Page 1 of 3

Mobile phones

Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 2:06 pm
by andyb
DS (y6) is pressuring us for a mobile phone and while I can see its merits I feel it is just something else to distract him and/or lose/be stolen!

I am looking for recommendations for a phone that can be used as a phone - and that is it - no internet, camera, music, nothing - just a phone (maybe I'll be a bit flexible and allow a texting function). Obviously it has to be cheap and "bottom of the school bag" sturdy, but not something he would be embarrassed to use when he has to. Any ideas?

Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 2:43 pm
by T.i.p.s.y
You'll find that miracuosly he doesn't lose this item even though he still goes on to lose other items! :roll:

Re: Mobile phones

Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 2:44 pm
by Chelmsford mum
andyb wrote:DS (y6) is pressuring us for a mobile phone and while I can see its merits I feel it is just something else to distract him and/or lose/be stolen!

I am looking for recommendations for a phone that can be used as a phone - and that is it - no internet, camera, music, nothing - just a phone (maybe I'll be a bit flexible and allow a texting function). Obviously it has to be cheap and "bottom of the school bag" sturdy, but not something he would be embarrassed to use when he has to. Any ideas?
DD ( year 6) got a Sony ericsson T303.I think it was £40 which included 10 pounds credit.Hers is pink but also came in black.It was a birthday present in anticipation of secondary school, so it happens to be blue tooth and pretty.However there were phones that would have done that were 15 - cheaper. Go to one of the shops that isn't tied to one supplier and tell them exactly what you want.
We signed up for low rate texts as mostly older DD texts to say " bus late" or "going to gym club". It costs 3 p a text so talk about deals on offer re packages.We went for Pay as you go and it costs just under a tenner a month.( top up every 5 - 6 weeks)
When the dark nights come again and they miss their bus you will be glad they have one.

Mobile Phones

Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 3:01 pm
by Samba
I've literally just been sorting this out for my DD. We finally agreed that she could have my old mobile as I'm upgrading it. It's a Motorola RAZR V3. It does have a camera and slow internet access but is not touch screen, which is now all the rage. I managed to get a new number from Vodafone (they are trying to get me an "easy to remember" number), and I've agreed to a £15 a month contract which gives 600 minutes talk time and unlimited texts. Decided not to go for pay as you go as we'd both forget to top it up and did not like the thought of her running out of minutes at a crucial moment/emergency and not being able to call home.......

No doubt everyone will now tell me that 600 minutes will only last a week when she's phoning all her new friends in September :lol:

Re: Mobile phones

Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 3:03 pm
by SunlampVexesEel
andyb wrote:no internet, camera, music, nothing - just a phone
I think you are being mean re: camera and music.

Samsung J700 less than £30 on Pay As You Go.

Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 3:12 pm
by andyb
Thanks for the replies - at least I have some ideas for when I go shopping. What I didn't want was to go into the shop and be "bullied" into signing up for something that we don't really need.

Chelmsford Mum - I would expect most texts to be on the lines you mentioned (or I've forgotten ... text book, games kit, bus fare ... )

SVE - I think it's going to be easier to get one with camera & music rather than try and hunt down a basic model :?

Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 3:27 pm
by Chelmsford mum
i think you are right.DD's phone has camera etc even though we didn't go looking for it.These things are failry standard.
Also find if you are very specific" first phone, don't want to spend a fortune etc " then they take their cues from you in the shop.

They are just glad of custom at the moment.Happy shopping 8)

Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 4:45 pm
by SunlampVexesEel
andyb wrote:...go into the shop and be "bullied" into signing up for something that we don't really need....
Too true. Go to the shop, look at the models, ignore the bullies and then go home... better deals online...

e.g.

Link removed

Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 5:10 pm
by Ambridge
My kids have had mobile phones for a couple of years now..initially both on PAYG and both had our old phones but we have now moved on.

DD going to GS in September has a very smart hand me down from her big big brother (which I would have loved) and I bought her a £5 SIM card from Orange and we top it up with £10 every couple of months, occassionally this ties in with one of their deals whereby you get 200 free texts for the month - in other words, last year of primary and she very rarely uses it but she loves it and works out how many more minutes she can use before I will top it up again etc. so some lessons being learnt.

DS went on a contract last year. On Orange, he got a pretty funky type touch screen, flip top, possibly does the ironing and washing, only a rumour. He gets free texts and 100 phone mins and it costs £12.50 a month and I get a print out of when he has been texting and phoning. Once again, by about the 3rd week of the month he is mentioning he has only used 20 mins on his phone time and shouldn't we use the free minutes rather than the land line which gives him brownie points with us.

From experience, kids do not phone each other but they text like crazy and if they do decide to abuse it by downloading stuff from the net or buying new ring tones, you take the phone away or block every number except home and one other person, that threat works really well!!!

I think the secret is to gen up on the phone and various contracts yourself so you are not outsmarted by a clever little 11 year old who thinks (or probably does) know better.

At the end of the day, bad behaviour, bad marks at school, abuse of the phone in anyway which is not acceptable to your original rules = loss of phone - the little darlings hate it.

Good luck

Ambridge x

Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 5:27 pm
by Snowdrops
My dd started off with a fairly basic PAYG phone a couple of years ago.

She has now moved on to a very sophisticated touch phone - which I have to say was a present to take the edge of her disappointment at being allocated the local sink school (hmm, she did rather well out of that now didn't she :lol: ).

She is on contract and it's one which allows you to mix and match. IE: you have a set allowance on your 'phone and you can use it as you wish. EG: one month you can use 10% in 'phone calls and the rest in text messages or the next it could be 75% in 'phone calls and the rest in text messages. She also gets free internet access.

We do find she isn't using all the minutes up yet (surprise, surprise) so I do tend to use her minutes up instead of the house 'phone.

I don't have a mobile myself - can't stand the things.