txt to me if he had no credit in an emergency?

[crazykat]

We got DSD who's just turned 12 a Nokia Lumia 520 for Christmas from amazon for about £100 and she's very happy with it.

We got a capped contract from tesco mobile, 250 minutes, unlimited texts and 1gb data for £7.50 a month and capped at £10. She always goes over the minutes/data but as its capped it doesn't matter as once she's used the allowance and £2.50 then she can't call/use the Internet (except wifi) until next month.

I don't know about now but at Christmas tesco were the only ones who capped at a low amount, most had £10 contracts but allowed £50 overspend which is ridiculous. Tesco have a minimum of £2.50 overspend but can go higher if you want. They also had contracts with more minutes/data but this level is fine for DSD as she has unlimited texts so can text and use wifi if she's used her allowance.

[Bizkit]

Thanks I was looking at the capped contacts for tesco, which is an option.

Been looking at the Vodafone PAYG, if he tops up £10 each month he can opt in to. Freedom frisbee which gives 150mins, unlimited txt and 250mb which should be plenty and if he goes over it's up to him, you can also set up an IOU feature which enables £3 emergency credit and it just comes out of your next top up if u use it, but with unlimited txt he will always be able to contact me anyway,

[NetworkGuy]

Three is another network which can provide a cap, and/or Three PAYG which costs 3p/min for voice, 2p/text and charges 1p/min for data, but obviously 'extortionate' fees for any premium rate.

Unlike many other PAYG, doesn't need to be topped up every month - the credit you put on it lasts until it runs out. (Think Asda {which uses EE network} has similar policy over top-ups).

Three and Asda have 'add on' options available - the Asda bundles start at 5.00 giving 100 minutes, 2000 texts and 100 MB data, 10.00 gives you 250 minutes, 2000 texts and 250 MB of data. Compared with contracts, the data charges on most PAYG tariffs are expensive.

The Three add-ons (only do 2 where Asda have several more options but not cheap at upper end) are 10.00 (100 minutes, 3000 texts and 500 MB data) or 15.00 for 300 minutes, 3000 texts and unlimited data. If you happen to have a 4G capable phone and live in a suitable area, then Three offers 4G at no extra charge.

[Bizkit]

Thanks, have just got a free SIM card from Vodafone that he can put in his iPhone 3GS, I can either make sure it's topped up each month for an allowance or pay as he goes if he doesn't use it that much, it has an IOU safety net for emergency Credit and also a buzz back feature where he can txt a number to them for free and that number will be sent a txt asking them to call him, so overall came out the best, and of course if it doesn't work well can just stop using the sim and lose no money...he is very excited now