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Original poster

Paying for DCs' mobile phones? Reasonable or unreasonable?

32 replies

BalloonSlayer · 12/08/2010 21:56

A friend who is really careful with money mentioned to me recently that she pays her 18 year old DD's mobile phone bill, which comes to £500-600 a year.

I was Shock and wondered whether this was normal.

My DCs are not at that stage yet.

Apparently it came about because the DD had pay as you go phones (which her Mum paid for) but they were always out of credit when her Mum really wanted to contact her so her Mum got her a contract phone.

Am I really looking at three lots of bills like this in future? Or is my friend being taken for a mug.

Or is there a way around it:

  • a separate phone they must carry on nights out with some credit on it?
  • not allowed out unless they have credit?
OP posts:
silverfrog · 12/08/2010 21:59
Shock

no way is that normal, surely?

my step children had PAYG phones, and on pain of death did they use up all their credit. My dss did once, i think, and so since he had no phone/credit, he did not have the same freedoms that he would have had without - he had to make plans, stick to them, and no changes accepted. His life was more uncomfortable, and he didn't run out of credit again (or only at times when her knew he could use, eg my phone or his dad's)

both step children are now on contracts at university - their mum has paid, so no idea what the deal is there. would be very surprised if she was stumping up loads for them though.

silverfrog · 12/08/2010 22:02

oh, and a friend' teenage dd was similar - always out of credit on her PAYG phone, so parent put her onto a contract - she was strictly not allowed to go over her monthly limit.

all went well until a friend borrowed her phone - and ran up £150 of bills over a weekend.

friend's dd was 17 at the time, and had to pay it all back, partly form reduced allowance, and partly form extra work, to teach her to be more careful with her belongings (especially ones where she does not pay the bill!)

PorphyrophillicPixie · 12/08/2010 22:18

Shock I had a phone from a young age (not that I used it until I was 14/15, t'was a novelty!) but always had to pay for my own credit out of my pocket money or wages/EMA later on. Mum would give me 10/20 pence to use a pay phone/school phone if I desperately needed her!

PorphyrophillicPixie · 12/08/2010 22:18

And that has loads of forward slashes. Sorry!

AlegnaDnalyel · 12/08/2010 22:22

Shock That is a lot of money. My DSD has a contract phone in her nan's name. Contract is £35 a month and she pays for it herself out of her EMA.

ratspeaker · 12/08/2010 22:25

Mine have been on PAYG, if they ran out of credit-tough. You can still call then if needs be.
If they wanted to top up it came out of pocket money
(I've heard horror stories of teen calling pals abroad not realising the cost so didn't think about contract at all)
BUT
I did have a spare text only phone for if needed with a small amount of credit on it ( again PAYG )
We have also bought cheap basic phones for festivals/gigs so if its lost its not a great shame
( does anyone else remeber the girl last year fishing for her phone in the Leeds long drop toilet and getting stuck?)

Having said that I was offered a contract at £20 a month with a limit of £50 that she could go over the talk/minutes. In the past year she's only gone over the limit once- and got blocked so it wont happen again

Its worth shopping around and seeing what you'd get on a contract, not just the phone but thier capping limits, number of text/talk per month and how long the contract is, some place do it as a rolling monthly contract

iamamug · 12/08/2010 22:26

I pay for both my DS's mobile phones on contract - they have max of £25 per month. If they go over they pay the difference. Eldest is 19, DS2 is 16. My choice as I need to be able to contact them. As soon as they have proper jobs they will be paying for them themselves.
We have had PAYG in the past and just not worth it for teenagers - they text constantly and need unlimited texts.
I appreciate I might be thought a mug but I think they need to always have credit available. They know the consequences for going over the bill limit and I insist they pay me back. DS3 is 8 so long way off mobile phone for him!

princesspuds · 12/08/2010 22:34

My 18 yr old dd has a PAYG mobile and uses her money to buy top ups, although we are on T Mobile and as my phone is on a contract, I have the option of adding up to 4 or 5 extra numbers to my contract for £5 a month which enables every number I have allocated to have the ablity to call me without being charged.

Because of this I am getting DD2 (12) a PAYG mobile on T Mobile too.

Alouiseg · 13/08/2010 05:25

Mine are on a contract. It is a subtle tracking device and I sleep sounder knowing that I can triangulate their movements if necessary.

My nephew is referred to as mr o2 Hmm while boarding at school in England he began a relationship with a fellow student, his calls came to about £400 a month for about 3 months :o.

The part that amused me the most was the fact he was calling her in her room less than 200 yards away :o

She was the house mistresses daughter Shock

ageing5yearseachyear · 13/08/2010 06:39

tesco capped £10 contract.

i pay £10 per month-she get £40 worth of credit.

i cannot be charged more than £10- she can top up like PAYG by paying cash in tesco.

perfect solution for 13 year old with no sense.

just got dd1 a contract phone from 02 for £15 per month, she gets a £200 phone, unlimited texts, 50 mins. this should be perfect for her. she is the sensible one.

would never pay more than this though!

lifeas3plus1 · 13/08/2010 07:56

Dss is 9yrs old and has a PAYG phone that we bought him so dp could keep in contact with him. We put £20 a month on it.

