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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

Original poster

Do you pay teens phone contract?

63 replies

Ittakesavineyard · 30/11/2022 09:13

14 yo wants a new iphone for Christmas. Until
now he’s always had one of our old ones and a £10 data pack.
He wants an older iPhone, preferably with the button or an 11, he’s not so fussed about the latest one.
We can’t decide if to get him a new iPhone with contract circa £40 a month for 2 years or let him choose and bug an older iPhone cash for circa £300-400 which is what he will get for Xmas and let him manage the data/call pack situation with his pocket money. This is what I used to do, and if I ran out of credit and pocket money it was tough. That said, this is unlikely to happen to him he’ll probably always have enough to keep it topped up.

What do you all do? Pay phone contracts or expect them to top up or pay monthly themselves?

OP posts:
leafblowaway · 30/11/2022 10:21

We have android phones, they are bought outright so £150-£200 each, we are on a sim only deal with Voxi (Vodafone) at £10 for unlimited standard calls and texts and 45GB of data on a 30 day rolling contract.

All 4 of us have that deal. Ds1 is at uni and we still pay his £10 a month data package although he bought a slightly more expensive phone with his own money when he was 18. We also pay for 16 year old Ds2. Again if Ds2 wanted an upgrade he would pay if we thought it wasn't a needed updated phone.

BrieAndChilli · 30/11/2022 10:26

ours have Iphone SEs on a contract so its something like £10 a month for the phone and £6 a month for the sim plan.
We pay for that but they only get £20 a month pocket money. might be different if you give yours £50 a week and thats supposed to fund everything - toiletries/clothes etc. We buy anything they need

onmywayamarillo · 30/11/2022 10:28

I bought mine a new phone and a SIM card only contract.
Which he started paying himself when he was 18

Willowswood · 30/11/2022 17:57

Yes I do.

Cookerhood · 30/11/2022 18:01

Android phones as birthday/Christmas gifts (£200ish) when needed & we pay for a SIM only contract (currently £8/month) until they finish in education. One wanted a more expensive phone & saved up.

Chasingsquirrels · 30/11/2022 18:04

Yes.
16yo & 20yo (at uni).
SIM only - £7pm (12gb data, unlimited texts & minutes). We all have the same.
Phones have been brought outright (new or 2nd hand) as birthday or Christmas presents. And old ones traded in where they can be.

TeenDivided · 30/11/2022 18:05

As a side comment, the reason we got our DD's to pay for their PAYG bundles was so they could get used to seeing a regular payment going from their account - so part of their pocket money was 'committed'. We thought it good learning for the future.

ChristmasPickleRick · 30/11/2022 18:07

DD14 has an iPhone SE 2020, it costs me £30 a month and £10 of that is the highest level of insurance (we are a clumsy family).

Prior to that, she had a second hand iPhone 6 (£100) on PAYG for £10 a month.

She keeps her room tidy, helps when asked, gets excellent grades and is generally a very good kid so I’m happy to pay for that for her.

bigbluebus · 30/11/2022 18:14

Paid for a contract (android) for DS from Secondary school then through uni. When contract expires he's generally been happy to keep the phone on a SIM only until the phone packs up. He's finished uni now and we've just bought him a brand new unlocked phone for his birthday (he couldn't think of anything else he wanted). We're still paying for his SIm (only £8pm) but he knows if he wants to upgrade (more data) then he needs to swap to his own.

Puffalicious · 30/11/2022 18:16

Allmarbleslost · 30/11/2022 09:25

I will pay for my dcs phones until they have finished their education and are earning money.

This. DS1 needing to renew contract now and offered to pay, but he's just started uni and there's no way I'd expect him to pay.

ArcticSkewer · 30/11/2022 18:18

They buy the phone and we pay the monthly contract til they leave uni

ArcticSkewer · 30/11/2022 18:19

I also have family phone insurance which gets used a fair bit!

declutteringmymind · 30/11/2022 18:36

They get a cheap phone and cheap sim from us. DS used his Christmas money/pocket money/chores money to upgrade himself.

dotty12345 · 30/11/2022 18:56

I pay a contract for my 20 year old but he pays the broadband ((half of which would be his phone contract)

Devilou666 · 30/11/2022 19:03

Luckily my daughter has been happy with android so shes had 2 year contract phones for christmas when 13 and 15 which cost me £18 a month,i gave her the option again this year but she wanted other stuff so is keeping the old phone and going sim only which she will now pay herself.

Abraxan · 30/11/2022 20:21

20y dd is getting shew phone for Christmas, as am I. We buy the ohines outright.
We pay for dd’s contract.
We will continue to do so until she has a full time job after graduation, when she can afford it.

IwishIwasSupermum · 01/12/2022 06:19

We pay sim contract only and provide refurbished iPhones, DS has just been provided with an IPhone 8, if they want a better phone then they save and purchase theirselves. I’m over providing new phones that end up with cracked screens when mine is years old in perfect condition, if I decide to upgrade, one of the DC will get my old one.

HelenHywater · 01/12/2022 06:26

I pay for monthly contracts (phone and sim) for my children until they get a job after uni.

It is fairly expensive, but I'm relatively happy to do it. They have iphones although not at all the most recent models. I also have insurance on all of their phones through my bank account, which gets used a fair amount!

poorbuthappy · 01/12/2022 06:26

Dd1 has an android on contract £25 a month which I pay for. DD2&3 (twins who are 14 tomorrow) are having recon iPhone 11s but are expected to stump up at least half from their birthday money. If they were reasonable and would come over to the android side they would have contracts. I pay £12 a month for the SIM. Its not technically fair but 3 is a lot of kids.

sheepdogdelight · 02/12/2022 19:34

They pay for their own PAYG and phones have been bought for birthday presents (normally second hand).
DS saved up for and bought the latest iPhone on contract from his part time job.

If your teen is too young to work, isn't it a moot point whether you pay or they pay - presumably the money comes from you (or other family members I guess) regardless?

Whycanineverever · 02/12/2022 19:38

I bought my 11yo an iPhone 11 with unlimited data through fonehouse last month. £59 u/f and £18 a month (with three)

I did extensive research and it doesn't seem to pay to buy an 11 outright. The prices are not much less than I got it for 2 years ago when I got my oldest one. There are however some decent contracts out there.

Blanketpolicy · 03/12/2022 01:33

Ds(18) phones have been bought for Christmas /birthday since he was around 11. We get a new one every 3 years and I get his old one (he always takes really good care of them and they are like brand new).

When he was around 12 he got a debit account and we paid his allowance into there each month, he paid for a few things including his £10/month giff gaff phone direct debit from his own account. We moved all of his "bills" into his account so he could manage himself, school lunch account, Spotify, gym, paid for own barbers etc but essentially we were still paying for it as we were putting the money to cover it all in the account.

If he ran out of data and had to start a new giff gaff month early that was his look out/cost.

Now he pays for everything through a combination of PT job and allowance.

WeDontNeedToTalkAboutJamie · 03/12/2022 01:46

I pay for their contracts and will do until they leave education and get a job.
They don't get pocket money though. I suppose I could give them £20 per month and they could pay their own bill but that seems pointless.

cheninblanc · 03/12/2022 09:43

Yes I pay, they are 19 and 16 but both in education so I pay their contracts

PritiPatelsMaker · 03/12/2022 22:43

DC2 is a year older and I pay for hers but she doesn't get much pocket money, it would probably only just cover the plan. So I suppose it depends how much pocket money he's getting.