Mobile phone for a ten yo boy.

[FrazzledFirefly]

Hi all,
My 10yo Ds is nagging for a phone for Christmas.

He wants an iPhone 14 that is out of our budget.

Please tell me about your children's phones:
Payg
Contract

Type etc.

I'm struggling for ideas...

Thanks

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Ime dc navigating real life relationships is difficult enough without expecting them to manage phone based ones...
Yabu to allow him a phone..

What's the budget?

I'm giving my 11yr old DD my old iPhone 13.
Tesco mobile have them on contract for £26.99 Clubcard deal at the minute. Not sure of the data etc but I got one on the last Clubcard deal for 33.99 for 25gb unlimited everything.

Sky mobile have some great deals at the minute and they do a 100mb sim for free so you can continue your normal contract.

You can some fantastic deals but sounds like he is an iPhone fan. You could buy an XR or old model from music magpie and get sim only. Call your provider and see if they have a family plan.

I do tend to agree. He's absolutely desperate for one though - it's the only thing on his list.

My 9yo is getting a cheapo Motorola on PAYG. But it's only for emergencies for when she's walking home alone. I firmly believe children shouldn't have access to social media until they're much older even if their friends do, so no need for anything fancy.

My ds 8 wants all sorts. He won't be getting all sorts. End the conversation with him.

End of.

Dd2 who is 10 has had a phone a year. It's an old iPhone se on payg. Dd1 similar.

We are fairly well off but that's all they are getting

My 10 year old has my old iPhone SE (original, not the new one!) and a payg SIM card. We'll
upgrade it in the spring to MIL's old iPhone 7 and the most basic contract when she starts travelling to her clubs alone.

She currently only has family as contacts and allowed websites only. No games. Locked down at night etc. I've spoken to parents of friends in her class and we are going to allow them each other's contacts, either in the New Year or Easter time.

At that age, none!

Mine got their first phone before they started secondary school. PAYG. We live fairly rurally and they need to get the bus in. At 10 I wouldn’t. At 10 I only wanted a pony. Didn’t get that either!!

Get a second hand / refurbished one first as he’ll probably smash the screen anyway. iPhone SE is a good start (best value and has TouchID).

Use 1pmobile or giffgaff to keep ongoing costs down.

He will probably need one before he starts secondary school? If you have an old one to pass down instead of a christmas present that might work out better?

Mine has an iPhone 14, he's just turned 11 recently.

It's a great phone but he would have had a 13 but there wasn't much difference in price for the deal we got.

Thanks all for the input and advice.

In the end I decided to upgrade my phone, and gave my ds my old phone. There's no SIM in it so he can't do much but he's happy with it.