Most scientists say that mobiles don't threaten the health of children or adults. Even so, if your children use mobiles, it's best to only make essential calls and to keep calls short.
The Department of Health has a leaflet on their website called ‘Mobile Phones and Health’. For more information visit www.dh.gov.uk
Many mobiles can now access the Internet, so you might want to protect your children from harmful or offensive websites.
Our free Parental Control service limits the websites children can use on their mobiles. It only lets them use sites that have been classified as suitable and interesting for children under 12.
To switch Parental Controls on or off;
Log into My Tesco Mobile and; 
- Go to 'My Settings'.
- Enter your 4-digit PIN code.
- In the 'Current setting' field, select 'Parental control'.
- Then, click on the 'Action' button. Or call 61818 free (from your Tesco Mobile phone) and follow the prompts.
Note: BlackBerry operate their own network infrastructure, which means that the Parental Controls option listed above does not apply to Blackberry handsets. Blackberry do block the Internet Watch Foundation list of ‘potentially criminal content’ but this does not capture all forms of 18+ content. We are working with Research in Motion to make Parental Controls available on BlackBerry handsets by approximately July 2012.
Most mobiles and computers use Bluetooth and WiFi. These features let you connect to other mobiles, computers or networks without wires. They also mean other people can send you unexpected or unwanted messages. Parental Control can't restrict downloads from computers or mobiles using WiFi or Bluetooth.
For help with your mobile's Bluetooth and WiFi settings, call our Customer Care team on 4455 free (from your Tesco Mobile phone) or 0845 301 4455 from any other phone and select option 4.
To report a mobile lost or stolen:
- Call our Customer Care team as soon as possible on 0845 301 4455, they'll restrict the number so no one will be able to make or receive calls with the mobile or it's SIM card.
- Then you should report the theft to the police. The police will be able to identify a stolen mobile if it's been 'properly marked' with your postcode. Your local police station will have more information about how to do this.
It'll also help if you know the mobile's IMEI number. This is a 15-digit serial number unique to every mobile and you'll find it on the label behind the battery.
You can also ping a pound's worth of your credit to anyone else, your child or a friend, as long as they are on the Tesco Mobile network.
To switch on ping me a pound;
- Log into My Tesco Mobile.
- Go to 'My Cards and Services' and register the mobile numbers you want to add to the service.
- Or call 282 free (from your Tesco Mobile phone) and follow the prompts.
When your children use their mobile, it’s not just the cost of calls and texts you need to think about. They can spend money on other things too;
It costs to enter competitions, vote on a TV show or order ring tones, wallpapers and alerts using a mobile. These services are often charged at a premium rate. Make sure your children know exactly what they’re getting and what it costs.
You have to subscribe to some text and picture message services. Once a subscription is set up, text or picture messages are delivered on a regular basis, with a separate charge for each one. To stop this kind of service, just reply to the text with the word 'stop'.
It's important to be know if you're using a premium rate service. All premium rate dialling codes in the UK begin with the numbers 09.
To block premium rate calls from your child's mobile:
Login to `My Tesco Mobile' using your child's mobile number. You will need your child's phone with you as a randomly selected 7 digit PIN will be sent to their phone so you can access the account. Once you are logged in;
Young people can get hold of music from many different sources, including download sites, blogs and social networking sites. They can swap tracks between computers, mobiles and portable music players.
It's important to understand the difference between illegally downloading copyrighted music, and buying or listening to online music legally.
It's important that people keep their personal details secure. This can be a challenge as there are many places where children can leave their details and images without realising the consequences.
People can use their camera phone to send and receive pictures and videos, so they need to be used carefully. It's important that your children don't misuse them.
Anybody with camera on their mobile can also use multimedia chat rooms, where photos or video clips are placed in public forums. The photos can then be copied and sent on to other people.
Children can use social networking, chat and messaging services on mobiles and computers to keep in touch with their friends. But they need to understand the risks.
Our own public chat rooms are moderated, but we can't control chat services provided by other companies. So if children are invited from a public forum into a private chat, which is a one-to-one chat between two people using nicknames, they need to know how to stay safe and remember that people online may not be who they say they are.
Mobile numbers and personal details shouldn’t be shared and users should be wary that they don't really know the person they’re talking to. One-to-one chat could be used, for example, by an adult who wants to strike up inappropriate relations with a child.