If he runs out, well then he runs out. We told him the exact date we are able to top it up for him each month so he knows if he wants to be able to text/phone then he needs to keep it topped up until that date.

He's been pretty good actually. We've actually only had to top it up once in 3 months.

Once he's a teenager though, he will be paying for it out of his pocket money as we predict he'll be using it for a lot more than just speaking to his dad (or his mom when he is with us)

No way would I spend £200 or whatever it was in the op. That's insane!

lifeas3plus1 · 13/08/2010 07:57

Just re-read. £500-£600 a year? That's more than insane!

Northernlurker · 13/08/2010 08:03

dd1 has a phone on contract that costs us around £12 a month. For that she gets unlimited texts and 300 free minutes. So far, so good. She is very sensible though.

moomoo1967 · 13/08/2010 13:00

OMG how much !!!!! that is just insane

WorkingItOutAsIGo · 13/08/2010 15:02

My DS (14) has a phone that costs me £25 pm, so thats £300 a year. Just looked at last month's bill and he went over by more than £50....he is so in for it. The reason is of course a girl...

Thank £300 a year is bad enough!

lemonysweet · 13/08/2010 16:37

DD Twins (16) are on T mobile and have contracts that are £15 a month for 300 minutes and unlimited texts. free new moby every 18 months i think. i dont think teenagers. should be spending more than 300 minutes a month with a mobile attached to the side of their head tbh. let them get RSI from texting instead Grin
so thats £360 a month. add on DD (13) who is on pay as you go atm, about a tenner every couple of months. so that makes it 420. paid half by their dad so i shell out £210 for 3 teenage girls.
not half bad. im not sure why others are on contracts that are £25? surely you dont pay for their phone internet or anything?

tyler80 · 13/08/2010 18:08

I pay 10 quid a month for my phone (PAYG).

Children can pay the same out of their own money if they want a phone.

I get 300 texts a month and free internet on PAYG if I top up a tenner so it's not really like they'd have to miss out.

Original poster
BalloonSlayer · 13/08/2010 18:15

Is it that particular must-have phones come with expensive contracts?

Maybe it wasn't £500-£600 my friend said. I can't ask her again though. I was Shock as she, well, makes a bit of a virtue of not wasting money usually.

I suppose it's like a lot of things, if you get conned into doing it in the first place you'd feel mean if you said that this has to stop. But the DD has a job now, has had a few little jobs here and there, and left school nearly 2 years ago. It seems odd to hear her Mum say about "finding a better mobile contract for X so it doesn't cost me so much."

Frankly by the time my DCs are 18 I shall expect them to be recommending good mobile phone contracts to ME.

OP posts:
mumeeee · 13/08/2010 18:20

No that's not normal. DD3 is 18 and on pay as you go. She tops up £10 a month her self and gets free evening and weekend texts with this. So she can stil text me if she's out at those times. Aslo I can still phone her even if she hasn't got any credit. I will occansionaly top up her phone with £5 but that's only if she's going away somewhere with college in the day or if she's away for a few days. She doesn't expect me to do this.

mjinhiding · 13/08/2010 18:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

JenaiMarrHePlaysGuitar · 13/08/2010 18:26

I have a bloody lovely smart phone (not quite iPhone standard but bloody ace all the same), which comes with an insane amout of airtime/texts and free Internet for which I pay £10 a month.

Your friend needs to negotiate a better deal!

Morloth · 13/08/2010 18:28

Not a chance. When DS1 is old enough to be out and about alone we will get him a phone that is restricted to our numbers and the emergency services.

When he is a teenager and wants more than that he can bloody well pay for it himself.

sb6699 · 13/08/2010 18:46

My DS has just got a contract phone from 3.

He gets 500 texts and 500 mins for £12.50 but he can call any 3 phone for 3000 minutes. As both DH and I have 3 phones it means he can always get in touch with us.

We have a cap which means that if he uses all his time he cant run up a bill.

It costs us £12 a month - bargain!

oldenoughtowearpurple · 13/08/2010 18:52

I pay for my DCs phones so I can get in touch with them when I want; also for their security. Not that they appreciate that bit!

DS is dirt cheap; lowest of low contract.

DD is not dirt cheap but she has a blackberry as do all her friends so they message each other for free. ALL the time. But the phone is cheaper than a pony, or driving lessons.

tokyonambu · 13/08/2010 19:18

"500-600 a month is probably for an i-phone,"

Even when they were first launched they were only £35 a month (ie £420 a year) on a contract that was as close to unlimited as any sane person could want.