How in the living fuck can I buy a phone for my kid?

[SphincterSaysWhat]

I would like to buy an iPhone 14 (or whatever) for my child (Vodafone). I don't mind paying something up front and then a contract.

This is something usually left to DH but he's being a prick and so are Vodafone, apparently. So now it's my turn. Not only am I all other department, now I'm tech - which is a shame, as I'm a total luddite.

DH looked into affordablephones.co.uk and some other website but their reviews are terrible.

Can I not just call someone and pay for, and order, a fucking phone?

How is this so hard? What does everyone else do?

Look you know what you want.
Just Google refurbished iPhone 14 and see what comes up.
OR if you want brand new, Amazon has plenty to offer.

You can looks at reviews fir the site if you aren’t quite sure. Trustpilot can be helpful.

Then contact giffgaff and take a sim.

Thats it.

You don’t need vodaphone. It doesn’t matter if the signal is crap at your house because your dc will use wifi anyway. And won’t get phone calls.

Vodaphone and the likes are only worth it if you dint buy your phone upfront Imo.

I've just moved off Vodafone to Lebara. Operates on the same network. It's much cheaper and the options for data use abroad were cheaper too.

Staying on Vodafone makes no sense at all.

Can you not buy it from Apple directly and get a SIM card?

Thanks Coronation, I don't have the app (as I'm not Head of Tech in Chez Sphincter) but I'll download it now and see how I get on.

The refurbed v new query means nothing to me - I don't care about phones (or bags, or cars, or shoes etc) so I've never put any thought into it. I've always had a phone handed to me by DH at some point in a 2 year period and everything is swapped over. I usually get the best phone because I take all the photos. The kids get the hand-me-downs when contracts "are up" and DH deals with another one but there's no hand-me-down available for this guy. I don't care what kind of phone he gets, but it will be an iPhone as I'm useless with anything else and it'll have to be linked to his iPad which he needs when he starts at his new wanky school in September.

Had an update from DH - he tried Carphone Warehouse which he thought didn't exist any more - said it was "impossible to navigate" lol!!

I think the heat is killing him - we're not made for this weather, the Irish. And he's been in 9 countries since the start of the year, he works like a dog to be fair to him - so I'll let him have his tantrum at the one household task he has. He is a very good man - mobile phone buying aside...

Thanks again, all.

SSW.

Our 13 yr old has a contract £5 quid a month bt wouldn't pay anymore right now,he has data,texts,calls no way would he be getting an iphone

Go to the Apple website. Buy the iPhone you want direct from them. You can pay for it monthly on 0% or all at once. It will then work on any network and is much better value usually.

Then buy a Vodafone sim of whatever sort you desire.

Voila

Thanks Magic, it was the reviews that caused the tantrum - before we buy anything I do a check on the company (ever since I bought a ton of Hobbs clothing from a website that was fake). So he asked me to look at affordablephones.co.uk; fonehouse; buymobiles; mobilephonedirect (part of AO, apparently) and then when I said Carphone Warehouse even he looked at the reviews (on Trust Pilot, who i don't actually trust) and his response was (verbatim) "Carphone Warehouse is 1.9 stars on trustpilot. Even words than the others. Fuck this, I'm not wasting any more time on it today" lol!!

I'll have a look over the weekend.

Thanks for all the info peeps, much appreciated.
SSW x

I do this. Purchase direct from Apple and have a SIM only contract with Vodafone. Lebara uses the Vodafone network and I believe it includes free roaming abroad. Alternatively GiffGaff.

Our DC have our old iPhones. We have cheap (<£5 per month) sim only contracts for them. Sims were ordered online (Lebara and Lyca mobile).

We got DS the iPhone 14 from Mobile Phones Direct when it came out as his 14th bday present.
Unlimited everything, use it free abroad etc on Vodafone for £57 pm with nothing upfront.

You can buy a phone contract in the same way on the "my vodafone app" and add it to your contract.

So I'm taking from all this ire that the iPhone 14 is the latest model and too good for the likes of him...? I think that's what my phone is (it's massive).

I do know he wants it in blue - what an ENTITLED PRICK.

Don't know how old he is but I'd never get a child the latest model - what a waste of money! Just go onto music magpie, buy a refurbished phone and get a cheap contract from giffgaff. If he's in secondary school I'd get a 12 at best.

I'm confused by all the hoops you two are jumping through to buy a phone from one of the biggest, most common brands. If it's as complicated as your DH is making it out to be (it's really not), then just buy directly from the Apple website (apple.co.uk) and it will turn up at your door. Or walk into an Apple store, pay for it and go home with it. I assume your son already has a sim card but if he doesn't, just order one from Vodafone, Giffgaff, etc.

I have a 12 Pro - bought refurbished direct from apple and then have a Sim only contract for about 7.50 a month. DH has the I Phone 13 pro and did the same.

We ordered brand new phones when it was an amazon day thing and got a sim with tonnes of data for about £6 or £8 a month. It worked out cheaper than any other offers doing it this way, we did have to fork out paying for the phone up front though.

Buy a refurb from Music Magpie (a quick look shows they are about £610 v £850 brand new), then get a SIM only deal from Vodafone (£23 will get you a big chunk of data plus unlimited texts/calls).

The worst thing you can do, money wise, is get a contract where you pay for the phone over the life of the deal - you will always overpay for the value of the phone.

EG, the current Vodafone iPhone 14 deal is £19 upfront plus £41 per month for 36 months.

That is a total cost of £1495 over the 3 years and you only get 3GB of data per month

If you bought the phone outright and got the £23 SIM only deal (with 150GB of data per month) it would cost you £1,438 in total over the same time frame but you have a vastly superior data package - a teen will always go over a 3GB data allowance and you’ll end up paying a fortune in bolt ons.

OP I totally understand your pain, I am a fellow Luddite and my phone has just died. If you buy the handset from John Lewis it is guaranteed for two years - one year from the Apple Store - and you can pay a bit extra and they will set it up.

Try mobiles.co.uk I've always had really good experiences with them!

I just by my iphone new from John Lewis. Then pick whatever mobile provider and get a sim. Back market are good for refurbished iPhones. My dp got a refurbished one off Amazon once and it was fine.

John Lewis has blue in stock.

Yep, Motorola make great budget phones..

Just order one from John Lewis, you will get the extra years guarantee, then just get a Vodaphone SIM card from whoever does Vodaphone, GiffGaff is O2.

This

Forgive me but you really do seem to be making a mountain out of a molehill.

You can order from Amazon UK or Apple by going to the websites or by putting "buy iphone 14" into the search bar and they will be 2 of the first links. - Simple, reliable websites. Amazon is currently cheaper than Apple. You will get a better deal on refurbished but if that is beyond you, pay up and look big.

Then if you need to be on the Vodafone network (we do too ) I recommend Lebara. go to website, select sim only, pick most suitable package and away you go. There's no contract and you can change at any time. You'll be able to transfer the existing number onto any new network.

I honestly think giving a teenager an £800 phone is a bit mad, but it's your money.

What does everyone else do?

I got my son a phone by calling EE (who I'm with) and adding a handset to my account.