h2oskineil

I thought this was a good deal for anyone with kids who go over the monthly usage on their mobiles.

$39.00 per month for unlimited calls to all standard calls, mobiles, voicemail, sms, mms, 1300 & 1800 + $GB of data.

I currently pay $29.00/month and my son stays below the cap (just) but those who's kids are costing them a fortune every month, this could work?

http://www.redbullmobile.com.au/pre-paid/prepaid-plans/

(Sorry MODS, this isn't meant to be a free advert!)

rasen78

Why pay for your kid's mobile? Shouldn't they pay for it themselves out of any pocket money/part-time job? And IMO I wouldn't be letting them have any data. You can't keep an eye on them when they are browsing on on the phone.

But it seems a similar deal to amaysim so we will be checking them out when we arrive

ozzieeagle

Do you mean anyone under 18... What about the safety aspect of owning a phone ? who pays for that ?

Personally I've gotten my two youngest kids phones. Now 14 and 17. I have a real beef about paying exobirtant rates to Telcos ... those prepaid plans just go right against the grain with their 90 cents per minute charges once you get past the freebies they throw in to get your business.

How can I get one kid a phone and not the other one is another argument..... I've got my son on Amaysim and unfortunately I'm stuck on a 60 buck all you can use plan for my 17YO daughter Iphone plan... it was part of a present and reward system for her doing so well at her music... She is almost certainly going to end up in the Melbourne Symphony orchestra.

Redbull I became aware of earlier this week... 366 dollars gets you a full years unlimited usage and a free phone. .... 5 gigs of data download per month.

Ironic thing is.... I'm the only one in my household without a Mobile phone or plan... I gave erm up years ago when I realised how annoying it was to be called to "pick this or that up" on my outings.

Wouldnt mind getting a phablet though... so I can talk to my parents on skype whilst on night shift.

rasen78

Hmm. Not entirely convinced on that one. Will have to wait and see how my 2 are when they are teens. At the moment (6 and 8) they are quite sensible and responsible) IF they were to have phones, they would only be for texting/calling home/parents. If they wanted to use them for social use (ie texting/calling friends) then I would expect them to pay for them themselves. Under the age of 18, I would not be paying for data usage. Their internet usage will (hopefully) be done at school and home under guidance.

But it has to be said, if they take after their Ma & Pa, (and they appear to be as trying to get them to talk to ROMFT, or anyone on the phone is a pointless exercise) they will be avoiding phones like the plague (well, for talking and texting anyway) Me & ROMFT don't do phones - hate 'em. Only talk on them when we HAVE to. Would quite happily live without a phone, but think me ma would be most unhappy that she couldn't text me at will

A Phablet? Now yer talking. Am hoping to maybe get the new Samsung S3 (is that classed as a phablet?)later in the year when we land, and have jobs

Penny45

Ha! Don't you remember saying to parents 'but everybody else can go to party/stay out late/sleep over/go to concert etc etc'? It's EVEN worse now when they're older. They break down all defences you know! I had 'but everyone else has smart phone/I've moved to another country, it's important to keep in touch with my old friends/my new friends need to get hold of me/party invites come on facebook blah blah blah'.
My little one (12) has smart phone but can't be bothered to sort data settings out. The older one (15) never has the blackberry more than 2 feet away from her, we do extract at night after learning the hard way (another long story).
Once they get given laptops in secondary school then there's no controlling their internet usage anyway, unless you are constantly looking over their shoulder.

moneypenny20

Ahh there speaks the parent of small children. My youngest 17 would happily pay for her own phone however she cannot find work for love nor money, she doesn't get pocket money, she gets stuff if she needs it, gets her phone paid and gets something if she's going out. If the child (I'm talking 15/16 onwards) pays for their own phone, how on earth can you then decide if they can have data or not? If you don't pay, you don't really have a say in what they use the phone for.

Saying that, mine weren't allowed mobiles until they went to high school and were going to be away from parents having freedom. They also weren't allowed smart phones until they were 16. After that there's a limit to what you can control. Sadly!

Wish mine were still under 10 sometimes

ozzieeagle

Just out of curiosity, how will you go with them looking at the data on their freinds phones ?

I suspect by the time your two get to be teenagers there will be data plans or voip calls only.

Stopping access to data is a bit like King Canute.

rasen78

I would HOPE they would have the commonsense to know what is suitable to look at and not. The reality, I'm sure, will be very different I can only hope that they will grow to be sensible, well rounded teens, who are not led by peer pressure to do silly things (like smoking), or indeed are not the ones to be doing the leading.

This parenting lark...

moneypenny20

Who'd do it, huh?

rasen78

Well, if we'd listened to our parents, probably none of us, but kids always know best don't we

ozzieeagle

Yehp

Feel very guilty about our oldest we were so idealistic that we lived to such firm alternative beliefs, that she is almost indoctrinated into permanently thinking that way.

Luckily we saw the light with our much younger last two and went totally main stream. Those Steiner places should come with a health warning.

Dreamy

My three didn't have mobiles until they got to 16. Then they had a basic pre-paid mobile which only worked when they had credit and didn't have a data plan.

Once they started uni, they got a contract phone on my account - I pay for a basic package and if they want (or spend) any more than that then they pay for it. In the last three years, neither of the two with a contract phone have even come close to their allowance, either on calls or data usage. None of them are particularly typical teenagers

I've attempted to bring them up to be fairly responsible so I couldn't give a crap what they look at, to be perfectly honest. And actually.. I'd rather not know. :: shudder ::

Cookster

Ive just renwed a couple of contract phones on Optus recently. To be honest I cant be arsed trawling the internet for better price plans than the ones they had before. My daughter and son 19/16 have had contract phones for years now and ive always thought it was a small price to pay for them always to be contactable. Daughter was away at school in UK so always wanted to be able to talk to her. As far as internet use, I think that the majority of kids know what to look at and what not to look at, and to be honest I think you have to trust them at the end of the day.

paddyo

LiveConnect is excellent monthly plans, come and go as you please. I am on a $25 month with a fantastic deal and my wife is on $15 plan, all good and easy to manage. My first month has shown almost negligable use so might even reduce my plan!!
http://liveconnected.com.au/
Seriously....very good plans!!

moneypenny20

They are good deals, it's a shame they don't do phone deals as well. Might consider them when my contract is up, providing I can find the phone I want for a reasonable price. Thanks for that.