i would say when the kid reach 15 years of age. then that would old enough. but younger that age is not really advisable to let them have the celphone. since they are going to play with it and consume too much of their time. and we would not want them have their attention on their cellphone only. we want that they will put more attention to their studies and that they will concwentrate on getting good grades. and enjoying other things like sports and not to worry about texting their friends and they have nothing really the can do much about the cellphone. snice they don't really need it at that age. it will be more like a toy for them. it's an expensive toy for that case.

I think 11. My brother is that age and he really does need it. He goes off all the time and without it we have no way of contacting him or knowing if he is safe.

It's a small price to pay for our sanity/his safety.

I agree with you-I was about 11 when I got my first mobile phone. And my mother didn't have to worry where the hell am I since she could always call me. And about playing with it-well if they don't have a gsm to play with they will either watch television or play on the computer. At least they get used to better technologies from an earlier age. Of course there should be some restricions about calling and if you are so worried you can at least delete the games on the telephone But connection and safety are important so as I said 10-11 is a good age for giving kids mobile phones
15 is waaaay to late. I mean in our contry nowadays 14-15 years old behave more like 17-18 years old and they are using stuff like that a lot earlier

I am speaking here with experience as a kid myself. I got my first handphone though it was kind of faulty at age 12. Right now, i am thirteen, i have a Sony Ericsson handphone in which i use it to inform my parents if i will have to attend to some problems in school like studying in extra revision lessons. Though my parents may be restrictive, it was afterall just for security concerns and to curb their worries.

Hey guys, handphones, we use them too, to store music and retrieve them to hear whenever we want. This cures boredom for 25% of my day wherein i do reading for the rest of the time in my free time!

I hope kids get it at 13 or 14 as I am 13!

i think the best age for a child to be given a cell phone is at age 11 bcuz it is the best wat to contact them in this time

Age is not a constraint here i guess...

If situation demands and if they are matured enough to handle them, they understand their purpose they can be given one. But again...lot of discretion should be already taught to them when it comes to handling things on their own.

Obviously, a cell phone is a tool which a kid do not require, at least usually, but even if it could prove to be useful, we or you all should know the risks of a child using a cell phone, which are pretty much the same as for the adults, except the fact that the kid would have access to the internet, it would be expose to radio waves which could damage him fisicaly more then it does to the adult bodies because kids are more fragile, plus, kids should not have access to certain objects/tools until they are 16 years old at least, but it is better just when they are 18 years old, until then they should be educated of the risks, of the benefits and the advantages and disadvantages of using cell phones, one more risk is that anyone can call him, and if a pedophile man/worman calls him, is it not a very big risk, is it not the biggest risk, or even a murderer, a raper or a person that will want to trade the kid for money, or just kill him for revenge?

There are a lot of risks, kids should not have cell phones, never!

I would have to say around 12 because thats when they start going out and getting more social.