landline phone lock
i know it is not spiritual but just again had a 54 quid phone bill due to my son calling mobiles.
i currently press a button and it locks key pad but kids worked out hoe to unlock it.
my landline is with sky they cant block mob due to box being called everyday by sky.
Anyone know of phone i can buy where i could key in a pincode to the handset
cheers guys
When my kids were young (eldest is now 36) they weren't allowed to use the phone for outgoing calls - incoming and "making arrangements" only. They had to put their own money in the call box at the end of the road. Sounds old fashioned now I know, but we still had the same problems back then and the phone was a really expensive commodity 20 years ago.
Jenny xx
Hi
I ended up leaving my 'free calls included' package with my ISP and ended up moving back to BT on the anytime (landline to landline ) package and have so far persuaded my three that they can use the landline to make landline calls and they use my mobile to make mobile calls. BT do this thing where you can pay a small premium and then mobile calls cost 7.20p per min not 12.5p - not sure if this would help you any in case of future 'accidents'
When i was a teenager I was forever running up phone bills until my mom made me pay half the line rental (there was only me n her living at home) plus we got an itemised phone bill and I was expected to pay for my calls. Soon put a stop to me ringing up people in Dorset for hours on end lol. It was also interesting because when we analysed the bill it turned out actually it wasnt ME that had been gassing for hours on end it was actually my mom who had been talking to her best friend for hours!!!
I wonder if giving your son a set top up per month on a when its gone its gone basis might be a good idea? He needs to find a way of 'working' off the debt from last months bill though as its not fair that you should pick up the tab.
Our daughter found an Internet friend in the US and called him when we were out! She was on there for some time too. There was hell to pay I can tell you!
After that she was grounded and she almost lost the chance to go to the US on the Rotary Youth Exchange programme. But we did relent as it was too good an opportunity for her to experience the big wide world.
I think that most parents have come up against this problem at some time. But as others have said, it needs a firm hand to get them back on the straight and narrow.
Love and hugs
Sandra xx
Which is completely free. It is a wonderful tool for us out here in spain as calls to our friends and family around the world cost nothing and with the webcam we get to see who we are calling too. Far cry from the phone box down the road!!!
Jenny xx
have you checked to see if you could get a bolt on or package for his phone so he gets a certain amount of free calls or texts for his money? Some of the phone companies do this on pay as you go, it might make his money last a little bit longer. My three also use MSN n facebook to keep in touch with their friends rather than phoning all the time xxxx
barca72 i can only re-iterate what others are telling you but when my daughter was young sheran up a £300 phone bill for me, as a single parent this was difficult for me and i told my daughter i could not afford huge bills like that, believing that i had got the message across to her(naively it turned out) the next quarterly bill was £600 so the phone had to go,no other option for me, but that was before i had sky, you could point this option out to your son, hope you manage to sort this out.craftyelf
Unplug the phone from the wall and keep it in your bedroom?
Extreme, and the kids will acquire a handset, but quick and easy.
Take half your Sons pocket money to make him pay towards the bill? He needs to understand actions have consequences.
The only way to stop the phone from being used is by contacting your provider (Sky) and getting them to put a bar on the phone that only you can put on and take off (with a pin number), this is a small cost per quarter/month (£1.75 a month or £5 something a quarter with BT, and Sky use BT lines so this should be available to you). They have to be able to do this, so ask to speak to the supervisor if the operator you deal with gives you the runaround. Threaten to go to the phone regulator (OfTel) if you don't get a satisfactory answer. Remember YOU pay the bill and have the right to determine how the phone is used.
Art ♥