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I'm not overly keen for many reasons but Jnr (10) has saved up for a phone. He was meant to be getting it just before starting Yr7 but he just aced his SAT's and with current stuff it seems a good idea to give him more contact with friends.
One way or another he'll have to pay/earn his SIM...
It seems to me PAYG is a good idea for making sure he does his chores and behaves but something like a GIFGAF monthly would work out cheaper?
What's everyone else do?
notsobabybgoode has a contract capped at zero extra spend so he can't run up the bill. One thing I have found - he's only 7 but since he pestered me and pestered me for a phone, I gave him an old one with the very struct rules that it doesn't leave the house, he only has my number, my wife's number and his friend next door and since then he's barely used it.
The main reason for being on contract is it's got a healthy 10gig data allowance which comes in handy on holiday etc when tethering and it's a handy spare for me 🙂
GIFGAF monthly here, started about the same age, had hand me down phones at first. £8 a month is what we pay and it covers everything he needs it for. I wouldn't bother with PAYG personally.
Firstly, how has he done his SATs???
But we got our girls GiffGaff sims on a basic (£6 a month) contract - they are mostly only using wifi data in the house anyway, but it does (did, before COVID) allow them to have a bit more freedom when at their various activities.
It is very easy to ensure the young 'un behaves though - keep parental controls on the device so you can lock it down/limit use, need permission for downloads etc. We ended up with older iPhone 7 phones and they are great as we set up family sharing so everything has to go through my wife's phone to get approved.
The main reason for being on contract is it’s got a healthy 10gig data allowance which comes in handy on holiday etc when tethering and it’s a handy spare for me 🙂
If data is your thing, about the best deal I've found is that Smarty do 30GB for a tenner a month on a rolling one-month contract. Though quite why you'd need vast amounts of data allowance on a phone that never leaves the house other than holidays...?
And in answer to the OP,
If it were me I'd be giving them something like a Nokia 6310i.
Cougar
If it were me I’d be giving them something like a Nokia 6310i.
That would be my preference but .... briefly social exclusion is actually real
and he saved up himself for 2 years ... and
johndoh
Firstly, how has he done his SATs???
Very very well... regardless of how I look at it but this was part of a "deal" including allowing him to buy a phone and he did it almost entirely by himself.
Pre-lockdown we were told he might just get a greater depth in literacy if he was lucky.
I'd thought his teachers assessment was 'a bit low' though to be fair but he struggles with "giving a toss" and in Yr-6 he just started hating school and finding it boring. He also suffered from not bothering to actually read the questions.
He said if he didn't have to do any school work being set (which basically comprised "do a drawing of something boring", "read a boring book") he'd spend an hour a day on SAT's he'd get a greater depth in everything.
He already got accepted into his/our choice of secondary and we were all soon sick of him getting upset over the busy work his teachers were setting and the relentless criticism from his teacher we just figured there was nothing to lose.
He did his own 1hr/d (mother is a teacher and did marking and we both had very limited interference - if he got something incorrect he was mostly just left to work it out himself and retested the next morning until he got it correct but this was in addition to the 1hr. He only got help if he asked and he did that rarely.
Within the first week his marks were climbing rapidly and ultimately he dropped 5 points across the entire set (after moderation by head of year where apparently his mother had been over strict). All of which he then corrected himself afterwards.
As a huge bonus his behaviour which has been getting worse since he started Yr 6 has improved as much as his SAT's scores.
It is very easy to ensure the young ‘un behaves though – keep parental controls on the device so you can lock it down/limit use, need permission for downloads etc. We ended up with older iPhone 7 phones and they are great as we set up family sharing so everything has to go through my wife’s phone to get approved.
I'm going to have to look properly into that. I didn't do the best job on my Kindle though retrospectively he seems to have handled the content better than I'd have expected.
We went with PAYG initially, but I now use Plusnet contract. It's locked to no extra spend, 5gb/mth plus calls and cost is £5.
Go Android and get family link installed and set up so they can share your music etc, but you can keep a vague eye on what that are looking at.
I'm a believer in not having phones in room, certainly everything down to our 'charging station' overnight, limits on screen time and actually speaking to them about the risks and concerns.
I forgot- you can bump up data with extra pack for holiday.
Our kids are great at managing data - they've pals who rip through 30-50gba month. Ours know to use wi-fi at home and when out, stream in lower quality etc.
We went with PAYG initially, but I now use Plusnet contract. It’s locked to no extra spend, 5gb/mth plus calls and cost is £5.
Our kids are great at managing data – they’ve pals who rip through 30-50gba month. Ours know to use wi-fi at home and when out, stream in lower quality etc.
Yep, it seems to me like the PAYG will end up costing more and I think he will manage data use pretty well. He saved up a ridiculous amount of money over 2yrs. I didn't see a hard limit option on GIFGAF (though didn't look in great detail) so I'll check out plusnet
Go Android and get family link installed and set up so they can share your music etc, but you can keep a vague eye on what that are looking at.
Not so easy as we have Apple in the adult house and iPads etc. and he's saved up for an iPhone for 2 years.
I’m a believer in not having phones in room, certainly everything down to our ‘charging station’ overnight, limits on screen time and actually speaking to them about the risks and concerns.
Certainly no iPhones overnight and he already has limits on iPad/laptop and anything plugged into the TV... (his Kindle is marginal or he'd still be reading come 7am and access to my account)...
Can highly recommend a [url= http://talkmobile.co.uk ]Talkmobile[/url] monthly SIM. Had my son on one since he was about 10, overspend is blocked, or, something I have found really useful when he's gone away with school, you can change the cap, to £10 whatever. Also, they will enable/disable roaming at your request. (Needed that when he went on a school trip to the US).
He's currently on £5 a month (he's now 17 with a Galaxy S10 and has never complained about his mobile deal!)
I see they are doing £3.50 a month initial deal at the moment. Can't go wrong.
Customer service from them has always been brilliant (and I don't utter those words lightly these days!)
Talkmobile.co.uk was the missing word. Inadvertently added a space in the URL and it didn't appear!
Who? Ah, ninja edit.
Yep, it seems to me like the PAYG will end up costing more and I think he will manage data use pretty well. He saved up a ridiculous amount of money over 2yrs. I didn’t see a hard limit option on GIFGAF (though didn’t look in great detail) so I’ll check out plusnet
Giffgaff is just PAYG. If you have used up all of the bundle, it will use any credit you have. When it runs out of credit, it will stop working.
Then you need to buy another bundle or more credit. There is an option for auto topup, but that can be disabled. Or limited to 3 topups per month.
Giffgaff is good if your usage varies. ie if not using it much, just use PAYG. Or you can buy a bigger bundle some months if you need more.
Both my kids (and us) are on Smarty - 9yp Daughter is on a £6/month 1gb unlimited text & calls - you can add money for other calls or going abroad etc.
13yo Son is on a £7/month 2gb unlimited texts & calls.
Any unused data gets discounted off your next bill.
Great, lots of better or more appropriate deals.
From my POV (as opposed to his) the times I'd want him to actually have a phone are crappy signal areas. I know from my work phone vodafone doesn't work at my mum's for example and it would be very nice to work places like Dyfi, Rev's where he goes off by himself or with a mate.