Mobile Chaperone
By: Gayla Baer
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Verizon Wireless, the No. 2 U.S. cellphone service provider, plans on Monday to launch a wireless service that lets parents check their children’s whereabouts and alerts them when they venture out of bounds.
Parents can use the service to set up geographic limits and receive text alerts if their children, who also carry phones, go too far from home. The service also lets parents check where their offspring are via a map on their cellphone or computer.
Such services are aimed at bringing in revenue from a location technology that U.S. wireless service providers are required by law to put into cell phones so that safety workers can pinpoint the location of 911 emergency service callers.
The Verizon service costs $9.99 a month for just the location-viewing feature and rises to $19.99 a month if the parent also opts for a boundary-setting feature. Sprint charges about $9.99 for its service.
Verizon is initially launching the service just for parents with children using the Migo phone from LG Electronics Inc (066570.KS), a four-button phone designed especially for children. Verizon started selling the Migo in November. More >>>
Though my kids are all 12 to 14, I have to admit, I’m very drawn to this feature. After all, 12 to 14 year olds tend to wonder off too!
I am soooooo loving this gadget that my kids are sure to detest! tee hee hee
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June 12, 2006 Filed under MomGadget
Good luck – I think your teens are going to chafe at that. I can imagine the geo-fence option for 10 year-olds, but at 12 and 14, your kids probably won’t accept a Migo phone (it’s pretty childish looking) and they’ll figure out that they can just turn the phone off. If the phone is off, the Chaperone service won’t work.
See details in this write-up:
http://www.kidswireless.com/articles/verizon-wireless-chaperone/