Not a Home Improvement per se but if it's something that makes life easier, and removes stress at home, then, hey - it's an improvement at home!
ParentShield SIM Cards are a new(ish) development from a company we are close to called Engine Mobile Ltd. that provide a mobile network that's designed to be safe for children. It provides the children with a mobile network service that operates - for the children at least - exactly the same as any other mobile network.
For the parents, however, they get:
- Call Recording
- Text Recording
- Budgeting and Spending Controls
- Time Controls
- Caller blocking and restrictions
- Text Word Alerts
And plenty of other things as well. If you've never seen it - check out the ParentShield Features list It's an impressive list of features, and you can find even more by clicking through the links on that page.
The rationale behind the product is it allows parents to introduce mobile phones to younger children without the fear that they can run up a big bill, communicate with inapropriate people, or use the phone at the wrong times - such as after bed time or at school.
Because parents can listen to every call, and read every text message - even those deleted from the Phone - they are in a position to have sensible timely conversations with their children, and avoid any arguments that inevitably follow when you try and confiscate a mobile phone.
How does it work?
You place an order on the parentshield.co.uk website and the folks at ParentShield will pop you a SIM card in the post the same day. When it arrives, just put the SIM in any unlocked mobile phone and you're in business. With the SIM will come a temporary password for your ParentShield Portal at https://my.engine-mobile.co.uk This is where you make all the channges and listen to any recordings etc.
The Child's Phone just needs the SIM. Even if it's a well basic feature phone like the Nokia 106 or slightly funkier retro 3310, the service will work. There is no need for any app on the child's phone at all. Nothing to hack, nothing to install or configure, which is great for thise of us who know less about technology than the kids do!
The child just sees the symbol of the Network that it's connected to at the top of the phone. It makes calls, sends and receives SMS, just like every other network.
You can download the ParentShield App for your own phone if necessary, but it's actually not that necessary, or even all that good to be honest. You're better off just loggin into the Portal with you web browser, or even better that on your laptop or desktop. Tablets are good too.
Every change or setting that you make is active immediately.
Tariffs are pretty much as you'll recognise from any mobile network, starting at £9.99 per month. You will spot that they don't come with a huge data bundle, which may seem a bit unusual, but for younger children, you really don't want lots of data. Unlimited or uncontrolled data is actually a massive security concern that most of the ParentShield customers naturally want avoid.
It's a bit difficult in one blog post to get over all the things that ParentShield has crammed into this service - we tried it and have been genuinely blown away with us discovering a new feature, or tweak of what you normally might find in a mobile network, to make it incredible in a child's mobile network.
OK, so £9.99 per month for the starting level isn't the cheapest, but mobile networks have generally been racing to the bottom for some time now, and features-wise there is absolutely nothing between EE, Vodafone, O2 or Three. They're all identical and none has any of the features built into ParentShield.
The Privacy Thing
We were a little concerned about the privacy thing, but our child was very young and we explained the recording and monitoring, and it hasn't been an issue - they actually like the fact that they know they're being protected. ParentShield goes to some lengths over security, so everyone has been happy and we have no real concerns.
The Best Bit
Saved for last - the best bit of all, especially for anyone who lives in any rural location, is ParentShield is a ROAMING NETWORK, I put it in capitals because it's unusual. Dear Reader will be used to the phenomenon of 'piggybacking' - and know how Giff Gaff MVNO is really O2, Smarty MVNO is really Three, PlusNet is really EE etc. ParentShield is totally independent and has ( somehow -- it's probably magic ) managed to get agreements from all the mobile networks to connect to their signals.
So if Vodafone is the strongest signal - that's what it conects to, O2 of O2 is the strongest signal etc. This means there is virtually no place with no signals at all. Sure you could be up a mountain somewhere, but children are unlikely to be there on their own!
We'd love it if you'd check these guys out - us, like all their other customers are actually rewarded if you follow this link: https://parentshield.co.uk/?fuel=6. So we'd love it as we'll get a free month, but so will you. Even more to love.
They get some great reviews - check out https://www.reviews.co.uk/company-reviews/store/parentshield-co-uk where they collect customer feedback. There is the odd 1 star review as you tend to get for everything! but the overwhelming majority are as blown-away as we were. The service has been second-to-none and down to the weekly hints and tips emails, and super-fast delivery, everything was very slick. And it does show in the reviews here.
If you get a safe Child SIM from these guys, do leave us a comment below.
ps. Stickers! the child gets a sheet of shiny stickers with their phone number thrown in!
