best mobile phone for DD

[iloverhubarbcrumble]

Would really appreciate tips or just feedback on what you're DC using.

• Want to upgrade DD's phone (age 12) to something reliable. Eg DD likes LG KS360 and LG cookie - no idea if any good.
• Probably staying with PAYG, but would consider a contract. At the moment, paying about £10/month with Orange PAYG, but slowly increasing. Mainly texts.

She's got through two very cheap phones so far, which haven't been reliable enough. Takes ages to turn on. Screen disapears from time to time, etc

Need to:

• receive texts within minutes rather than hours later
• must have reasonably priced/free voicemail
• best price tariff PAYG (Asda?)
• handset around £40-£50 max - no need for flashy camera etc. But 'cool' - ideally.

Any help much appreciated.

Is your DD's number registered with Orange?

Only asking because the top-ups that have already been made would have been topping up the PAYG "Phone Fund" (for every 10 pounds in top-ups you can get a discount of 1 pound when upgrading your phone, but each 'credit' is only valid for 12 months, so only credits in last 12 months would be included in calculation).

LG are a bit hit and miss, they do some really good ones and some really rubbish ones.

Personally I would go with a Samsung.

PAYG I would go with Virgin as they don't have any expiry on the top up and they have good coverage.

I'll heard Tesco are good tho you might want to look at them as they are very cheap.

Btween DH and I we have had every make phone. O2 was the worst followed by LG. Sony Ericcson were the nest as well as Samsung although Samsung menu's feel a bit backwards to me.

PAYG - they are all much of a muchness tbh but given her age i would go with Orange for the cinema and pizza thing they do on wednesdays!

They also occasionally do a rock corp thing where you can do a set number of hours voluntary work and your reward is a gig ticket.

re the text thing its really down to network rather than phone.

I've had an LG Cookie for nearly 18 months and really like it. Never had any problems with it.

I took a look at the Carphone Warehouse price guide (April 2010) and also came across Asda/radio competition and the PAYG rates at 8p/min for voice and 4p/text are very competitive from Asda Mobile (the Asda SIM will go in any Vodafone mobile phone, and Asda Living have a range of Voda and unlocked phones, but no guarantee either range will include the particular phones mentioned originally.

A couple of things from the CPW guide...

1. they have an Alcatel phone on Orange (model OT-808 only released in February 2010) reduced by 60 quid to 49.95 + a top-up. It is a clamshell style phone but because it has a QWERTY keyboard is close to being square rather than longer vertically.

Comprehensive spec - MP3 player, FM radio, 2 MP camera, 80 MB storage and capacity for a micro SD memory card up to 8 GB, and handy that when shut (to guard against making calls accidentally) there's a second screen on the outside to show battery, signal strength and the time.

I took a quick look at the user manual and the external screen can show when a new text or call comes in, but normally shows the time and signal strength / battery charge. Had not seen it mentioned before but it also seems to have an e-Book function too (in case MP3s and radio get boring!)

2. back to choice of network and tariff - there are now some SIM-only 30-day rolling contracts where you'd have to apply in your name (credit check) but at 10 pounds a month the T-Mobile deal offers 100 minutes of calls and unlimited texts (3000 in a month in truth) which sounds like what you're currently spending but probably offers more based on general PAYG prices.

3. Alternatively if you have coverage from Three, they offer some PAYG deals which include Skype , and a 10 quid top-up gives 300 free texts and free internet access (depending on phone). (There's als a similar offer for the Dolphin tariff on Orange PAYG.) Do check for small print about "fair usage" because hardly anything is truly "unlimited".

Oh, finally, there's a Talk Mobile tariff at 7.50/month giving 50 minutes of voice calls + 300 texts per month, and with Free Voicemail.

I suspect "Talk Mobile" is a brand of Carphone Warehouse but run using some big network (like Virgin Mobile uses T-Mobile, and Asda uses Vodafone).

Personally I want to stay very very clear of "cool" when I eventually get my boys phones. Kids mugging other kids for mobiles is VERY common round here, sadly.

Yes, I can see that concern, too, Skegness.

Again (and sorry to "plug" - I don't have any financial link, honest) Carphone Warehouse have phones from 3.95 (LG GB102) which is perhaps one of the most basic (voice calls and text). Next up is Nokia 1661 (which I think has a torch built in, but does the essentials of voice calls and texts) at less than a tenner.

Most shops these days 'require' you to pay for a top-up as well, though Asda Living doesn't generally force that on you. They also sell some phones "unlocked" but at affordable prices, where the upper end of the PAYG range is up to 200 (or above) for unlocked phones at Carphone Warehouse.

The lowest on Three (at CPW) is 14.50 and a top-up gets 300 text messages and free net access.

I think Three is one of the networks which doesn't force you to have a top-up every month, some networks make the top-up last only 30 days, unfortunately.

This is all so helpful, thank you very much everyone. WebDude can't believe how much time you have taken to help! Skegness agree re cool. Will have a good look through all these tips now.

Crumbs, how did you find that old thread :)