Mobile Phone And What Is Using All My Credit

[Kassee]

Actually its my daughter's PAYG mobile phone, I am paying for it, and her credit is going basically down the pan at an alarming rate.

She is not happy with simple to understand use like texting and ringing people. She uses Whats App, downloads music and listens to it, and I am not sure where the money is going. Often the music and ringtones and other stuff is sent to her via her mates.

Any help please ?

[Mass_Hysteria]

Peer pressure, keeping up with her mate!
Do kids ever talk on their phones to each other anymore? lol

Just started a new contract for my daughter with unlimited everything for £25.50 per month. Happy with this as I shouldn't get any nasty surprises!?

[Kassee]

I cant afford that, I only spend £10 a month on my own, and I NEED to make phone calls.

[boxtops]

How old is your daughter, kassee - old enough to understand that you can't afford to keep topping her up?

[bednobs]

it will be the downloading stuff - she'll be paying for the data to do that. Stuff like you tube eats up data very fast. Also, check that when she listens to music she is not listening via the internet each time, rather that she's actually downloaded it onto the phone. Does she mainly use it at home? Do you have wifi? if yes to both, a contract might be better

[tamborine]

can you put her phone on wifi, so she only downloads at home or where wifi is available free

[Buenchico]

You've not indicated which provider your daughter's phone uses. You need to ensure that (whichever one it is), you're getting the best deal.

For example, if a pay £10 to top-up my Vodafone mobile then, unless I do anything else, I'll just get £10 of credit. Given that data usage would then be charged at £1 per day (and that I'd have to pay for texts and calls as well), I'd run out of credit within about a week.

However simply claiming the 'Vodafone freebie' that comes with a £10 top-up would give me half a gigabyte of data, plus 300 free texts, on top of the basic £10 credit. Is you daughter getting any such 'freebies' from her service provider?

[hc4361]

Look at her bill - even on PAYG you will be able to see an itemised bill which will tell you where the money is going.
She may have unwittingly signed up for a ringtone service that charges x amount a month, for example.

[Kassee]

Oh thanks hc, how do I find her bill when its PAYG ?

[Yorky Lass]

I'm curious too Kassee. I've been PAYG for years and years and have no idea where to find a bill. I just topup as and when.
Has your daughter left roaming setup on her phone. This could be eating her money. I ALWAYS just use free wifi to connect to the internet.
Have a look at Asda http://www.asdamobile.com/compare_tariffs.html
I'm with Asda but just use the normal topup not a bundle, it's sufficient for me. They currently use the Vodaphone network but are going over to EE next April.

[snags]

What network is your daughter on and is the handset unlocked? If so, consider switching to T-Mobile (EE): I'm with them and for £10 a month I get 100 minutes, 400 texts and 1GB data: see here for other options:

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/pay-as-you-go/plans/

[Old_Geezer]

Ensure she pays for her own use !

[Kassee]

Well would be lovely if she paid for her own use, own clothes, own transport, own haircut, own food, own day trips with the school etc etc. But she is 11 years old.

The idea of a bill, set me thinking, been on line and spoke to a very helpful nice lady from Tesco, who looked into her tariff etc, and it was a premium rate number that she had called, apparently to win an apple ipod or something, and it was continually taking money out of her PAYG phone.

They are sending me a new sim in the post, and they will help me put Adult blocks on the sim so that she cant ring premium rate nos. Also will arrange a data bundle. So it all looks pretty good, and most probably was my own fault for not looking into "adult blocks" sooner. In fact I might block the internet altogether not sure yet.

Thank you for all your help. No doubt the problems will get bigger (with new technology - and my lack of understanding) the older she becomes !!! Thanks so much.

[Kassee]

My older children grew up in a world of simple technology, where I was always ahead of the game, and understood everything they were doing .....ahhh it was bliss.
But now my youngest is growing up in an age of new technology, she understands it all and how to access it, and I am lagging far behind, struggling to keep up, and not knowing what she is doing. Dreading the days of facebook, so far I've kept her off, cos I told her it was illegal at her age.

[hc4361]

Kassee, I missed that she is on Tesco. Here is the account log in page for future use:
http://www.tescomobile.com/my-account

[hc4361]

Kassee, are you sure she is not on Facebook? It's so easy for kids to set up accounts using nicknames etc.

[Old_Geezer]

Well, putting aside the discussion regarding mobiles and 11 year olds, why not give her a credit receipt one a month and tell her it has to last until the next one.

[Old_Geezer]

Ah I see you have a solution. Good to see.