EE UK Launches New Mobile Smartphone Plans for Under 18s
Broadband and mobile operator EE (BT) has today responded to the UK government’s drive to wrap everybody under the age of 18 in cotton wool by becoming the “first major network” to launch a dedicated Smartphone proposition (mobile plans) for U18s, called “Safer SIMs” – part of its commitment toward “being the UK’s best network for families“.
The new plans are designed with network level website content controls, scam call protection, spending caps and “Stay Connected Data” – the latter allows you to stay online after you’ve used up all your data, albeit at a speed of 0.5Mbps (already a normal feature on a lot of EE’s mobile plans).
Safer SIM plans are available on any smartphone device and are being supported by the option of new in-store online safety appointments with trained guides available in over 400 EE retail stores. The guides will work to provide “online safety support and practical guidance to parents and carers, as well as advice on setting-up device level controls“.
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The new initiatives come as a new study conducted for EE by Opinium claims to have found that only 52% of parents feel they have the right tools and guidance to manage their child’s smartphone and social media usage, and 78% of children admit they conceal some of their online activity from their parents (aka – privacy).
A total of three new 30-day “Safer” SIM-only plans are due to launch “next month“, which will be tiered with different levels of controls and start from £7 per month.
Safer SIM Plans
Protected Plan: Ideal for the first few years of secondary school, with strict mobile network content controls when accessing websites, unlimited calls/texts with premium numbers, 150 text services and charge to plan blocked, reduced speeds (0.5Mbps) to limit streaming, as well as scam call protect
Guided Plan: Supports growing independence, and ideal for early teenage years with moderate mobile network content controls when accessing websites, 3GB data at 10Mbps, unlimited calls/texts with premium numbers, 150 text services and charge to plan blocked, and scam call protect. A pay-as-you-go version of the Guided Plan will also be available at launch
Trusted Plan: Ideal for older teenagers, with moderate mobile network content controls when accessing websites, 10GB data at 100Mbps, unlimited calls/texts with premium numbers, 150 text services and charge to plan blocked, and scam call protect
EE is also launching The P.H.O.N.E Chat, a content resource created to help parents explain the responsibility of smartphone ownership. This guide has been designed with support from Internet Matters, children, and their parents, to aid conversations about owning a phone, and includes details of how to talk about using their first handset. This is already available online, and in-store in the coming weeks.
Claire Gillies, CEO at BT Group’s Consumer Division, said:
“As the UK’s best network for families, we understand that while smartphones offer many benefits to people, there are also very real risks and challenges, especially for young people. As a parent of a teenager, I too have had to balance the benefits and challenges that come with giving our children their first smartphone.
I am proud that EE has consistently been an industry leader for online safety and today’s announcement is yet another example of our commitment to providing helpful tools and guidance to families. Our new initiatives and resources are there for parents at every stage of their child’s adolescence, so they can safely and confidently make the choice about smartphone usage that is right for them and their family”.
We should point out that the big mobile operators already offer network-level content filtering controls and tech-savvy parents will no doubt already be able to figure out how to setup a Smartphone to be safe for their children, without needing to take out a special mobile plan. But clearly that knowledge isn’t going to be universal and this is where EE’s new plans may help to simplify.
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However, we can’t help but think that the government’s root and branch approach to introducing age-based restrictions (verification) across the internet is both needlessly excessive (it’s impacting all sorts or regular services and messaging systems) and easily defeatable (VPN). Not to mention the notion of treating young adults aged 15-18 in roughly the same way as much younger children is a touch insulting for people in that age group.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Since when is 500kbps acceptable in 2025.. god sake EE atleast make it 10 meg.
Clearly nobody thought about bullying at school. The kid with the 0.5mbps will be bullied as the pauper whilst the kid that has full fat SIM scoffs.
Any lockdown enforcement of DNS? Teenagers quite nifty at knowing this stuff.
Do you really think speeds are going to cause people to be bullied? I would assume more whether a user is using an iPhone or not, I know practically one or two people at my age that use an Android device, it’s all iPhone now.
Myself, I think all phones should be banned at school, they should either be left at home or put in a locker and given back at the end of the day.
I know, people will say it is different times than when I was at school, but they go to school to learn.
The problem is these days, parents have no idea what their kids are doing half the time, and don’t seem to care.
Just my observation.
I realise mobile phones are an easy way for parents to contact kids when they are out, but maybe kids should have non-smart phones.
