How much do you pay for Teenagers phone?

[refraction]

I am a teacher with a dd who is about to turn 14. She attends the school I teach at. For her birthday or Christmas she would like a phone contract for her birthday.

Most pupils do have an iPhone or the new Samsung. I am actually quite shocked at the phones they have.

What do your teens have? At the moment mine has my old iphone on a ten pounds sim only deal. I think this is enough. However the battery is poor but I could replace that for £90. Not increasing the contract.

DS 14 has iPhone 7 bought refurbished for £250. We pay £20 per month on a rolling monthly contract with Giffgaff. This gives unlimited calls and texts and 40gb of data.

Mine have iPhones (6 and 7). One was inherited from a family member and one was bought for £100 off eBay. They are on Virgin contracts for £9 a month and (so far) have never exceeded their inclusive data or calls. Customer service has also been very good.

And yes, as pp said, I have set a cap on it so I get alerted if they go over the inclusive amounts.

My teenage boys (13,16 & 17) have iPhone 8s on contract at £40 a month. They are due an upgrade this Xmas to iPhone 11s. Dont see any problem with that.

My 2 have new Samsungs (basic ones) on contracts for 13.99 a month with ID, unlimited calls and texts and 1gb of data. They are capped at £0 so they CANNOT go over. They know that if they run out if data they have to go without!

One daughter 12mth contact iphone se. £19 1GB data, 5000 texts and minutes. Will drop to £9 in a few months as payment for the phone will end.

Other daughter 24mth contract unlimited texts and calls, 1gb data iphone 6 17.99.

Different networks both with £0 cap so no extra charges.

It is expensive but both phones were "big/main" presents so we took the view that we were spreading the cost of a big present over a year or two. The iPhone 6 only costs £8 more than we were paying on her previous contract.

I would get one from eBay, Currys eBay shop sells all the phones and with an eBay code like one this weekend there is £50 off £500 or £25 off £250, there are eBay codes quite often or Argos or Music Magpie sell refurbished ones. Or go on Hot UK deals to see where the decent contracts are if you want a contract

The Google pixel is a great smart phone and much cheaper than iPhones with better spec, the best model launces in less than a month so you'll be able to get the pixel 3 very cheaply. Other option are you due an upgrade? Give her your old handset and get a sim only from gifgaff

I asked ds1 to research what he wanted to do with his phone an then made sure the spec and data was sufficient for that.

He's happy with his 2nd hand Samsung and I'm not paying crazy money for an overpowered device that he doesn't need. (£80 for handset, £10 pm with ID Mobile, £2.50 cap.)

Also go through Quidco and a site like mobiles.co.uk and you'll get a decent amount of cashback too

£15 a month for unlimited calls/texts and a small amount of data; it’s the cheapest version of iPhone that was available on a contract (can’t remember the specific model!).

PS also called at £3!

#capped!!

I bought secondhand iPhones via Music Magpie - they were pristine and I paid about £300 each for them. They've had them for two years now. Then I just got them a SIM from Voxi which is £15 a month for 15gb data, that sees them through.

I've never considered a reconditioned phone before. To anyone whose bought one what do you think of them and where would you advise to buy from?

Gave son my old iphone6 which he promptly dropped fixed screen and I pay £10 a month he doesn’t use it much really

DS phone cost £200 and he has a 6 pound a month contract. He is the king of free WiFi apparently.

We bought a reconditioned phone from GAME it had a 12 month guarantee. mrsjg it was all fine.

I've bought a few reconditioned iPhones from eBay and Envirofone. Latest was an iPhone 6s for my 11yo which cost £130. She gets 8GB data and unlimited calls and texts on virgin mobile for £9p/m.

Envirofone are good and if you're careful about your eBay seller then you can get some good deals.

Check out Music Magpie for really good refurbished and 6 month warranty phones. I looked into gifgaf but my old provider met and exceeded their offer when I rang to end the contract.

I bought DS a refurbished iPhone SE from Music Magpie through Amazon and it was excellent condition, he was really happy with it. Battery was 98%.

DS on a £5 a month SIM only contract and has a huawei honor 6A which was £103 several years ago.

I'm pretty shocked at all these teens with phones on expensive contract! When I was a teen I bought my own handset and pay as you go sim and all of my own credit with pocket money or money I had earned. Then I would get the odd hand me down phone from my dad etc.
I've never paid more than 20 per month for my own contract with a phone and for the last 3 years I've dropped down to £6 per month sim only contract. Before that I think I was paying 14 inc phone.
A basic phone is a necessity nowadays I think but all these iPhones and latest handsets on extortionate contracts are crazy imo even if it's a main pressie for Xmas or whatever. Way over and about anything I've ever given or received as a gift.

One has a iphone 6 and the other has a samsung galaxy. They are both on sim only deals - £10 a month with no opportunity to run up bigger bills.

Thanks to all with recommendations for reconditioned phones.