Mobile phones

[lizwizz]

My daughter wants a mobile, really just for emergencies but she'll probably start texting once she has one. Someone told me phone shops would give her a free one, but i presume that is only if she is on a contract. Which would be the best phone to get for minimal use and a bit of texting. I am on O2, I think my husband is on Orange, but may change soon. Thanks.

[LazyGun]

What I did in a similar situation was as follows;
1.I bought (on ebay) a cheap, unlocked mobile (about �30)
2.I got myself a SIM only contract with The Utilities Warehouse, costing around �5/month.
3.I got them to put a monthly spend limit of �10 on the phone; when it got close to the limit, they would send a text telling you that you were close to the monthly spend limit.
You can get details of UWs tariffs here;
http://www.telecomplus.org.uk/666834

If memory serves, all calls 8p/minute, all texts 7p per minute... I dont like packaged tariffs, cos all to often I dont feel Im getting value for money.

[prawncracker]

I wonder if any of your present suppliers are like Virgin. My wife recently changed her pay as you go Virgin phone for a clam shell jobby. She wanted to keep her original Virgin number so the shop gave her �10 in call credit as she didn't need the sim that was with the new phone. So they took the sim from her old (1 year old) phone and swapped it to the new one for her. Then seeing the "old" phone was an opertunity to ADD another customer they offered her a FREE sim to put in to her old phone. So I now have a phone that was going to be thrown away, and we are both very pleased.

PC

[Mattk]

If you are buying a phone for a child then I definitely recommend pay as you go so you can control the spending limits.in my experience kids go way over the spending limit leaving you to pick up the bills !