Recommend me a contract for a child

[Takemeaway]

My son is at an age now where I’m more comfortable for him to have a mobile phone.
He has an iPad so I’d be looking at probably an iPhone 7

Any recommendations on which phone contract might be suitable?

I’ve seen lebabara which seem quite fairly priced …

Any other parents been through similar recently and can recommend a reasonably priced contract?

[anonymous-user]

Smarty, my wife & I are with them so adding a child was easy & cheap. My advice-setup screen time & locks apps that they shouldn't be on anyway!

[anonymous-user]

https://smarty.co.uk/

[shatter]

We just added junior to my wife's contract. It is £7.50 a month on EE for the extra sim with 1Gb of data and when he inevitably uses all that up she can gift/transfer some from her 60GB allowance to him.

You can turn off the data quite easily if, for example, they aren't playing ball on something chores you want them to do

We just used an old mobile phone that was unlocked.

[Mammasaid]

Id Mobile seems fine for my daughter, I've got her on a 1 month rolling contract, each time a better deal comes up, it's a piece of cake to upgrade.

https://www.idmobile.co.uk/sim-only-deals

[633Squadron]

Giff Gaff. You can change how much to spend each month.

[Pilotguy]

New Smarty SIM, discount for all numbers added to a Group Plan.

[option click]

I also went for ID Mobile - runs on the 3 network.
£7 a month SIM only - 3gb data and unlimited calls/texts

[anonymous-user]

Pilotguy said:

New Smarty SIM, discount for all numbers added to a Group Plan.

Smarty also gives money back for unused data, although with a child I guess that is highly unlikely!!

[LuS1fer]

Dave_ST220 said:

Smarty also gives money back for unused data, although with a child I guess that is highly unlikely!!

I once changed from GiffGaff to Smarty and could barely get a signal, certainly not inside the house so switched back.

[chrisch77]

Sky mobile is a good option, particularly if you already have a Sky account. Perpetual rollover of data allowance and the ability to reallocate spare data between sims if you have more than one.

[Jamescrs]

GiffGaff is very good with 10gb per month for £10 and not contract involved.

I have been seeing Vodafone offering Sim only deals at 120GB for £20 per month.

Don't underestimate how much data a child/ teenager could burn through in a month if they are reguarly streaming music or videos or mobile gaming, I can easily do pushing 7 or 8gb a month just streaming music into my car and the odd video here and there and my usage is nothing like a teenagers.

[silobass]

Voxi is pretty good as social media doesn't come out of your data allowance. It's part of the Vodafone network.

[djneils98]

use a comparison site like uswitch to find a good deal. I got 02 12gb data and unlimited for 10 a month.
alternatively you could go for a refurbed phone/contract like these

https://www.affordablemobiles.co.uk/second-hand-mo...

e.g. iPhone 8 refurbed for 15 a month for 2 years with 5gb data

[QuartzDad]

When my kids first had phones I put them on giffgaff £10 goodybags.

The goodybag auto renewed each month, no manual intervention required.

If the goodybag data allowance was running out I received an email notification.

If they ran out of credit completely I had configured it to auto top-up £10 a maximum of 3 times so they would never be in a position where they couldn't contact me.

If the phones or SIMs were stolen my max possible exposure was £30, I don't think any contracts had capped limits back then.

[LuS1fer]

It does sound like you want to put out a hit on a child though...

[GliderRider]

LuS1fer said:

It does sound like you want to put out a hit on a child though...

My immediate thought too! There are definitely a few who for whom it would be justified though.

[AJB88]

I've been with Smarty for 2 years now on the unlimited plan, my partner is on one of the limited ones and is constantly getting money back for data not used.

Its been really good up until about 2 months ago when suddenly I have 4G but stuff struggles to load.

[rxe]

Jamescrs said:

GiffGaff is very good with 10gb per month for £10 and not contract involved.

I have been seeing Vodafone offering Sim only deals at 120GB for £20 per month.

Don't underestimate how much data a child/ teenager could burn through in a month if they are reguarly streaming music or videos or mobile gaming, I can easily do pushing 7 or 8gb a month just streaming music into my car and the odd video here and there and my usage is nothing like a teenagers.

Most of the time they are on WiFi though. They only use mobile data when actually moving.

My boys can get through 10Gb without trying hard. The home network connection is running a 2.7TB monthly….

[Takemeaway]

Thanks everyone, lots of good ideas here.
Currently looking at voxi as it’s on Vodafone network, 15gb data plus unlimited social data and calls, and it’s £10 per month.

Smarty looks decent too and could be slightly cheaper but it’s on 3 network which isn’t great.

I think the free socials swings it