We’ve reached the point at home where our child will need a mobile phone (heading to secondary school in Sept), and my wife has been using a very old Apple iPhone 4/4S which is struggling with modern apps etc.

My phone contract is up shortly too, so I thought it would make sense to consolidate three potential accounts into one ‘family’ account – so get new phones for jr and the missus, and add my phone to the account, so we only pay one monthly sum.

However, I’ve struggled to find anywhere that does handset and airtime ‘family’ contracts – there are loads of ‘sim-only’ but we need at least two new handsets and from some cursory searching I’ve not found anywhere that offers that. I know I could buy the handsets separately but I’d rather spread the outlay out over the contract period rather than stump up hundreds up front.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Sky do this I think – not a recomendation as I don’t use them myself

Not sure if EE do, all our contracts are with them and all tied together via mine, so I can see them all, share data etc. I think you also get a small discount on additional lines. So maybe give them a call and ask, I’m sure they set them up for you. They also put all the kids accounts protections on our two’s at source. I’m sure other providers do the same too.

We have been doing it with EE for years with our two girls. One bill at the end of the month.

EE here also, more than happy. Being able to share data (teenage daughter always needs a bit more before the end of the month) is very handy.

If there’s a setup that allows me to turn off my kids data remotely that would be nice. I can set time limits on the kids WiFi ssid, but would like to do something similar for data. I probably wouldn’t use it, but it’s a good threat. 😀

I use Sky for my wife and eldest’s phones (I have a work phone).  We have one handset and one sim only.  The data that is not used is banked and can be used to top up the other account if required all via the MySky app.

In terms of limiting access to data/apps (well maybe not data as such, but if you block access to safari, whatsapp etc then it’s the same effect), I can do this via the Apple Family Sharing functionality as we all use iphones (google may have similar for android) rather than by anything that service provider offers.  My daughter was not happy when I carried out my threat to deny access to. certain apps she had (she also can’t download apps without my permission).

I have something similar to above with EE, one main sim only £20/month, unlimited calls and text plus 200gb data and bt sport plus 3 additional sims at £8/month each with unlimited calls and texts but only 2 gig data but then the ability to share data from the main sim to the others. All on one bill at the end of the month.

I have an unlimited EE sim in my router and an £8 sim (unlimited text and minutes) in my phone, I can gift up to 100gb from the unlimited SIM per month.

Give EE a call and explain what you’re after, I was very happy with the customer services the last time i rang.

Young Kip has just received her first phone pre secondary school (and to stay in contact with friends during lockdown). We bought the handset outright and went for a Virgin SIM advertised on Money Saving Expert (the Martin Lewis site) as it was the best deal out there, even better than direct with Virgin.

I have locked it the heck down using the Google Family Link set up as it’s android, which means I can lock any or all apps if required as well as set/extend time limits, set permissions for downloading apps and accessing websites. It works really well but it took forever to set everything up (done over a few days when YK was at school and didn’t know the phone had arrived which I highly recommend doing).

Virgin do family deals but as I’m on O2 and Mr Kip’s Virgin account didn’t give us anything extra there was no point. May be worth a look just to see.

We have a BT Family Sim package – 5 SIMS via one account. Not sure if it’s the cheapest anymore but certainly reduced phone admin.

BT here too but I am thinking of shopping around.

Giff gaff don’t do family plans but do let you buy more expensive (over about £125) handsets on credit. e.g. £149 Huawei shows as £25 up front + £5.96 per month over 2 years. Handsets are unlocked and sim free.

I’ve no idea if that is a good price or reasonable credit deal or whether your bank / credit card is a better deal. I have bought handsets from them before when the price / handset was right although I paid up front.

Might help you price up options if you need to separate buying handsets and sims.