mobile phone for daughter

[doglover]

Hope someone might be able to help. My dh and I aren't exactly up with all the latest in mobile phones (both of ours are basic!) and we're looking to buy a phone for our 11 yr old daughter for her birthday in January. I've looked at the Vodafone website which is useful and we will be braving shops later this week, but I wondered if any of you could share your thoughts about a 'starter' phone. She's completely uninterested in 'names/brands' so there's no peer pressure (yet!) about what phone we collectively choose. It will probably have limited use until she goes to secondary school - she'll probably only text us and a couple of friends - so would you recommend a contract or pay-as-you-go? Many thanks.

def payg as it will need to be topped up whereas a contract if she goes over the monthly call/text amount you could end up with a maaasive bill at the end of the month.

Got this for my DD - £40 and came with £100 worth of credit (although only valid for a month!) seems to tick all the boxes, some of her friends have branded phones but DD is like your DD and not interested. It comes with a little stylus which she seem to particularly like

I love Mumsnet!!! Can't believe I've had 2 responses so quickly. Thanks both of you for your advice - will show dd the details of the phone BSPD and think you're quite right WB with your payg suggestion.

Yes, agree. PAYG - at least to start with.

dd3 got her new phone for secondary and I put £10 on it. She used the whole lot in 24 hours on texting! She had no clue about cost! I dread to think what the monthy bill would've been

We have just got a contract for DCs with 3 and the credit limit is nil so they can't run up huge bills. They also get unlimited texts and internet.

We got this one sony ericsson for DS1 (he's 10 and the only boy/childin his class without a mobile!).

It's been a big hit as it includes MP3 player and camera and is quite cool looking. Got it on PAYG and even with an upgrade for music (essential apparently) it was only £50 from Argos inc £10 talk time which I thought was OK. The handset itself is £30 so not too terrible if lost.

Thanks again. Lots of food for thought! Feel pretty certain that we'll opt for PAYG option and let her choose an inexpensive phone that she likes. Don't they grow up quickly; only seems like yesterday that I was posting on here about pushchairs!

Well, we got one! DD selected a great PAYG phone costing £30 from Vodafone today. She's absolutey delighted - now have to put it away until Jan 15th!!! thanks again for all your advice.

Glad you got one, doglover. The thing I noticed is that my DD picked up how to work the mobile phone much more quickly than me - not sure if that's good or bad!