DS's inability to manage his phone

[hugoagogo]

ds is 15 both he and his sister (12) get a £10 top up every 2 months, they are on tesco so it gets tripled to £30 credit.

I topped them up on the 27th march and already ds has zero credit, in fact I suspect it has been more than a week.

This is not the first time, I do not give in and give him extra credit (he does have pocket money as well and could do it himself) he never does though.

Do you think I should stop topping him up all together? After all he never replies to texts I send, what benefit am I getting out of it?

Don't give more money. You already give out credit, it's not your problem if they can't manage it sensibly. When they are old enough to work they can get their own top ups.

Where we are, not UK, there is a pay as you go price plan where each top up comes with a month of free texts to people on the same plan. Is there anything like that in the UK.

Definitely don't top up any extra. I'd not recommend stopping it altogether though, unless that was an agreement in the original plan.

What is he spending that amount of credit on?! Orange have unlimited texts if you use £7.50 of your credit to buy a bundle that lasts a month. Something like that might be an idea. Get him to email all of his friends or Skype them if he has a tablet or smartphone with wifi and disable the mobile Internet on his phone. That's what I've done with dd. .

£15 month! I don't spend that on my phone and currently I top up the dcs the equivalent of £5 a month which, dd manages on very nicely by buying a text bundle, using her free credit and only surfing via our home broadband.

I think maybe I have to give up any idea of ds keeping in touch me and his dad via text, I don't have (or want) a smartphone so email and so on not an option.

It's data that ate all his credit btw afaik most of which was used at home in his bedroom, within range of the wireless.

I have a sim only deal with Tesco for £7.50 per month, it gives me unlimited texts, calls and 500mb data. I think I signed up for a 12 month contract with it about 3 years ago. Might a contract like that be any good for you? He could pay the extra, over and above what you would normally want to pay for his top ups (my 14yo dd has this contract too and she pays £2.50 per month towards it, out of her pocket money)

Giffgaff also do the £7.50 a month tariff with unlimited texts

Turn off his mobile data, that way he can use data on wifi but nit when he's out and about, that way all the money I'd spent on texts and calls.

is spent

Change to giffgaff. It's not a contract, and for £10 you get unlimited texts, 250 minutes and 1gb of data. They use o2's network so coverage is generally really good.