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?

I don’t understand how someone who is such a self confessed technophobe is so sure that her son needs an iPhone 14.

Nor why DH is making such a meal of it.

OP, I buy my phones from The ioutlet. They are refurbs, but they grade the condition and will supply with a new battery if you select it. Just make sure that you read the descriptions very carefully to get unlocked or good condition etc.

Music Magpie, Giffgaff and others all sell good quality phones and I would use a firm like that rather than ebay or some unknown site.

If cost isn't an issue then you just need to buy it directly from the apple website or apple store. It is very simple to do.

You can then buy a cheap SIM only package from Vodafone.

My DD had my old iphone 6 and I had an iphone X. I just got that a new battery and gave it to her and got myself a second hand iphone 12.

I am with vodafone, and they gave me a good offer for a £10 per month Sim only for DD (although that has gone up since to around £11.44).

I also got money through top cashback for buying the sim, which helped towards the cost of my new phone.

Snap.

my son got a refurbished iphoneSE2020 in good condition for £100 from back market. And then he has a giffgaff sim which costs £6 per month.

just go to the back market website and chose phone, pay for it and it’ll come the next day
meanwhile open a giffgaff account and order a SIM card which then gets activated (easy set of instructions) when you set up the phone

Just go to one of the vodaphone store if that's what company you want to use and let them sort it out.

I’m on an iPhone 7 still. Ok, it’ll stop soon as iOS updates won’t support, but it does EVERYTHING newer phones could do for a 60 year old let alone child. And I bought it 5.5 years ago as refurbished
stop buying expensive new tech- old version, refurb, pay as you go sim .

my kids both lost phones or broke them. I bought their first ones as I was stupid. Form then on they bought themselves with pocket money and birthday gifting. I had nothing to do with stupid replacements as they lost them, or broke them. Their problem. They learnt by time they were 21 thst they don’t grow on trees. Unless they pay for them themselves they don’t appreciate just how bloody expensive and how may hours worth of work these things are.

If you want a brand new one try Apple's own website or John Lewis. Then get a SIM only deal from Vodafone.

If you have an iphone yourself, download the Apple Store app (not to be confused with the App Store app!)

Buying the phone from Apple or a retailer means that it won't be locked to a specific network so will have a slightly higher resale value if you want to sell it later.

On Apple the cheapest iPhone 14 is the smaller one with 128GB storage for £849 but £764 with John Lewis.

I'm completely baffled by why this is such a problem. I haven't even got a phone, OP, so you're way ahead of me in the technology stakes. When one of my children wanted an iphone, I went into the Apple shop and bought one. The child then put a sim card in it. Presumably if you want a Vodaphone sim card, you need to go to a Vodaphone shop. If I can buy an iphone, anyone can.

Op have you been trying to buy a contract phone in the kids name?

Or are Vodafone getting confused because they thing you want to upgrade one of the existing phones rather than buy an additional phone?

If you are certain you want an iPhone 14 in blue, go the Apple website and order it. They come the next day. Make sure it's unlocked. Then get a SIM-only deal for it.

However, £14 for 1GB of data is a total rip off. I just moved my dad from Vodafone's £18.70 for 2GB of data but there is no Vodafone signal in his flat, to RWG, exactly the same deal but £3.50 per month and it actually works. I can recommend Talkmobile who use Vodafone's infrastructure but are a lot cheaper and nicer to deal with.

I only just saw that you’re in Ireland - try mint.ie for refurbished devices ( you’ll need to get a charger separately though - www.surelookit.com are brilliant for accessories. ) virgin media have a great €25 per month sim only plan, and as they don’t have their own physical network, you’ll probably be on theVodafone network. If you want a contract, you could do worse than checking with virgin media - you can pay off the phone at any time - I really recommend them !

MobilePhonesDirect they’re part of the AO group. My husband and I got new phones (iPhone 13, the 14 had just been released so was MEGA bucks everywhere) on new contracts through them at upgrading with EE was laughable. We had discounts on our line and have been customers for over 15 years and they wanted over £50 a month for an iPhone 12 😂 they must think we were dying to stay brand loyal or idiots that don’t shop around and then spend a ridiculous monthly sum to have a mobile phone

Those iPhones vary though from about £750 or so, to £1500 depending what which model you get, I would be waiting for the new one in September, this far into the iPhone year

I forgot to mention that dd recently broke her 1st Motorola and it was unfixable, I bought another one but a cheaper lesser model from Tesco, I walked in and used my Clubcard vouchers. If they want an iPhone they can buy one themselves when older.

Here - pick a tariff, press buy - https://www.uswitch.com/mobiles/iphone-14-deals/

I'm bought an iPhone mini13 without a sim when they came out. My iPhone 7 had a battery that was running out by the end of the day for the final few months. My new one is just as bad. I wish I'd paid to replace the battery on my old phone. To make it worse, my camera is still crap compared to my husband's Samsung phone, despite what the ads say.

Just what I was thinking.
Something like an iPhone X is fine if they must have a smartphone

No one’s pissed off, they just think it’s stupid.

Some people think it’s stupid, so they don’t need to buy phones for their teens.

I don’t know why it needs commenting on. I personally don’t have a dog so I don’t comment on dog threads saying having a dog is stupid and they are smelly. I don’t get my nails done so I don’t comment on those threads. I don’t watch particular TV programmes so I don’t go on those threads.

It’s a weird sort of moral superiority that needs to berate those who use technology. My phone is a 12 (I think) and I’ll keep it a while so don’t have a personal dog in the race but it seriously is just so what?

Just buy an unlocked iPhone and then get a sim from 1pmobile.com £30 for a year.

Thanks Ken, that's so helpful. Thanks for taking the time to find and post the link.

DH and I are going to sit down tomorrow morning before we take these entitled brats to the stables where they set up jumps using iPhones of old and elderly people and try and to figure it out. There's a 99% chance he's being a twat, but we'll see. Will update.

As I said, I've not tried to do this (either today or ever). I can't visit shops during the day as when I'm not in Court waiting to be called, I'm in my office, waiting to be called. Me being unavailable because I'm at the Genius Bar isn't on.

I'm "all other departments" whereas himself is "Tech" and occasionally "Items Stashed In High Places Retrieval" (he's 6'5" of pure obfuscation). I can do most things online - not Doc Martens though (who can?).

We'll see how much of a meal he's making of it then when I can view, at first hand, the process.

Until then, The Baby (as we call him, and will even when he's 53) will have to make do with Morse code and I shall sit down and take a full moral inventory of my decision to buy my child his first phone for securing a most excellent scholarship which he worked very, very hard for.

So glad I've got MN to help keep me to heel, I haven't had that since handbag.com folded and brought me here so, namaste, vipers. I am suitably humbled...

Now. Where is this turndown service we were promised...

Ps when ordering something of expense/contractual, doesn't everyone check out the company by checking their online reviews? And I don't mean the (un)Trust(worthy)Pilot site.

Am I - clutches pearls - out of touch?!

I've been known to check Companies House before DH had a hair transplant to ensure they weren't about to go under (the first one WAS, so we were lucky there). The more I research, the luckier I get.

Ps I had name-changed earlier for a more sensitive thread, I am SphincterSaysWhat 👋

I've never had to change name before (except in the great hack) so am clearly no good at it. But it's me, the OP.

I honestly don't understand how this has ended up such a palaver for you. I mean, if you go to the Vodafone website the main ad is for the iPhone 14?

If you want an unlocked one and don't need a sim, buy it from the Apple store online using Topcashback.

Look at giffgaff for a reconditioned phone. The £10 a month package is fine (it's all we have had)

Op is it the sim that's causing issues or the actual phone?