Help...........scare we are in for big bills!

[triplets]

My trio were given phones for xmas, Android? What exactly does that mean? Are they connecting to the internet? One had £10 top up put on on Weds and today when I checked his balance its a penny!! Oh nooooooooooo

Get them each a sim only monthly rolling contract. They vary from £10/month upwards. My DC's phones are £20/month each and they have unlimited texts, 500mb internet, 500 minutes natter time.

And, more importantly, they LIVE on Facebook and the 500mb/data is plenty, even for the one who has her phone glued to her hand.

if they get connected from our wi-fi isn`t it free?

Yes it is free if they connect through your wifi.Have the phones been connected to the wifi?What network are they on as most networks do some sort of package that includes internet even on payg.

What network are the phones on?

If its O2 or the phones are unlocked then I'd strongly recommend Giffgaff.

For £10 a month you get unlimited texts, unlimited Internet and 250mins of calls. My teen last month somehow managed to rack up 2GB of mobile data! Despite being on wifi at home! How I've no idea!!

The advantage of above is there is no contract and no way for them to run up a huge bill. If you are interested, PM me and I can send you a link to get the sims from and you will get an extra £5 credit free.

All my family are on Giffgaff now and I cannot recommend them highly enough.

Thank you............they are all on Tesco payg.........usually put £10 on and they give you £20 freecredit. That was ok with the old phones and would last them months. Cant get my head around it, too many late nights! Trouble is having triplets I wont be able to afford £30 a month contract.

if you have Wifi, you need to change the settings to stop it connecting to the web by wireless. I have HTC Android and can probably find the dialogue to do it. As well as inside your home, and any friends who are willing to divulge their passwords, they can get free wifi in Tescos, Wetherspoons, some coffee shops.

PAYG is handy with youngsters, PROVIDED you make clear that when it's gone, it's gone.

dowloading music, and especially video, will gobble up the allowance.

Hi Triplets

I'm worried that you don't fully understand how Tesco Payg works. I apologise if you do and I'm teaching my grandma to suck eggs.

Basically, your £10 credit only 'triples' for the first month. After that the free part disappears leaving you with just the original £10 again. Of course you can stick another £10 on and get that 'tripled' but I doubt you will want to do that given what you said.

The key thing though is that this credit does NOT include data unless you've called them and asked for a data bundle which starts at £5 per month.

Given what you've said, I doubt you've done that so by default, the charge for data use is an eye watering 60p per megabyte up to a maximum of £5 PER DAY.

Your £10 credit basically isn't going to last very long.

Mobile provider's love smartphones because it effectively ties you to a monthly deal since a smartphone without a data bundle is pretty useless.

Hi niceguy.............I do know how the tesco triple points works, but just do not understand Android system, so you are right! I wish they had never been given them. Whats the best I can do staying with Tesco? We are on a pretty tight budget, their Dad has cancer, could def not afford more than £10 each a month.

if you can make them access the net through your wifi, it will not cost you anything as it is not using Mobile data.

Probably on (one of) the sceens on the Android phone you will have an icon for "Wifi" and an icon for "Mobile". swipe the screens sideways until you find them

You want the wifi one to be switched on (tap until it shows a green bar) and the mobile one to be switched off (tap the mobile icon until the green bar goes black)

if you can't see the icons,

if you tap "menu" then "settings" then "Wireless and networks" you can untick it there. Then "mobile network settings" then check that "enable always on mobile" is not ticked.

then back, back, back, back, back (the curved arrow pointing left)

what about these games and apps they keep playing with, they assure me they are free, can I check? Must sound an idiot, just not into this stuff!

There a lot of games in the Android market that are free,take a look here

Lots of apps are free, same with games, so long as they're not playing others online with them. Pop into any of the phone shops and ask about sim only contracts - they can be (mostly) cancelled with 30 days' notice. Lots of my DCs' friends have sim only and manage fine with the data allowance. I know with Voda they will stop the internet usage when/if they reach the limit before the month is up. Here is one that costs 15.50/month and, IMO, gives enough for most teens.... My DD2 is glued to her iPhone, yet uses less than 250Mb data/month. She takes advantage of the BT wifi when she can and is NEVER over her usage. I get texts on the rare occasion that she is approaching her limits, but those times are usually less than a week before the month is up.

As PigletJohn,nake sure the wifi box is ticked and the mobile network box is clear,then they can only connect to the internet when wt home and any calling credit will only be used for calls and texts.

Thank you all so much, much easier to see it in black and white, its alot clearer now!

PigletJohn has given you the right set of instructions to turn off mobile data but you could also go to a phone store with the phones and ask one of the attendants help you turn it off.

The kids will be able to keep on playing/fb as long as they are home and within wifi range (if the games need to be online).