AT&T Puts Parental Controls on Teens' Cell Phones

Taximom

Former Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2005
Messages
16,234
Reaction score
133
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,295651,00.html

SAN ANTONIO — It may be something of a teenage nightmare: limits on when a wireless phone can make and receive calls and to whom, restrictions on text messages and talk time, and set allowances for ring tones and other downloads — all at a parent's fingertips.

AT&T Inc. (T), the nation's largest wireless carrier, will launch a service Tuesday giving parents that kind of wide-ranging control on almost all of its 63.7 million subscriber lines.
"We were certainly hearing from parents who were dismayed at overuse of text or phones," said Carlton Hill, vice president of voice products for AT&T's wireless unit and the mother of two teenagers. "We want to find a way for kids to use phones without having to take the phone away."

AT&T's Smart Limits service will be offered as an add-on for $4.99 per month per line. No contract will be required, and it will work on all but a handful of customer lines left on an old network the company is phasing out.
The functions, ranging from call blocking and hour limits to text message and download allowances, will be set through a Web site. Calls to or from a parent's number can be made to override the restrictions, and calls to 911 can be made anytime.
The AT&T service also allows filtering of Web sites parents don't want their children accessing from their phones, but that function will not work on Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone because of the browser, said AT&T spokesman Fletcher Cook.
The Web site filter will also be inoperable when a phone is using a Wi-Fi network because AT&T can only block content delivered over its wireless networks. (more at links including info about other providers)
 
YES YES YES:woohoo::blushing::dance::clap::clap:

What a marvelous idea! Now we parents can HELP our kids make the right decisions about when, how,why to use their cell phones. We had a teen girl involved in a car accident last weekend........3 people seriously injured...all because the teen was text messaging while driving.:furious:

I personally don't think teens should be allowed to use a cell phone and drive at the same time.
 
OMG I CANT BELIEVE IT!!! I said to my 15 yo daughter 2.5 years ago...so she was 13.....I said you know I wish the cell phone companies would give us parents online controls to allow cell phone useage times of day etc......I tell me daughter NO phone after a certain time and let me tell you the temptation is great and they use them when they shouldn't.....I dotn want to have to ask for her phone at night etc to take it away.....I wish I could have just went online and set the restrictions:

Phone Active:
5:30 am - 7:15 am School Starts at 7:20am..no need for phone while in school
Phone Active:
2:30 pm - 10:00 pm -School gets out at 2:35 pm - She needs to be sleeping by 10:00pm..she get up at 5:30am....

Just think how much nice and more they would learn in school with out all the texting messaging going!?!?!?!?

I should have tried to sell this idea way back when I had it this will be a GREAT feature and if my cell phone company doesn't offer it soon then AT&T here we come.

I remember when the Disney phoen came out I was like see this what I want to be able to do on the family plan with my teenagers phone...I todl her I am getting you the Disney phone and she was like OMG...no way Mom...LOL
 
YES YES YES:woohoo::blushing::dance::clap::clap:

What a marvelous idea! Now we parents can HELP our kids make the right decisions about when, how,why to use their cell phones. We had a teen girl involved in a car accident last weekend........3 people seriously injured...all because the teen was text messaging while driving.:furious:

I personally don't think teens should be allowed to use a cell phone and drive at the same time.

My daughter will get her license in Feb and I told her enjoy your texting now because once you get your drivers license that feature will be no longer avaible I will have text message service shut of on the phones....the temptation is too great to just tell them "NO texting while driving"

Cell phones are tough call it is nice for them to haev them and it is HELL the same time...trying to get them to understand when the appropraite time is to use them etc and to be responsible with them
 
There is a part of me that thinks this is brilliant and I would love it for when my kids have phones, and another part of me (a tiny part) that thinks of the kids in Columbine who called out. I would hate to think of a kid who was a victim of a crime and couldn't call anyone except 911 b/c of the limitations.

There was a lawyer here recently who was kidnapped. The kidnappers were complete idiots and didn't take his cellphone. He called 911 and quickly realized that they could hear him, so he hung up and texted his brother or someone. They were able to rescue him in something like 30 minutes.

I wish there was some kind of panic code to override the system. Kind of like my alarm has a hostage code that looks like you are entering the code to disable it but is actually a silent alarm. How long before a cell company comes up with something like this?
 
MistyGirl, that is an excellent idea! Too bad there can't be something in automobiles that keep you from texting if the car is in "DRIVE". lol Sort of like that breathalyzer thingie that they put on cars. Hee hee

My neighbor's son constantly has huge cell bills every month. I don't know why she doesn't take it away! I can always tell when they got the mail because she's yelling about the $200 or $400 phone bill. He's so lazy, doesn't work, not going to college, wants to have a career in rap music. I'd say "No phone for you!".

My oldest didn't have a cell phone till she could pay for it herself. I really like the parental control features offered on these new phones so my other kids might have a shot at having their own phones earlier than that....
 
There is a part of me that thinks this is brilliant and I would love it for when my kids have phones, and another part of me (a tiny part) that thinks of the kids in Columbine who called out. I would hate to think of a kid who was a victim of a crime and couldn't call anyone except 911 b/c of the limitations.

There was a lawyer here recently who was kidnapped. The kidnappers were complete idiots and didn't take his cellphone. He called 911 and quickly realized that they could hear him, so he hung up and texted his brother or someone. They were able to rescue him in something like 30 minutes.

I wish there was some kind of panic code to override the system. Kind of like my alarm has a hostage code that looks like you are entering the code to disable it but is actually a silent alarm. How long before a cell company comes up with something like this?

Who knew that cell phones would be so helpful in saving lives, solving crimes and finding the missing?! I'm just glad we have the GPS on our phones. It gives me a little sense of security. That's interesting about a silent alarm, angelmom... It would be nice if they could do something like that in the future.

That lawyer you wrote about was pretty smart! Why was he kidnapped? (off-topic, sorry!)
 
MistyGirl, that is an excellent idea! Too bad there can't be something in automobiles that keep you from texting if the car is in "DRIVE". lol Sort of like that breathalyzer thingie that they put on cars. Hee hee

My neighbor's son constantly has huge cell bills every month. I don't know why she doesn't take it away! I can always tell when they got the mail because she's yelling about the $200 or $400 phone bill. He's so lazy, doesn't work, not going to college, wants to have a career in rap music. I'd say "No phone for you!".

My oldest didn't have a cell phone till she could pay for it herself. I really like the parental control features offered on these new phones so my other kids might have a shot at having their own phones earlier than that....

I agree.....I did read that they said the kids could call parent #'s or a desginated # and all 911 calls were allowed no matter what the restrictions were set at...so there is away for them to call for help.

On the automobile thing....I was thinking they sell these cell phone scramblers that mess up the signle and then their phoenwont work...so maybe I hide that in daughters car so her phoen wont work unles she gets out of it..once she reaches work, friends, school etc....oh she would HATE me....LOL
 
Who knew that cell phones would be so helpful in saving lives, solving crimes and finding the missing?! I'm just glad we have the GPS on our phones. It gives me a little sense of security. That's interesting about a silent alarm, angelmom... It would be nice if they could do something like that in the future.

That lawyer you wrote about was pretty smart! Why was he kidnapped? (off-topic, sorry!)

Found the story. I thought it was on WS, but can't find it.

http://www.abajournal.com/news/text_message_saves_kidnapped_lawyers/
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
163
Guests online
1,129
Total visitors
1,292

Forum statistics

Threads
589,940
Messages
17,927,978
Members
228,009
Latest member
chrsrb10
Back
Top