to ask whether MN can help me decide about mobile phones

[Hippee]

I am absolutely hopeless with mobile phones - I usually go into Carphone Warehouse and get whatever is on the best offer at the time. At the moment I have a Nokia (Windows) phone with EE. My husband is slightly, but not much more, on the ball - he has some sort of Android phone with EE. We have been talking about getting a joint contract for ages, and now 11-year old DS1 is in the mix. We promised that if he behaved well enough he could get a phone, and the time has now come.

I know IABU for not having prepared for this better and done more research, but I am hoping you lovely Mumsnetters would give me the benefit of your experience. I would be quite happy to go to Carphone Warehouse together and see what they suggest for the three of us. DH is keen to move to Windows like me and thinks that we should all be on the same platform. He thinks we shoud research on the Internet for better deals/contracts but has had no time to do it. DS wants an iPhone7 or Samsung Galaxy 8, which isn't going to happen (sadly some of his friends do have these - very wealthy area/parents upgrading and passing on phones) but one of his best friends has a Cubot, which he is also quite keen on (but which isn't a Windows phone). We want to be able to make sure that he can't exceed any limits on his phone and land us with a huge bill (friend's son ran up £300 recently).

I guess that my questions are:

Should we go with my original Carphone Warehouse suggestion, as there will be someone there to talk to and explain our needs to and get all three of us new phones.

Order a Cubot for him and take it with us to get a SIM-only contract at Carphone Warehouse, while getting new phones there ourselves.

Go with another company that has a good family package (if so, which one)? Sky is definitely out and we'd prefer not to go with BT unless everyone agrees it's the best. Was I right in thinking that Tesco Mobile has had reaasonable reviews?

Any advice really? Thank you!

P.S. We are on Plusnet for phone and internet at home.

Windows phones can be great phones but not having the apps is a deal breaker. BBC IPlayer Radio and City Mapper are too good to live without.

Look at Moto G5 or the older G4 if you want a smart phone that does the lot on a budget.

My DD and I share a family contract with EE. Well, I have the contract on my iphone7, and it was about £8 more to add her phone on too, as hers is owned outright. We share a 5gb data allowance. I could add more family members on too, but tbh I don't think the 5gb would stretch much further, it's barely enough now.

@Hippee

I used to work for a mobile phone network and my best suggestion would be to move away from windows operating system as it’s a dying breed and go for a mid level android something along the lines of Samsung galaxy J3 or A3.

I would allow DS to have the phone of his choice (within financial reason) being on the same operating system isn’t really important necessary.

I would also check my current usage rather than what tariff you are on this will give you a better idea of what you need.

One piece of advise please add a couple of extra GB of internet to usage as phone will use more data (better connectivity) and with all new things you will probably use it slight more.

Three and EE both do capping for DS unsure about other networks

I had a Cubot and loved it at first but it died relatively quickly even though I didn't treat it roughly.

We bought our own mobile phones and have the SIM only family contract with Tesco. For phones, husband and kids have Moto Gs and a Moto E. My eldest's Moto G is 3.5 years old now and still working fine.

With the Tesco contract, the packages are reasonable and you can choose a range of family perks if you have more than one phone on the same account. I have chosen 50p off, so we each pay £7 p/month for 1GB data 500 mins and 5000 texts. Anything that counts as a picture message isn't included in that though. I'm happy with the phones and with Tesco. They use O2 network so have a decent signal in most places.

Forgot to add - with Tesco you can can cap any extra costs so you know that the kids can't spend over their usage allowance. I've capped all of ours at no more than £2.50 extra costs per month, but you can set that at different levels (up to £40 extra I think).

I've got the Galaxy A3 and my friend used it (has the S8) and said he wished he'd got the A3 as it's so much cheaper and is still pretty good. DP has the A5 and he likes having the top end of electrical products and he would recommend it. Again, much less expensive than the S8 but very similar specs.

Microsoft isn’t supporting Windows phone any more

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.engadget.com/amp/2017/07/11/windows-phone-support-ends/

but Apple is great for the Family Sharing and Find My Friends. I can track DS so I can give him a bit more freedom

To be fair though Android phones do that too

My nieces are with Tesco. My SIL gets a text message if they're about to run out of data. They also get extra free data because there's more than one phone on the account. They've had no problems at all with Tesco & would definitely recommend them

Definitely GiffGaff, PAYG but have bundles that are great value for money plus free calls amongst users. You can get a bundle (aka goody bag) for £5 a month that would suit your son and unless you're heavy users you and your husband should be fine on £8 or £10 a month goody bags.

Don't get a windows phone for a preteen. They are naff and he'll feel left out of what his friends have. I think android are best because you get the most choice.

Look at the J range of Samsung ones as they are aimed at young people, I think? Actually, I was looking at the J5 the other day for me! A lot of the Samsung phones are water resistant which is always a help.

You definitely don't need the fanciest top end model. Most people will never use the capacity of the phone, it's just marketing.

In case anyone finds this thread - I bought three WileyFox phones and so far two of the three have had to be returned - there is a known glitch that stops the phone working with the Facebook app if you don't keep on top of the updates immediately. Luckily Amazon have been fantastic about refunds (the second after 5 months). WileyFox customer services never replied to me.