To understand the appeal of social networking sites like Bebo and Facebook, you could set-up your own page - it's usually free - so you'll be able to talk to your children about what they can do to stay safe online.
Parental control is a feature that limits web surfing from a mobile to sites that are suitable for children aged 12 or under. If you've set-up Parental controls, then your children won't be able to access social networking services. As they grow up, this might place too much of a restriction on what they can do, and you may decide to turn it off.
To switch Parental Controls on or off;
Log into My Tesco Mobile and;
- Go to 'My Settings'.
- Enter your 4-digit PIN code.
- In the 'Current setting' field, select 'Parental control'.
- Then, click on the 'Action' button. Or call 61818 free (from your child's Tesco Mobile phone) and follow the prompts.
Texts can be sent between mobiles and also from computers. As well as one-to-one messaging, you can have a text conversation with several people at the same time in a chat room. Texting in a chat room is done anonymously using nicknames.
Picture messages are like text messages but can contain photos, videos and sounds. Picture messages can be kept on your mobile and also sent to an online album, where they can be stored, altered and re-sent to other people.
Mobiles can also receive information and entertainment services by text or picture messaging, such as celebrity gossip or football scores. You have to sign up to these services and they're charged at a premium rate. Some services are classified as 18+ and are only available to people who have proved they're 18 or older.
Calls and texts from other people
Young people sometimes get unwanted calls or text messages that can be upsetting and frightening. If your child receives offensive picture messages or video content, or if they're the victim of a potential offence recorded on a mobile, you should contact the police.
Please keep offensive messages if you can, and talk to us to see if we can help – we have a specially trained team that might be able to trace them. If you have a child who's being repeatedly bullied, we can help by changing their mobile number.
Your child's mobile has a display which shows each caller's name or number to help them decide whether to answer. However, if the caller chooses to block their number, it won't be displayed. It's important to let your children know that they don't have to answer every call – they can divert it to voicemail. The call log on a mobile is a record of the calls that have been made and received, but remember that it's not always reliable because records can be deleted.
If you’d like more advice about offensive calls or texts, please call us on 0845 301 4455.
Calls and text messages from companies
How to stop unwanted sales calls from companies
You can register your home and mobile numbers with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) to stop unwanted sales and marketing calls, but not text messages. Companies are legally obliged to check this service and aren’t allowed to make sales and marketing calls to numbers that are registered.
To register your numbers with the Telephone Preference Service, visit www.tpsonline.org.uk.
How to stop unwanted text messages from companies
Sometimes children get unwanted text messages from companies trying to sell their services. You can ask companies that send marketing messages, including Tesco Mobile, to stop sending them.
Sometimes you might find that you’ve signed up to an unwanted premium rate subscription without meaning to. For example, we often hear from parents whose children have signed up to a new ringtone service without realising that they have to pay a monthly subscription.
To stop a subscription service, reply to the message with the word STOP.
To opt out of marketing texts from Tesco Mobile, call 282 free from your Tesco Mobile phone.
Spam texts
Spam’s the official term for unsolicited, non-chargeable text messages used by companies as a form of advertising. They often include a premium rate number to call or text back.
If you think a text is spam, don’t reply to it, even to say STOP.
To find out more, please read the section on what to do if you get a spam text.
Please don’t reply to it, even to say STOP.
Once you reply, the spammer knows your number is active and could send you more texts and even sell the details on to other spammers.
Spam’s the official term for unsolicited, non-chargeable text messages used by companies as a form of advertising. They often include a premium rate number to call or text back.
Investigating spam texts
If you or your child receive a nuisance spam text message, just forward it to us free, to 7726.
We share O2’s network, so you’ll get a text back from O2 to say that the spam text will be investigated.
Scam texts with phone numbers
If the message seems like a scam (like win a holiday or cash prize), then it will usually have a phone number to ring, which could be expensive to call. In this instance, O2 can bar the number to prevent any other customers from losing money by dialling it. In more complicated cases, O2 will investigate the message by consulting the specialists at our Nuisance Call Bureau and take any necessary further action.
To find out how to stop other kinds of text messages, please read the section on unwanted calls and text messages.
Sometimes you might find that you’ve signed up to an unwanted premium rate subscription without meaning to. For example, we often hear from parents whose children have signed up to a new ringtone service without realising that they have to pay a monthly subscription.
Services like these are easy to cancel. To stop unwanted subscription texts, text STOP to the sender.
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