A cheap SIM can turn out to be very expensive
Parents: Think twice before giving your child a cheap SIM card
Adult Mobile phone contracts, even if they’re advertised as a “capped mobile contract”, simply aren’t suitable for children to use – particularly younger children. It’s very common for adults to fall into the trap of thinking that all they need for their kid’s mobile phone , their first mobile phone probably, is a cheap SIM card.
The lowest price SIM card may not turn out to be the cheapest.
The SIM may have the lowest monthly price, or the biggest possible bundle may well turn out to be ‘less cheap’ than you had bargained for. Less cheap after the child has racked up so big extra charges, and less cheap in terms of security and peace of mind.
Pay As You Go or Contract?
The most common trap is to believe that a PAYG or Pay As You Go SIM card will control spending! On the face of it it should, but it rarely does. You upload £15 onto the SIM and you can only spend £15 right? Well yes. But what happens when your child uses that £15 in data or SMS in the first 24 hours? You now have a child with a mobile phone that can’t be used to call home or other vital numbers. It’s a scary thought and this means the phone will end up being topped up once again … and so it goes on. That dream of £15 per month, capped, soon evaporates.
Telecoms companies call these extra costs “Breakages”. MMS, Directory Enquiries, unintended roaming, premium rate numbers, SMS shortcodes, overseas numbers etc … they’re all ways of extracting extra spending – even from a “capped” contract. A children’s Network needs to be different to this.
Cyberbullying
Online bullying is a growing problem for UK youths, where 1 in 4 state they have experienced something upsetting on social media. Being bullied online can be more devastating as kids are no longer able to leave their problems, and bullies, in the playground. In some cases, your child might not even know who their ‘online’ bully is. A ‘normal’ Cheap Mobile Contract comes with little to no ability to block calls or numbers. You may be able to block all anonymous call from the handset but is that what you want? Sometimes Caller-ID information is ‘lost’ in the network and doing this means that a potentially important call from home or work or school may be blocked.
Grooming
Without ‘being there’ on every call we all know that Grooming or ‘catfishing’ (pretending to be someone else online) is a big issue in the UK. What may be an obvious impersonator to an adult may not be to a child. Child Protection experts are increasingly recommending proper adult supervision where this is possible. A cheap SIM card doesn’t provide for this. A normal mobile phone is 11 digits away from anyone in the UK and only a few more from everyone in the world.
Control
A ‘normal’ phone network is designed for adults to use. Mobile phones can be a big distraction to the smaller users and your mobile phone company provides no way for you to determine what hours the phone can be used. For a grown-up this is no problem but for children this can result in lost sleep and poor attention span at school or at home as a result.
Peace of Mind With a Safe Mobile Network
A brand new parent–child friendly mobile network has recently launched called ParentShield. It is designed to allow children to have the independence of a normal mobile phone but with the strongest parental protection.
The network provides a powerful SIM which can be used in any unlocked mobile phone. It works exactly like any normal sim card, and has great coverage all over the UK through use of network roaming. Every feature of the network is designed to be child-safe from the spending controls, through to the call controls, alerts and monitoring capability.
Best of all your child can have the right phone for their age and the one they will be proud to show to their friends! There are special parental control phones available but what child wants to show their friends that?
Unique Features of ParentShield
- Use your choice of phone that your child will be proud to show off and is of the right level.
- Records all calls and texts to and from the sim card
- All texts and calls can be viewed in online ‘parent’ portal – Even ‘Deleted’ ones
- Unwanted texts or calls can be blocked at the touch of a button
- Internet can be turned on or off
- Free calls to home
- Time controls stop calls and texts after bedtime or during school time
- Adjustable security options so that your child can be given more freedom as they grow
- No advertising or encouragement to spend more is ever targeted by ParentShield at the user
- All premium-rate or extra-cost services are permanently blocked.
You should aim to be honest with your child about the risks of owning a mobile phone as well as the abilities of an engine mobile SIM – this encourages your child to be honest with you if they do face any problems.
You’re in control with ParentShield from Engine Mobile – so you know they’re safe. Click here or on the link below to find the best safe SIM plan for your children.
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