First mobile phone contract for children: What parents need to know

Many children and teenagers nowadays have their own smartphone at a young age. But cost control plays a very important role, especially with the first cell phone contract. Various children's tariffs are available for this purpose.

Online from childhood

Analyses by the IT industry association Bitkom show that around two-thirds of all children between the ages of six and nine already have their own smartphone. Among ten to twelve year olds, the proportion is already over 90 percent.

All generations today live in the digital age. For this reason, parents have a special responsibility towards their children.

Families should choose the first cell phone contract for their children carefully. Flexible terms and cost control play an important role. There are various models to choose from for this purpose.

Full cost control with prepaid cards

Many children and young people enjoy surfing the Internet. However, popular apps such as TikTok or WhatsApp require large amounts of data. If parents still want to maintain full control over costs, prepaid cards are a good choice. Parents can top up these cards with the desired amount of credit. All costs for telephone and internet use are deducted from this credit.

A good choice is the CallYa prepaid offer from Vodafone. The provider offers various packages that are tailored to the needs of children of different age groups. The monthly top-up for the starter package is 4.99 euros.

Services of the CallYa starter tariff

The CallYa starter tariff includes one gigabyte of data volume, free calls and SMS in the Vodafone network as well as 200 minutes or SMS in all other German networks. However, older teenagers or children usually need more data volume, which is also available from mobile phone providers. For a basic monthly fee of seven euros, Congstar even offers three gigabytes for prepaid children's tariffs.

This Allnet S prepaid tariff with 5G includes three gigabytes of data volume, 25 Mbit/s download speed and an SMS and telephone flat rate to all German networks.

The one-time connection fee is 9.99 euros.

Advantages of additional or family cards

Alternatively, parents can also handle the first mobile phone contract for their children using additional cards. If one or both parents already have a contract with the respective provider, other family members can get an additional phone number through the additional cards and benefit from the existing smartphone contract. The costs and conditions of these additional cards vary from provider to provider.

Additional cards from Vodafone or Telekom

Vodafone calls the additional cards Family Cards. These cards are available in different package sizes with different data volumes. A disadvantage of these additional cards is the lack of the option to cancel monthly at any time. The minimum contract period for the additional cards is 24 months.

Another option is additional cards from Telekom. Freenet Mobilfunk offers MagentaMobil Plus cards. The first additional card with a data volume of 20 gigabytes costs 19.99 euros per month. Each additional card costs 9.99 euros per month.

The first mobile phone: from what age?

Even though the Internet and smartphones have only been available to us for a few decades, we can no longer imagine everyday life without these technologies. It is therefore not yet clear what long-term effect the use of social media has on our brains. For this reason, the AOK only recommends that children use cell phones from the age of nine. Cell phones should only function to a limited extent during childhood.

Before boys and girls use a smartphone for the first time, their parents should have already prepared the children well in dealing with the technology.

Ideally, parents should regularly supervise their children while they are using their smartphones. This way, children can be gradually introduced to the Internet, mobile phones and social media. This way, everyone involved can establish healthy usage habits.

Clear rules for mobile phone use

It is equally important to set clear rules for mobile phone use right from the start. In addition to these usage times, agreements should also be made about the correct behavior on social networks or in chats. Depending on the age of the user, special protection functions on the devices are helpful. Numerous app and website blocks are essential to protect children from content that is harmful to minors.