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 exclusively on children. It has 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 either just to EE, or – if you pick an all-network plan – to any of the UK's major networks, which means your child is more likely to have signal wherever 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 Controls’, 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 or phrase 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 inappropriate websites, along with ‘Spending Controls’ so they don't rack up a huge bill.

Plans

ParentShield just offers rolling SIM Only plans – so there are no phones available on the network.

ParentShield Plans

	Mobile phones	SIM Only
Plans Available	X	✔
Max Data Allowance	X	Unlimited
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 unlimited data, though there are also various other allowances available.

You also get an allowance of minutes and texts (between 100 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 ‘Child safe features’ section above.

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 £5.99 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. 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 ‘Child safe features’ section above.

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 offers 5G, so paired with a compatible phone its plans don’t limit your data to slower technologies.

Roaming Destinations

ParentShield offers free roaming across most of Europe, however roaming 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, you can’t call overseas numbers with a ParentShield SIM (other than emergency services). 

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 select plans 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 does not support this, in order to “preserve the recording and blocking features.”

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 offers unlimited data plans, so data limits needn’t be an issue.

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 has two types of plan. One is a single-network SIM running on EE, and the other is an all-network SIM that can roam between Three, EE, Vodafone, and O2, 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 coverage, but in the chart below we’re looking specifically at EE’s coverage, since some of its plans limit you to that.

Note also that the 5G percentage below comes from an Ofcom study and refers to UK premises outdoors.

ParentShield Coverage

Network Type	Coverage by population
5G	At least 89%
4G	>99%
3G	Switched off
2G	99%

 

Network speeds

Opensignal January 2026 (speeds), and Speedtest 2H 2025 (latency)

Network	Download/upload speeds	Loaded latency (ms)
EE (ParentShield)	53.2/10.4Mbps	583.53ms
Three (ParentShield)	51.0/9.3Mbps	405.93ms
Vodafone (ParentShield)	37.5/7.4Mbps	449.16ms
O2 (ParentShield)	32.8/6.4Mbps	1039.19ms

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.

Though if you choose one of its standard plans, you’ll be limited to EE, so pay particular attention to that.

You can see reports into speeds from every network above, with the overall average uploads and downloads being taken from a January 2026 Opensignal report.

Loaded latency meanwhile was taken from a 2025 Speedtest report.

For 5G specifically, the same Opensignal report as above put EE’s average download speed at 92.2Mbps. But if you pick an all-network SIM you’ll sometimes roam to Three, which has a higher average of 187.0Mbps. That also beats O2 and Vodafone.

So speeds will depend a lot on the plan you choose and the area you’re in, but ParentShield has more options here than most networks, and the potential for the best coverage and speeds available.

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	5G
800MHz	Band 20	4G
1800MHz	Band 3	2G & 4G
2100MHz	Band 1	4G
2600MHz	Band 7	4G
3400MHz	n78	5G
3600MHz	n77	5G
26,000MHz	n258	5G
40,000MHz	n259	5G

The chart above outlines all the frequencies used by EE, since many of ParentShield’s SIMs limit you to EE’s coverage, though if you pick an all-network SIM there will be additional frequencies available to you.

As a general rule, lower frequency bands like the 800MHz one can send mobile signals further, while higher frequency bands such as 26,000MHz 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 4.9/5. That’s considered ‘excellent’, though it’s only based on 291 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 6-16.

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 most children of 16 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, the only one that comes anywhere close to matching ParentShield is EE, which – as well as offering the same coverage as ParentShield’s standard SIMs – also offers special ‘Safer SIMs’ designed for children.

These include things like pre-configured parental controls and scam call protection, but they still don’t go anywhere near as far as ParentShield in offering child-protecting features.