Phone for Year 7

[sleepraptor]

I want to get a phone for my nearly year 7 now so we can start practising a bit more independence. I presume most kids have smart phones or is it a bit of a mix? I would like him to have a couple of apps so probably makes sense.

Is it easier to do contract or PAYG? I tried to call EE today who my contract is with, but got cut off after holding for 15 mins but wondered if it's possible to add another phone/SIM to my contract and whether that makes things cheaper.

I was thinking I might be able to get a 2nd hand phone somewhere and then add a SIM to my contract maybe.

What have other people done?

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I've given DS my old phone and got a SIM card from Plusnet. It costs £6 a month and has unlimited calls and some data included. I think about 5GB. Do you have an old phone or perhaps know a family member with one or looking to upgrade?

You can usually get an additional sim only deal for a very small amount or a contract with a basic (but still very good) phone. For example, DD has a Nokia G something for approx £6/9 a month with unlimited messages and calls and 3gb data.

Just make sure you monitor it and they know you require full access should you wish. It's not about privacy but keeping them safe from predators and online bullying. I'd say keep it in a drawer after bedtime too.

Forgot to say the SIM card is 30
Days only so no long contract if we change our minds.

Gave our very nearly year 7 a phone for her birthday last week.

As me and DP don't upgrade regularly we didn't have any old phones to give her. So I went on ebay and got a ex display Motorola moto e20 for £60.

Put a 3 payg sim card in it and set up a data pack (think it's about a tenner a month for 10gb data and unlimited calls and texts)

I set up auto renew on the data pack to it charges my bank card each month so I don't have to remember to top it up. So theoretically she should always have calls and texts even if she's run out of data for the month.

Seemed like a good compromise to a pay monthly to us.

Thanks both. I don't have any old phones (they've been replaced each time because they broke!!) but i may ask around, thanks. Will check out Plusnet.

He definitely won't have unlimited access and not over night at all. And he's been told I'll be able to monitor what he's doing!

Will also check out data packs SSDD - didn't know they existed but sounds good.

@sleepraptor I don't know if all operators do them, but it's definitely a thing with 3. You can get smaller and larger ones.
And as they're monthly rolling if there's an issue with the phone or it gets lost you just turn off the auto renew, no cancellation or minimum term.

I got my 10 year old a second hand old model iPhone from giffgaff plus a SIM card with plenty of data, minutes etc for about £10 per month.

Music magpie and CEX are pretty good too.

We recently got our soon to be Y7 a phone. We all have Sky Mobile and added him to the account and got him a cheapy Samsung smartphone. It's unlimited minutes and texts with a teeny amount of data but the rest of the family's unused data rolls into a piggy bank ever month and we have 100's of them (??) so every month I stick a few (??) on for him.
The sim is free and the phone is about £8 a month.

My kids have my/ DHs old phones and giffgaff Sims for £10pm

It will be a mix. Personally I'd get a cheap and basic phone from argos...

Smart phones are so addictive and adolescents are rarely mature enough to handle social media... being on it seems to cause so much trouble

My sons first phone was a second hand iPhone. I recently added him to my plan and he has an iPhone 12 unlimited calls, texts and 100g data for £20 a month. Most of his friends have iPhones. He starts year 7 this year.

My DS had one of our old phones when he was in Year 7 when we upgraded and added a SIM only deal to our contract for about £10 a month. I have family link on my phone so I can set time limits, lockdown and track his phone from mine.

Mine have always had giffgaff. No contract so perfect for youngsters. Look for a cheap handset eg reconditioned

Mine will have a second hand PAYG iPhone which they'll have to top up themselves from their pocket money.

My older 2 have a Tesco mobile sim. £10 a month for 20gb data and 5000 minutes/texts. I’m going to get the youngest the same for when he starts yr7 in September.

My son got an old iPhone with a Smarty Sim for £5 per month