If you wish to limit the access of your child to certain feature of his/her mobile phone, then AT&T has the perfect solution. The phone company has launched today a Web-based application called AT&T Smart Limits for Wireless thanks to which the parents will be able to to set usage limits on a child’s talk time, text messages, instant messages (IMs) and downloads. Further more the application can be used in order to restrict the children’s access to certain mobile Web sites or to allocate minutes among users of shared wireless plans. Parents also have the flexibility to go online and change the limits at any time.

Still, calls and text messages to and from numbers designated as "Allowed Numbers" and calls to 9-1-1 are permitted regardless of restrictions to allow families to keep in touch.

"AT&T Smart Limits for Wireless enables parents to provide their children with the safety and convenience of wireless service while setting sensible boundaries for its use," said David Christopher, chief marketing officer for AT&T’s wireless unit. "AT&T Smart Limits for Wireless gives parents peace of mind in knowing they will be able to keep in touch with their children but will avoid unexpected overage charges on their bill."

The only phone which can not be blocked through SmartLimits is Apple’s iPhone, because it has Safari browser.

AT&T decided to develop AT&T Smart Limits for Wireless online service, after the results of a recent AT&T survey revealed that 84 percent of consumers believe parental controls and safety tools are extremely or very important in keeping children safe. Nearly one-third (31 percent) of those adults do not feel that they have adequate knowledge of how to use those tools to protect children from today’s threats.

"Children have more tools to communicate than ever before and need to learn to use them responsibly," explained Stephen Balkam, CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute. "AT&T Smart Limits for Wireless gives parents the ability to limit their children’s use of text messages and teach them to use their phones more responsibly.”

According to AT&T, 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.

Last year Sprint-Nextel was the first U.S. wireless carrier that had offered a consumer-focused LBS application that enabled a parent to use a phone or PC to pinpoint the location of a child on a map along with the address, surrounding landmarks, and accuracy of the information within a specified radius.
Sprint-Nextel’s Family Locator uses GPS technology to pinpoint the location of the phone and the child is notified by a text message each time his or her location is provided to the parent or guardian.

The price of Sprint’s service is $9.99/month, and subscribers can register up to four phones to locate, get unlimited location requests and send 100 text messages to each child phone.

Also Sprint Sprint-Nextel offer controls that enable parents to block specific phone numbers, text messaging and access to all Internet downloads.