Too many kids, looking at their phones while on their bikes and walking across the roads, how on earth we don’t more of them killed, I don’t know. Adults do that as well, is anything so important on their phones that they have to use them on bikes or while walking?
Maybe I am getting old and out of date, but it seems stupid not to look where you are going.
@insertfloppydiskhere,
potentially yes, it could be the kid with the Android phone and the one that cant do anything because mummy and daddy have given them the ‘kiddies’ SIM. Or the kid with an iPhone but can’t do anything on it because of Kiddie SIM….You’d think that if the school has WIFI that would have filters anyway.
‘Myself, I think all phones should be banned at school, they should either be left at home or put in a locker and given back at the end of the day.’
They are in most. Kids use them during the day they’re confiscated. Maybe in 6th form they get to use them during breaks but what you’re talking about is standard.
Particularly agree with your comment “Not to mention the notion of treating young adults aged 15-18 in roughly the same way as much younger children is a touch insulting for people in that age group.” bearing in mind that according to Starmer {the PM} they are workers and should and will be allowed the vote in elections; well maybe a few will be apprentices but most will still be in schools (mandatory) and not workers till they are 18 still but still restricted as children – no drinking, no smoking, driving restrictions etc….. Political jiggery pokery. For EE an opportunity to try and increase sales and profit by giving parents an easy out over mobile communications.
Wasn’t aware people had to work to vote? When did that become a thing?
Only works via the EE mobile network tho, and not when the device is connected to WiFi. So nice headlines but ultimately pointless.
Most smartphones have parental controls, they could just enable that which would work on Mobile data or Wifi.
Oh dear lord, I’m with everyone so far! My 9 year old son got around his Mom’s and step dad’s block by using WiFi, I wonder who taught him… Oops! Then I stepped in and locked it down with WiFi triggers, screen timers and emails of what the kids are using, both on cell and WiFi.
All 3 kids now understand that safety is paramount and I’ve blocked Facebook, X and other antisocial networks. All this while on Giff Gaff,
Nice try EE but that speed is a joke, my kids stream a lot, especially from my media server, and 500kbps isn’t when good enough for 720p video, they certainly haven’t done their homework!
That’s a F mark for them!
Overpriced and utterly pointless.
Ah yes, think of the children!
I am genuinely that fed up with this: coming from a 17 year old here. Parents need to parent rather than relying on corporations to do parenting for them.
Plus, these filters are going to make no difference to the fact that I’ve heard that the problem isn’t bad stuff online for people around my age: it’s things like drugs and alcohol. I unfortunately know several people who have used various substances and I do think part of this is just because parents aren’t always paying attention to their kids or haven’t always been the best. I know some people who are around the same age with great parents and they’re not using bad language all the time and they’ve never even drunk alcohol.
0.5mbps speed cap on a plan is a bit disappointing too, and guess what, on an Android phone you can implement a speed cap.
Agree, well done.
I wont be surprised if allot of the people forced to use this will also make use of second sims/esims.
I remember back when I was in school, pre-modern smartphones, it was a constant cat and mouse between us and the school to bypass the web filters to play flash games, etc.
In the end, they ended up just installing remote monitoring software.
To be clear, this was on the schools computers.
I don’t think 10 GB of data is enough for any teenager in 2025
Seems like a loss before they’ve even started. I have a 13 year old and the school has free WiFi for the students! So the 0.5mbps is a waste of time.
EE has been and always will be the most expensive network
A generous interpretation is that if it’s running at 0.5Mbps there’s not a lot of bad stuff that you’ll be doing with it, and that it’s not EE attempting to be stingy. Ideal for the kind of parent that primarily wants to give their kid a phone so that they can stay in contact and be tracked.
I’d hope or assume the school’s own wifi has fairly strict content filters anyway.
Why not just get your child an Apple Watch when they’re young teen and get them an iPhone when older? Doesn’t have to be the latest model or brand new. But they’re so locked down that you can essentially manage it as a remote device.
Everyone picking up on the 0.5mbps data not being enough. That’s the keep connected data if they run out of their usual allowance. They will still get data of normal speed up to whatever allowance the plan they have allows. However if they use up that data then they will be on the 0.5mbps speed which will mean the child can still do things like being able to load an app to check what their homework is, contact parents on WhatsApp or even use Google/apple maps. This is good for emergencies if they’ve run out of data. I’m pretty sure with EE parents can also gift data if they need to when they’re on the same account, it’s a fall back option and better than the alternative of having 0 connectivity when they run out of data.