Great Phone Contracts For Kids: Keep Control Of Your Bills

A lot of kids nowadays have their own mobile phones, so don’t be surprised when your child starts asking for one. Whilst there are negative issues associated with giving a child their own mobile, such as the possibility of them giving contact information to strangers or accessing inappropriate content over mobile internet, letting your child have a phone isn’t necessarily a bad idea. Particularly if your child is old enough to go to and from school alone, having a mobile means that they can contact you in an emergency, and, of course, that you can get hold of them wherever they are. Once you decide that your child is old enough to be responsible for a phone, then you’re going to have to think about what kind of contract to get them. There are a few options available to you. Today we’re talking about the best options for contract phone deals for kids. So if you’re thinking about getting your little one their own phone, keep reading to get all the info you need.

Pay As You Go Options…

The most common option that most parents go with is not to get a contract at all, but rather to go with pay as you go. There are advantages to this. Your child can only spend as much money as there is credit on the phone, so you don’t get any nasty bills. Children can also pay for credit themselves, which teaches them a valuable lesson about the true value of money. Pay as you go deals tend to have slightly higher calling and texting prices than contracts, but for a lot of people this extra cost is offset by only paying for the time that’s actually used, rather than having an allotted amount of calling minutes and texts that may or may not be used. However, the down side of going with pay as you go is that once the credit is gone, it’s gone, and the phone can no longer make calls or send texts. If you’re giving your child a phone so that they can get hold of you in an emergency, this rather defeats the purpose. Fortunately, you have other options.

Contract Phone Deals with Caps…

Few people know that it’s actually possible to cap your phone contract. Mobile service operators are perfectly capable of cutting off your service once a certain amount of money has been spent per month. However, they might not be very willing to do it. In general, providers cap contracts for their own good, rather than for that of the customer. If a customer has proven unreliable at paying high bills in the past, a network may opt to cap his contract. Some mobile operators will do it on request, though many will need a better reason than “because my kid spends too much money.” Each mobile operator has its own requirements for capping a contract, so you’ll need to go to the help section on the web site of your chosen provider and see what those requirements are. The only provider that advertises an easily capped plan is Tesco Mobile. With Tesco Mobile you can limit both your own contract and the contract of any child that you sign a contract for. The process can be done online or at a retail store, and is pretty simple.

T-Mobile’s Alternative…

T-Mobile has a good contract phone deal that’s an alternative to capping with other operators. With the U Fix tariff you can get the best of both worlds. Basically, the tariff is exactly like a normal pay monthly plan. You get a set amount of calling minutes, text messages and data for a set monthly fee. However, with U Fix once you’ve used up your limit, the service automatically stops, and you have the choice of either not using your phone until the next billing cycle starts, or topping it up with credit as you would with a pay as you go phone. This is a great compromise between pay as you go and monthly plans. It also allows you as the parent to pay a fixed monthly bill, whilst if your child needs more credit, he or she can top up anything outside of their monthly plan.

Go With Three…

Another excellent phone contract for kids is any of several offered by the network provider Three. The nice thing about many of Three’s contract deals is that they come with unlimited data and unlimited texting, and then a set amount of calling minutes per month depending on how much you’re willing to pay. Whilst your kid might go through all their calling minutes, the majority of kid’s credit is spent on sending texts and being online. Having the unlimited option for data and texting means that your child can use those services as often as he or she wants without incurring extra charges. These plans are particularly suitable for teens. You may get extra charges for using extra calling minutes, that depends on how much your kid phones. But calling minutes are cheaper than extra data charges, and your child may be more willing to keep to set calling limits if he or she can text or surf the internet as much as they want.

Family Plans…

Another option is to go for one of the many family plans that are offered through mobile service providers. Most major providers have a family plan of some kind. These plans do nothing to limit your child’s cell phone spending, but they do have some advantages. Firstly, you tend to get cheaper prices by adding another phone onto your contract, and often special deals like extra calling minutes or data in your plan. Secondly, as the bill holder, you’ll be in control of all accounts, and can keep an eye on how money is being spent. Most companies will provide detailed billing information so you will know exactly what your money is being spent on. These plans are better for older kids who tend to be more responsible.