Teenagers mobile phone tariff

[Alfie]

Despite many attempts to rectify the misuse of one of our childrens phones, I am now forced into taking drastic and some would say, draconian, measures.

I am looking for a contract mobile phone tariff which offers the following;

circa 200 minutes free anytime any network
circa 200 texts free.

(now the interesting part )

The phone must not be allowed to make any calls/texts outside of the free allowance.

The phone must always be able to dial out and receive incoming calls from our home number, my mobile number and my wife's mobile irrespective of allowance used or not. So there may be additional charges each month but these will be limited to those three numbers.

The phone must not operate between the hours of 23:30 and 07:30 except for the numbers above.

Call it a 'parents tariff'

Does anyone know of any such tariff on any network in the UK?

Teenagers

I saw a great sticker on the rear of a car the other day. It read 'Employ a teenager now while they still know everything!'

 

[BlackC55]

I did not have a phone until I was sixteen. Back then it was rare for anyone to have a phone and my bills did not reach above £15/month. I hardly used it as it was so expensive back then.

My answer is don't let them have one or just get them a PAYG. they can top it up with pocket money.

 

[purplegoddess]

my daughter has a payg i put the credit on on the 1st of every month any extra she pays for herself its amazing how much less she uses

 

[verytalldave]

Nothing.....NOTHING like that exists. Unfortunatly.....because I have been there myself. 3 times.
The nearest you can get is a PAYG phone and limit the vouchers you "give" to £20 a month. You can program your phone to accept reverse charge calls. But thats about as close as you can get.
BTW.....I estimate £20 will last about 5 to 6 days if its a boy and you are lucky. If its a girl, then maybe a couple of days. Maybe.

 

[Alfie]

I did not have a phone until I was sixteen. Back then it was rare for anyone to have a phone and my bills did not reach above £15/month. I hardly used it as it was so expensive back then.

My answer is don't let them have one or just get them a PAYG. they can top it up with pocket money.

Yes but we need her to be able to make emergency calls at any time and with PAYG she wont be able to do that when she has run out of credit. Also we need to be able to effectively stop her from spending almost the entire night on the phone!

Being devious and resourceful are both character traits she has perfected well.

 

[Merc-C180K]

PAYG... But with a decent text deal. Tell them to only call in emergencies.

Or if they have a phone with an internet tarrif try something like vyke pro.

Or tell them to use MSN messenger.

 

[verytalldave]

Yes but we need her to be able to make emergency calls at any time and with PAYG she wont be able to do that when she has run out of credit. Also we need to be able to effectively stop her from spending almost the entire night on the phone!

Being devious and resourceful are both character traits she has perfected well.

You can still dial 999 with no credit.

 

[Merc-C180K]

Yes but we need her to be able to make emergency calls at any time and with PAYG she wont be able to do that when she has run out of credit. Also we need to be able to effectively stop her from spending almost the entire night on the phone!

Being devious and resourceful are both character traits she has perfected well.

Orange used to have some kind of 'overdraft' or x emergency calls free thing on PAYG.

Or just make them take out a number of 20ps out to use public pay phones...

 

[Merc-C180K]

You can still dial 999 with no credit.

I've not had a PAYG phone for a long long time but I think you can still "one bell" someone with little or no credit...

 

[purplegoddess]

Yes but we need her to be able to make emergency calls at any time and with PAYG she wont be able to do that when she has run out of credit. Also we need to be able to effectively stop her from spending almost the entire night on the phone!

Being devious and resourceful are both character traits she has perfected well.

on payg she will still be able to reverse charges or on 02 borrow a quid but i think most networks offer this service now and i think orange give you 2 free 30 second calls if you have no credit .the only thing you could do to stop her making calls at nite is to take the phone off her at nights

 

[Spinal]

This is out in the US, with some luck, the sim isn't locked?
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/2005-08-03-baig-kid-phones_x.htm

And in the US there are plans similar to what you are looking for, but they haven't been ported over yet... yet...
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2004/03/28/another_wrinkle_permitted_numbers/

I'll keep looking!
Michele

 

[Dieselman]

Also we need to be able to effectively stop her from spending almost the entire night on the phone!

Being devious and resourceful are both character traits she has perfected well.

Tie her hands behind her back....that should stop her.

 

[smartbrabus]

You can still dial 999 with no credit.

You don't even need a SIM card to dial 999 (or 112). Its part of the GSM Specification

 

[pammy]

Luckily I've never been hit with this. On PAYG my kids rarely needed topping up. Megs has had a contract phone for a year now and has bust it once - but told me first that was going to happen - and then it was only by a few quid.

I feel for you and don't know what the answer is - you risk a rebellion by restricing her too much, but then she needs to understand the consequences of her actions. I'd be inclined to check out the PAYG deals that offer an emergency fall back of those mentioned above. I don't see how you can prevent calls at night other than taking the phone off of her. If she runs out of credit then presumably the people she ran the bills up with will simply call her and that may be at silly times - so if she doesn't have the phone - she can't receive the calls.

I'd put the minimum of credit on too - say £5 or £10 a month letting her use your land line to other land line numbers only when she is in the house and taking and using the mobile only when she is out of the house if she really kicks off.

But I'd try and find a middle ground involving her in setting the level of control required and getting her to understand why it's necessary. Let her see that something has had to go because she has run up a big bill - did you have an activity planned with her which would show the impact?

Good luck!

 

[Alfie]

One bill we had came in at £290 for the month! That was the second time a big one had come in.

We explained that once more and it would all change. Hence my posting.........

 

[ShinyF1]

Being devious and resourceful are both character traits she has perfected well.

Is part of you proud in a 'chip off the old block' kind of way?

[NOT suggesting you are either devious or resourceful.....oh give up now]

 

[Alfie]

Is part of you proud in a 'chip off the old block' kind of way?

[NOT suggesting you are either devious or resourceful.....oh give up now]

No. She is far more devious than I ever was

 

[Merc-C180K]

No. She is far more devious than I ever was

I blame the internet...

 

[Alfie]

I blame the internet...

So do I, believe me........ MSN, Myspace, Facebook etc..........

 

[ShinyF1]

Good luck.

It is funnny how the mobile market hasn't closed the 'pitch phone at teenager, watch them become addicited and overspend' loophole. It's almost as if it would be against their interests