Young people are avid mobile phone users...

… and are increasingly making use of phone-paid services

Voting on reality TV shows, using a directory enquiry service, entering a competition or downloading a mobile game, ringtone or video are all examples of phone-paid services accessed via premium rate numbers.

Research from PhonepayPlus, the UK phone-paid services regulator, shows that 37% of 11-17 year olds have bought music or video content for their mobiles. However, only one third felt they knew in advance how much they would be charged to download this content and access these services. This can lead to young people paying more than they expected, or entering subscription services when they think they are making one-off payments.

So it's important that young people understand the potential pitfalls and opportunities that come with using premium rate numbers, and that they know where to turn if they have questions or encounter problems.

Find out about PhonepayPlus

Find out about phone-paid services

What's it all about?

PhoneBrain has been created by PhonepayPlus, the UK regulator for phone-paid services, and aims to help young people better understand these services - including the costs involved and how to make use of them without getting charged more than expected.

PhoneBrain was launched in secondary schools in 2008 and is now, for the first time, being extended to youth clubs throughout England and Wales via the Clubs for Young People network.

The scheme covers two fun, creative competitions that young people in youth clubs can get involved with:

• The Enterprise Competition

  Challenges young people to come up with their own brilliant ideas for completely new phone-paid services that have community or social benefits, with winners receiving CASH awards to help them take their ideas further.

  Find out more
  Follow this link for more info on the Enterprise Competition

• The Ringtone Competition

  

  teaches young people to create personalised ringtones for their mobile phones. They can then upload their finished ringtone to the PhoneBrain 'teens' website to be in with the chance to win tickets to see THE X FACTOR live.

  Find out more
  Follow this link for more info on the Ringtone Competition

• 

  PhoneBrain is supported by Clubs for Young People, social enterprise charity Live UnLtd, independent music label Moshi Moshi Records, television's THE X FACTOR, and Habbo, the virtual world and social networking site for teens.