SIM card for kids phone?

[inkey$]

Hive mind. I'm well aware this may not be the correct audience for this advice, as many of you will have waved the kids away back in the 70's, 80's and 90's ( ), but my eldest son turns eleven in September and is getting his first mobile phone.

I've bought a second hand Apple SE, added a kids account to iCloud, setup tracking and all the inbuilt safety stuff, Life 360 etc - which is fine, however I'm now stuck at which SIM setup to get him and am looking for advice for those that may have done this in the last few years.

Calls and texts are the priority, but here are lots of SIM only deals at dirt cheap prices for decent data. Could I just get one of these and trust my iPhone setup skills to cover anything he shouldn't be bumping into online, or are there other dedicated SIM options for kids out there?

[Pondrew]

Calls and texts are the priority, but here are lots of SIM only deals at dirt cheap prices for decent data. Could I just get one of these and trust my iPhone setup skills to cover anything he shouldn't be bumping into online, or are there other dedicated SIM options for kids out there?

Believe me calls and texts will NOT be a priority (for him at least). Kids do not send texts via SMS anymore and they NEVER call anyone. Everything is done via instagram, tiktok, whatsapp, etc. You name it he will get it (or want to get it cos all his mates will be on them).

At eleven, chances are he will be at home mostly, so data usage isn't too much of a problem (can use home wifi).
I got my daughter a phone (at 11, six years ago), put it on my Vodafone account with minimum data. She never went over the data limit.
Now at 17 she is 'on' her phone every minute she is not at school (and probably there too!). She uses the home wifi about 80% of the time and has around 20gb data a month (IIRC).
She never goes anywhere near her data limit, even now.

You can set alerts for data usage, so it's just a case of teaching him how to keep an eye on it (and threatening him with many many things if he goes over).

Good luck and remember with fondness the days before he had a mobile phone when he actually spoke to you. Cos he won't from now on!

[inkey$]

Calls and texts are the priority, but here are lots of SIM only deals at dirt cheap prices for decent data. Could I just get one of these and trust my iPhone setup skills to cover anything he shouldn't be bumping into online, or are there other dedicated SIM options for kids out there?

Believe me calls and texts will NOT be a priority (for him at least). Kids do not send texts via SMS anymore and they NEVER call anyone. Everything is done via instagram, tiktok, whatsapp, etc. You name it he will get it (or want to get it cos all his mates will be on them).

At eleven, chances are he will be at home mostly, so data usage isn't too much of a problem (can use home wifi).
I got my daughter a phone (at 11, six years ago), put it on my Vodafone account with minimum data. She never went over the data limit.
Now at 17 she is 'on' her phone every minute she is not at school (and probably there too!). She uses the home wifi about 80% of the time and has around 20gb data a month (IIRC).
She never goes anywhere near her data limit, even now.

You can set alerts for data usage, so it's just a case of teaching him how to keep an eye on it (and threatening him with many many things if he goes over).

Good luck and remember with fondness the days before he had a mobile phone when he actually spoke to you. Cos he won't from now on!

Thanks, Pondrew; loving the logic of text and call not being important - makes a lot of sense, as does the use of wifi. Main aim is to teach him to throttle usage but I'm aware thats going to be an uphill battle

Really appreciate the response (as you say, also something I wont be getting from him after September)

[ronk]

An interesting read - I have Granddaughters and their father bought them a mobile with Data and Minutes.

No internet as yet fortunately as I don’t know how to child proof the system yet.

[inkey$]

Ended up ordering a Talk Mobile SIM (Vodafone). £5.95pm on a rolling monthly contract. 6GB capped data pm with unlimited calls/texts.

[coldel]

Not sure if it helps but I got my 11 year old two phones. A contract on ID Mobile with a cheapish Motorola and a twenty quid nokia old school button phone plus sim only £5 a month deal.

He uses his smart phone generally on wifi, he gets 3GB of data, but he does always try get onto the free wifi in coffee shops we are sitting in etc. Pretty much echoing all the above, he has numerous groups on WhatsApp and plays online games like Roblox where he connects with his friends. Its all about the data for that phone so that when he is not on wifi he isnt missing out on that social connect.

The Nokia is his out and about phone, he had to get the train to school on his own in year 6 primary so we felt getting a smart phone out would make him a target. So he has this old nokia with a keypad that interests no one, he uses it to call a lot actually whilst he is out and about, sometimes if he needs picking up, or if his friends ask him to go to their house after school etc he calls up and checks in. That phone has been a godsend really and the calls were the key part of that.

Eleven year old boys have no interest in texting their parents,they will ghost you, get used to it FYI

[pvr]

The idea of an old phone is a very good one, my children always took old phones on holiday for that exact reason (especially after the first non old phone from my son was stolen in Portugal).

[Pondrew]

The idea of an old phone is a very good one,

Only problem is, certainly as they get older, peer pressure to have a 'decent' phone get more and more. My daughter laughed when we said the word Nokia; she associates that word with phones for 'old people'!

[inkey$]

The idea of an old phone is a very good one,

Only problem is, certainly as they get older, peer pressure to have a 'decent' phone get more and more. My daughter laughed when we said the word Nokia; she associates that word with phones for 'old people'!

This is the problem. Its social currency and as he'll be moving schools too when we move, it just adds to the issue. He's just going to need to learn to be careful, not get it out all the time in public etc. Part of the reason I 'only' got him a second hand 2020 iPhone SE for £120.

[pvr]

I can't tell the difference between my old iPhone 10 and 14, externally they look the same to me

[TitanTim]

And to think I was over the moon with a Raleigh Chopper, pack of Silk Cut and a Zippo lighter at 11

Tim.

[coldel]

The idea of an old phone is a very good one,

Only problem is, certainly as they get older, peer pressure to have a 'decent' phone get more and more. My daughter laughed when we said the word Nokia; she associates that word with phones for 'old people'!

Does depend, I can imagine girls at 13 would be very image conscious. My sons mates right now dont care what he has. They know he has a smart phone at home and why he has the nokia at school.

Boys at 11 are still mad as a box of frogs and dont really care. His mates loved his Nokia they all wanted to play Snake on it. The amount of times he has dropped it and come home with it in pieces and I glued it back together...that would have been a £100 screen replacement instead!

[Pondrew]

And to think I was over the moon with a Raleigh Chopper,

They are worth more than the latest i-phone now!
Never had a Chopper . Parents were too tight. I had a 'Chopper look-a-like' that my dad got from the tip and did up for me. Still loved it and spent most of my childhood on it!

[TitanTim]

And to think I was over the moon with a Raleigh Chopper,

They are worth more than the latest i-phone now!
Never had a Chopper . Parents were too tight. I had a 'Chopper look-a-like' that my dad got from the tip and did up for me. Still loved it and spent most of my childhood on it!

Me and a mate used knock on doors on a Sunday morning offering car washing and would hang the buckets off the choppers handle bars. We would target houses with the most expensive cars for maximum profit and afterwards down to the corner shop to get our ciggies

I don't think my parents actually gave me pocket money back then so had to try and make money doing odd jobs.

Tim.

[pvr]

11 and ciggies? There was no hope for you …