Mobile data and DD11… what to do?

[Cookingbynumbers]

Dd is 11 and started high school this week.
She travels by bus, about 20 mins each way although yesterday traffic was awful and it was 50 mins coming home. This is not unusual as there seem to be accidents and roadworks constantly!
She has a top-up phone and has used the £10 I put on it in 5 days, mainly on mobile data. She admits she hadn’t realised how much YouTube uses and she’d been watching that on the bus.
So I can’t work out what to do for the best now.
I have deleted YouTube for the moment, she still needs mobile data on for other apps etc that they may need in school.
I think it would be better to go to a contract but can’t work out how much data is sensible. I use very little myself away from home.

What contracts have your high school kids got, how much data allowance? Trying to get an idea of what to go for now.

Her school won’t be expecting them to use their own data for school work - I’ve worked in many schools and that’s never the case - she may need to go to the IT dept to get wifi sorted out though - the IT policy probably has something in about this. The school wife will have certain sites / words blocked to prevent students accessing inappropriate information.

She may want data but she won’t need it. As well as the risk of students accessing all sorts of inappropriate things it would also be excluding those who couldn’t afford it.

There is no hope for the future generation when posters are basically trying to ‘one up’ each other on allowance of data for their kids? What are they watching? Before you blather on about ‘parental controls’ do you know if they’re ‘gifting’ their data to others?
Ffs - give them a book to occupy their tiny minds n 20 min bus journey- heaven forbid they look out the window, observe passing life and use their imagination.

Voxi had a great deal on last week on sim only - £10 a month for unlimited social media (which included tik tok and - I think - YouTube). Worth checking that out

Ffs she’s watching YouTube videos relating to a hobby she also does, in order to pass the time on a bus after a whole day of other stuff, and before an evening of doing said hobbies. She reads loads. She’s a smart girl. She wants to chill out and didn’t realise how much data it would use.

If you have nothing helpful to say, go read a book. I hear it’s fabulous.

To all the other posters, I appreciate your comments, and will look into the various plans. She’s made a mistake and is still working out how the whole phone/school/cost thing works, as am I.

@MrsCatE you sound very angry - I could recommend some great relaxation Apps if you’d like?

And I’m guessing you don’t have (pre) teen children

We have Sky sim only. It was half price so I pay £4 for 3gb data. Anything we don't use is rolled over to the next month. I have about 300gb in the bank because of not going anywhere for 18 months, so top up the dc whenever they need it.

For those asking WHY they need data....bus passes are usually cheaper online but need 4g to work, homework apps, homework schoolwork, WhatsApp for parents etc.... and the post that said why can't she read a f**ng book....really? So stick out like a sore thumb sat on a bus reading a book.....maybe she likes to read at home.

My DD's school expect them to use their own data in lessons...

Thanks @VanCleefArpels but I’ll be off to read a library book soon. Anyone need some recommendations?

DS has a SIM only contract for 2GB.
But he is also under instruction not to stream video over it! He's got a selection of games on it that dont require data, and chats or plays those. Certainly I've never had a warning she's getting close to his limit.

What's the minimium top up you can do? Put that on for emergancies, and sort something else out in a week or so.

You can get pay as you go bundles which include mobile data that are far more generous than a contract package.

@MrsCatE

Thanks *@VanCleefArpels* but I’ll be off to read a library book soon. Anyone need some recommendations?

But you should be reading a book now ! You aren't allowed to do anything else for entertainment apparently.

@Cookingbynumbers
My eldest did the same thing when he started. I was flaming it was like 50p a mb and he went over by 350mb....

I agree that you should look at GiffGaff etc. My 3 were all on GiffGaff and it was great because I could buy a different bundle depending on what they needed or renew it early in the month.

I learnt the hard way on this one myself when mine started last year in secondary.
We've both gone for the basic smarty deals now, you get refunded a small portion of any data you don't use.
On average her phone bill is £4.50 a month and mine is £5.

My daughter has an ID mobile monthly sim? £6. The monthly contract sims are way cheaper than payg

@MrsCatE

Thanks *@VanCleefArpels* but I’ll be off to read a library book soon. Anyone need some recommendations?

Isn’t it lovely that internet use a reading books are not mutually exclusive. I wonder where you stand on Kindles 😉

I got a rolling contract (cancel any time) with BT family sim only. It's £7.50 per sim per month.
So £15/ month for me and DD1 unlimited minutes and texts and 6gb data.

My dad found a much better SIM only deal from a subsidiary of vodafone for I think £3/month going up to £5/month, but the data limit was 3 or 4GB.

Another alternative is to download some offline games, but they can be a bit addictive!

Mine have got giffgaff £8 / 3mb per month. They know if the cane it in a couple of days then that's it until they're back on wifi.

Ours are on a family gifgaff package with generous data. We top up further if they're away on trips or we're travelling.

@SoupDragon - off to read a book on the commute - I have lots of other activities - (erhmm) hobbies - not sure if they’d be welcome if enacted on OPs daughter’s school run. Obviously, I’m talking about my XFactor rehearsals. Off to re-read ‘Crime and Punishment’.

My 11 yo has a pay monthly sim only with lebara. 2gb data for £5 a month (and often deals for cheaper first few months ). That's been enough for her but she's also just started secondary so will monitor if use increases - I have warned her not to watch many videos when not on WiFi. I also have a sim only pay monthly on voxi which is £10 for 6gb. Definitely worth looking at sim only monthly packages if she doesn't need a new phone.

Jesus Christ @MrsCatE that’s one hell of an over reaction!! This poor kid has just started high school, with all the new things to take in and a much longer day, made longer by the traffic and probably has homework (and reading) to do when she gets home. All the poor thing wants to do is decompress for a bit!

Sorry I don’t have any recommendations @Cookingbynumbers but ignore the people who clearly got out of bed the wrong side today!

Get YouTube premium and she can download any videos she wants to watch using the home wifi before she gets on the bus.

Yikes some of these replies are so rude. I don’t blame her for not wanting to read a bloody book immediately after a whole day of school, reading and writing.

Have a look on moneysupermarket. If she is watching YouTube that really eats data so she will need a lot. Otherwise you’d have to keep topping it up and it’ll cost more in the long run. I think I paid about a tenner for 15GB (ish) with ID mobile.