To ask how many people pay for their teens phone?

[SGlass]

DS (17) is after a phone contract. Obviously it would have to go in my name. He currently gets £10 a week pocket money so the phone contract would replace this. He also works on a Saturday. The contact would be £35 a month.

Is it unreasonable to fund his phone? Or should he be self funding it??

Our 12 years-old has a £7.50 contact. We were going to get her to pat half from her pocket money but it never happened. Dd2 has Dd1 old phone and we haven't had to top up yet. £35 seems alot for a contract. Our 3 contracts cost less than that between then .

Contract. Pay

We have always paid my teens phone contracts. I don't get some parent's mean attitude towards it. Like it or not, a teen's phone is like their right arm.

We stopped paying my eldest when she got a FT job and was out of education and will do the same with the youngest.

We pay for our kids phones. It's capped so they can't go over the amount we decided each month. They also get pocket money.

If you get the contract you are responsible when he has the phone nicked and they run up a huge bill or he calls his girlfriend in australia. I'd make him save for the phone he wants (or the second hand equivalent) and then do sim only.

Ds either buys his own phone or has one as a birthday or Xmas present and we pay £7 a month sim only.

I payed for capped contracts for both Dds.
Dd1 is now living in her own home dd2 has a apprenticeship and lives with us.
I still pay. I haven't mentioned it and I just think it helps them out.

We pay £7.50 p/mth for contact and DD bought the handset herself with using pocket money. Will pay for phone contract until she leaves university as I like the security of knowing she will always be able to call us if she needs too.

I pay dd's (13) contract,it's £20 per month, unlimited texts 600 minutes and 2 GB data. She also gets £10 pw pocket money from us and £5 pw each from her brother and sister. She spends very little tbh so the vast majority goes in her bank for a rainy day.

I pay £19.50pcm for DD2's contract, she's 16. However, it was a Christmas present initially but that's because she wanted an iPhone and so it was a little more than we would have otherwise paid out. I agreed we would pay for the 2 years duration of the contract. That's up this Christmas but I will probably keep it going.
She has a part time job but it doesn't bring in much and so I'm happy to pay the phone for her for now. She pays for all her other entertainment, and her clothing, herself. Whilst I think it's good for her to have a job, I don't want her pushed into the position where she's working every spare moment and compromising her education, so I'm happy to fund the phone.

We pay phones for the three teens. DS (17) chose a bigger package data wise this time and pays half of his own, basically the amount above the amount we were paying. The girls (both 13) have contracts and it comes out the day before pocket money each month so anything over their contract comes straight out of allowance. I prefer them to have phones as DD2 has medical issues that means she often has to call for someone to collect her and without a phone I feel her freedom would be very restricted. DS also travels about a bit with his Saturday job (he works helping a wedding photographer couple) so I like him never having the run out of credit issue if he's going to be later home than planned or whatever.

I wouldn't pay for such an expensive contract.

Either pay for the phone or a sim only contract/rolling contract, but not both.

We pay for DDs phone contract (she is 14). With the agreement that if she goes over her minutes, she pays.

But I see a phone as security for her, and I'm happy to fund that.... If she finds herself in trouble or alone at night, I want her to be able to call me so I can come and get her.

I pay £10 a month each for two of my children's phones. They get a set amount of minutes, texts, and data for that and can't go over it. We have payg SIM cards and calls to me and each other are free.

I bought DD1 an iPhone and I pay approx £13 a month for her contract. No way would I pay £35 a month.

She's 15 btw and is at boarding school so the phone is v useful for contacting each other, especially when she's taking long-distance buses and planes on her own.

£35 is too high.
Whatever you get, make sure you get unlimited data. Young people want and use more data, due to their heavy use of social media & video apps.

As an ex EE employee, I can't tell you the number of parents forking out over £100's worth of out of bundle data charges due to YouTube, Instagram and Tumblr, and now of course the big one, SnapChat which is pure video data.

GiffGaff has a good plan with a lot of minutes (can't remember exactly how much, around 4-600 I think), unlimited text, free calls to GiffGaff mobiles and Unlimited Data.

We paid for a contract for our eldest until very recently when we switched her to giffgaff. She nows pays for it herself at a fraction of the contract cost. It's really worth looking at. Middle child is on £18 a month unlimited data with ee (capped after he got caught by a premium rate text thing and ran up a huge bill!). Husband and I are about to ditch our contracts and go to giffgaff. Our contract spend was about 180 a month which is just outrageous.

If you're happy to pay for it instead of his pocket money and he accepts they'll be no more money coming from you whether he has a job or not, then that's fine. For our family, I wouldn't feel the need to spend so much on a contract - we don't pay that amount for three of us!

That's an expensive contract! I pay for DCs contracts - both around £20pcm each. They also get £20 in an account each month to save or spend on things online, and then cash when they need it (to go to cinema, bowling, out with friends etc.)

I pay for my DD's and will do until she either has a FT job or objects to her current contract. She has a secondhand iPhone 5s on a £10 a month capped contract

I pay for my dc's phone.
However they're on payg, and spend around £25 a year. They mostly email or whatsap on wifi.

I pay £17 for ds. He bought himself iPhone 6. He earns about £400 working at the weekend .and is paying for all his driving lessons. He also buys all his clothes.

I recommend Tesco phone contracts. They have a wide range of the latest phones and also offer discounts to additional family members taking out contracts.
My son (15) has a £10 a month contract with limited calls, texts and data.

I think it would be reasonable for your son to pay any additional costs incurred for exceeding his call or data allowance out of his wages, whilst you pay the flat rate.

I'm 25 and my mum pays for my sim contract