Mobile phone....which one?

[Beckii330]

Another user of giffgaff here. I would thoroughly recommend it, my DS is currently on a £5 bundle, giving him 300 texts and 60 mins and he gets the internet at home with the wifi. Bargain and certainly enough for a 10 year old! He has my old phone as I upgraded but before that he was given a cheap payg phone for his birthday as I wanted to see how he got on with it and if he looked after it - the irony is I put it in the washing machine and destroyed it

There are lots of bargains out there, try Ebay, Gumtree and your local market as well, if you don't mind second hand.

[Pumpkin Pie]

I asked my DS (13) what type of phones the boys have at school and he said 'Blackberry, HTC, Nokia and I phones mainly'. He has a cheap Nokia (PAYG) and is very happy with it. It doesn't seem to be a problem about which type of phone you have. On the other hand my DD is wanting a Blackberry Curve for September!

[ginx]

When I invigilate, all the students in years 10 upwards have phones (students in years 10 and 11 aren't supposed to have them!)

Most are blackberries or similar.

In our family with four children and a dh who doesn't understand any technology at all, we have four pay as you go phones, £10 each including £5 credit. They are all orange (good for the cinema, 2 for 1 on Wednesdays). Anyone can use them. Dd1 in year 9 has a phone with a qwerty keyboard.

I have a basic one too, I use it for texting, and phoning in emergencies. I don't sit texting throughout conversations.

[KS10]

DS doesn't want an expensive phone either because he knows that there will be less money for cricket as a result . DD is more fashion-conscious and more demanding, but has settled for the newer purple model of DS's phone from Tesco and it was a bargain at £10. DS's older model cost £20 (and I felt then that it was overpriced). They have an iPod touch each so they can't complain.

[countrymum]

Thanks Bekii, shall search out ebay too, hadn't thought of that.

Pumpkin yes my own DD has mentioned the curve, have had a little look but reviews I have read don't seem all that great, could just be the ones I am reading of course. Don't want to get a certain brand/model just because everyone else has it (maybe easier said than done) but may have another look.

Thanks Ginx, what exactly is a 'qwerty' keyboard, have seen the term when looking at blackberry models but is the 'qwerty' something special apart from the letters all being after each one on the keyboard.

Too used to my touch screen and wouldn't know how to use a keyboard

Thanks KS10, I really don't want to spend a lot at all, though I do think you have something regarding girls as these things are kind of 'important' to them, if that makes sense. Out of interest with their iPods (DD has one) there is no way they can use as a messaging/text service is there when out and about. DD takes hers out with her, and I know she likes taking photographs but wonder what else she can actually do on it when not using the home wifi.

Thanks again everyone some really great suggestions I hadn't thought about

[KS10]

I know that they can play games on it and DS used it to video a piece for his drama lesson. I've just asked him and he can't think of much else. We used it when we went on holiday as we needed to be able to say I have/He has a nut allergy in Portuguese.

[StJamesDad]

I found a Blackberry works well. They can never run out of Blackberry messages and you may find a lot of their new secondary school friends will have one.
All the better if you had a Blackberry yourself. Status updates are quite fun and sometimes informative.

Try to get some sort of deal with unlimited texts if they use texts a lot. No point in having a phone if they run out of credit and cannot contact you.
Think they are more likely to stay in touch when things are limitless, as they may save their credit for mates etc. if they are restricted.
Have found BBM's between DD1/2 and DW and I good fun.
You can voice chat Internationally (or just in same house ) for free over wi-fi now.

One of those plug in emergency power supply things might be a good idea to give them too

[Tinkers]

Yes battery life is worth looking at. DDs phone is pretty good, will last for a couple of weeks.
Since others have mentioned it, I can say at we are also with giff gaff. DH and I have iPhones, DD has my old Nokia. The Nokia I chose because of battery life.

The other thing I'd say is give them a list of emergency numbers on a resilient piece of paper (laminate it or similar). If their phone is out of juice they won't be able to get to the phone list on there, but they may be able to use a friends phone.

[StJamesDad]

Even better, stick it on the inside if the phone battery cover. Will never get lost then
Problem with a battery that lasts a couple of weeks might be that it is more likely to run out when they need it though. Unless mum kept on top of charging duties I guess

[Tinkers]

The Nokia I had beeps at you at regular intervals for several hours when its running low. Irritating enough to remember to charge it.
When switched off the battery life is months.
DH had a basic Nokia a few years ago, again bought with battery life in mind. He barely used it and it was switched off most of the time (he is a Luddite). The battery lasted from one Christmas to the next.