ParentShield Review

Table of Contents Child Safe Features  Plans Value for money Extras and benefits Network Which network does ParentShield use? Coverage Speeds Frequencies Customer Service Conclusion Alternatives

Child safe features

Parentshield's whole ethos is to be the network that is safe for your child to use and it's the only network that focuses almost exclusively on children. They have designed a host of unique features that any parent is sure to appreciate. 

The first of these is that a SIM plan bought on Parentshield can connect to any of the UK's major networks, which means your child is more likely to have signal whereever they are. That's a great comfort given that children are often out playing in remote areas with limited mobile signal.

Another extremely useful feature included is ‘home numbers’, which lets you designate numbers that the child will be able to call and text even if they’ve used up their allowances.

There’s also call and text recording capabilities, so you can monitor their communications, an ‘Ultra Secure Mode’ which blocks all numbers except for those on an allow list, and "Time Restrictions", which limit when the child can make use of the phone (apart from designated numbers and emergency calls). Plus, there are word alerts, which will send a text to the parent’s phone whenever a word in a personal dictionary you maintain has appeared in a message to or from your child.

Naturally, you also get "Internet Restrictions", so your young one can't visit inapprororiate websites, along with with "Spending Caps" so they don't rack up a huge bill.

Plans

ParentShield offers rolling SIM Only plans along with a Pay As You Go option – so there are no phones available on the network.

ParentShield Plans

	Mobile phones	SIM Only
Plans Available	X	✔
Max Data Allowance	X	20GB
Contract Length	X	30 days

ParentShield’s SIM Only plans all last just 30 days, so you don’t have to commit to a long-term contract. But like other 30-day SIM plans these are rolling plans, so they keep going until you cancel.

They come with up to 20GB of data, which by normal network standards would be a very low upper limit, but then these are designed for children.

You also get an allowance of minutes and texts (between 250 and unlimited), and plans that have a limited number of minutes also include ‘home numbers’, which can be called or texted even once your allowance has been used up.

Plans also support call and text recording, time restrictions, and various other unusual features, which are detailed in the ‘Extras and benefits’ section below.

ParentShield additionally offers a Pay As You Go service, which charges 25p per minute, 14p per text, and £1.60 per 100MB of data.

Value for money

Judging ParentShield’s value for money is tricky, because it’s by far one of the most expensive UK networks for the allowances that you get, but it’s also packed full of unique and near-unique features that you won’t find on other networks.

Plus, it is possible to get a fairly cheap plan, with prices starting at £9.99 per month at the time of writing, but this plan has very limited allowances.

If you want what ParentShield is offering then it’s arguably good value for money, and is also the only option really. But if all you need is a more conventional mobile network then you can find much cheaper plans elsewhere.

Extras and benefits

You can see many of the key benefits and extras offered by ParentShield below. For a look at its more unusual features though, check out the ‘Unique perks’ section further down.

ParentShield Perks and Policies

5G	✖
Free Roaming	✔ (in EU)
Tethering	✖
Wi-Fi Calling	✖
VoLTE	✖
Data Rollover	✖
Spending Caps	✔
Unlimited Data	✖
Family Plans	✖
Credit Check	✖

5G

ParentShield doesn’t appear to currently support 5G, though it says this is on the way.

Roaming Destinations

ParentShield offers free roaming across most of Europe, however while it’s technically free, the network asks that where possible/affordable you purchase its ‘Super Roaming’ add-on, which currently costs £2.99 per month.

Roaming also works differently on ParentShield to most networks, as when it comes to making calls, the plan only allows calling the UK and being called from the UK as standard. In other words, by default you can’t call overseas numbers with a ParentShield SIM (other than emergency services). However, the network has added a mechanism to allow for overseas calls if necessary, so contact ParentShield if that would be desirable.

Tethering

Tethering isn’t supported on ParentShield. Almost every other network does support tethering, but arguably this isn’t something children would want or need to do.

Wi-Fi Calling

Wi-Fi Calling is a feature that lets you call over Wi-Fi, which is handy when there’s no mobile signal. ParentShield doesn’t advertise this so presumably doesn’t offer it, but since it can connect to all of the UK’s major networks it’s less important.

VoLTE

VoLTE stands for Voice over LTE (also known as 4G Calling), which is a feature that lets you make calls on 4G rather than just 2G or 3G. ParentShield makes no mention of this so presumably doesn’t offer it.

Data rollover

Data rollover is a feature of some networks that gives you a second month (or more) to use unused data. However this isn’t available on ParentShield.

Spending caps

ParentShield makes it impossible for a child to spend outside their standard monthly allowances, so in that sense there’s a very strict spending cap, but not a customisable one. This means that premium rate numbers and the like are never callable.

Unlimited data

ParentShield doesn’t offer any unlimited data plans. In fact, you can’t even get particularly high limits, with 20GB being the most currently.

Family plans

ParentShield doesn’t offer any family plans, meaning there aren’t any discounts for having multiple SIM cards.

Credit checks

ParentShield doesn’t carry out credit checks, so it’s suitable regardless of your credit rating.

Network

Which network does ParentShield use?

ParentShield is partnered with all four major UK networks – namely Three, EE, Vodafone, and O2. It can roam between networks according to which one has the best signal at any given time, so you’ll always have the best possible coverage.

Coverage

With the might of every network behind it, ParentShield has almost comprehensive 4G coverage, as you can see in the chart below.

ParentShield Coverage

Network Type	Coverage by population
5G	Not yet supported
4G	>99%
3G	99%
2G	99%

 

Network speeds

Opensignal – Mobile Network Experience, September 2023, and April 2020

Network	Download/upload speeds	4G latency (ms)
EE (ParentShield)	40.0/9.3Mbps	36.0ms
Three (ParentShield)	34.5/6.3Mbps	48.3ms
Vodafone (ParentShield)	27.9/8.0Mbps	39.0ms
O2 (ParentShield)	20.9/5.0Mbps	38.1ms

Since ParentShield can provide coverage using any of the UK’s four major networks, its speeds can also vary a lot depending on which of those it’s connecting to.

You can see reports into speeds from those networks above, with the average uploads and downloads being taken from a September 2023 Opensignal report.

Latency meanwhile was taken from a previous April 2020 report, as this wasn’t included in more recent reports.

The upshot is that since ParentShield can connect to the fastest network it can also offer the highest speeds (where available), with the major caveat that there’s not currently any 5G, so you’re limited to 4G speeds.

However, given that the network is aimed at kids and that its data allowances tend to be low, high speed data isn’t likely to be a priority.

Traffic management

On the subject of traffic management, ParentShield states:

“In cases where a user vastly exceeds that of our average user or exhibits levels or patterns of usage that may indicate that the use falls outside the intended purpose of the Network, we reserve the right to trigger Termination in accordance with the Termination Policy. Usage exceeding 1000 units in a monthly period will result in a request to moderate usage, contribute to costs, or automatic blocking of excessive actions. Repeated failure to moderate usage will result in Termination or migration of the contract onto a more suitable tariff.

“All ‘network’ type services are designed around the needs of the “average” user. All networks, as well as your electricity company, and water company, are designed this way.

“If a user exceeds a certain level, there will be a series of notice emails sent across the month to alert you. Should the usage remain at that level, we will downgrade the account to a prepay PAYG model.”

Network Frequencies

ParentShield Network Frequencies

Frequency	Frequency Band	Network
700Mhz	N29	4G
800MHz	Band 20	4G
900MHz	Band 8	2G & 3G
1400MHz	Band 32	4G
1800MHz	Band 3	2G & 4G
2100MHz	Band 1	3G & 4G
2300MHz	Band 40	4G
2600MHz	Band 7	4G

The chart above outlines all the frequencies used by the UK’s various networks (other than 5G frequencies). Since ParentShield can connect to any of these networks, it can presumably also leverage any of these frequencies.

As a general rule, lower frequency bands like the 800MHz one can send mobile signals further, while higher frequency bands such as 2600Mhz are better at passing through obstacles such as walls. So having a mix of both is important.

For more details, check out our 4G and 5G frequencies guide.

Customer Service

While ParentShield’s customer service isn’t included in most reports, it does have an exceptional TrustPilot score of 4.8/5. That’s considered ‘excellent’, though it’s only based on 102 user reviews at the time of writing.

Conclusion

With its ability to hook on to any network’s signal coupled with its wealth of child-focused features, ParentShield is ideal for children aged roughly between 6-12.

It’s a great way to get peace of mind while still giving your child access to a phone, so if that’s what you’re looking for, this comes highly recommended.

Our only real issue is the price, but given that it goes well beyond other networks on ensuring children can safely use phones, the price is arguably justified.

ParentShield does lack some features typical of other networks, such as tethering, but these are unlikely to be concerns for children of 12 or under anyway.

Alternatives

We’ve got a whole guide covering the best SIM cards for kids, which includes the likes of Vodafone, VOXI, Tesco Mobile, and more, as well as ParentShield itself.

However, none of these other networks go anywhere near as far as ParentShield in terms of offering a service tailored to young children – rather they simply have things like content restrictions, capped contracts, and in some cases entertainment subscriptions which could keep a child occupied (if desired).

They’re all typically cheaper than ParentShield, but don’t come close to offering the same service.