Re: Verizon Wireless requires a data plan on most phones now - no parental control available

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Paul Robichaux <paul () robichaux net>
Date: January 20, 2010 6:19:05 PM EST
To: "dave () farber net" <dave () farber net>, ip <ip () v2 listbox com>, "waa () cs umd edu" <waa () cs umd edu>
Subject: RE: [IP] Verizon Wireless requires a data plan on most phones now - no parental control available

Sadly VZW is not alone in this. AT&T has a set of parental controls called “Smart Limits for Wireless” that does allow 
you to set caps on the amount of data a device can consume, and they allow you to impose parental controls. However, 
neither of these features seems to work with the iPhone! I suspect, but haven’t tested, that they would fail equally on 
Windows Mobile or Android devices.
 
WM and iPhone devices both allow you to disable the browser, but apart from that your parental filtering/control 
options are pretty limited.
 
From: Dave Farber [mailto:dave () farber net] 
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 1:58 PM
To: ip
Subject: [IP] Verizon Wireless requires a data plan on most phones now - no parental control available
 




Begin forwarded message:

From: William Arbaugh <waa () cs umd edu>
Date: January 20, 2010 4:52:43 PM EST
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: For IP - Verizon Wireless requires a data plan on most phones now - no parental control available


We promised my daughter a new cell phone for her birthday. She picked the Envy 2. When we purchased the same phone for 
her older brother, it came with a $10/mo data plan. But, we were able to cancel it immediately. Turns out, as of Nov 
19th 2009, the vast majority of Verizon phones MUST have a minimum of a $10/mo data plan. You cannot cancel.

The basic plan provides only 25MB. Additional MB's are $1.99. I asked the salesman (and later the 800 number) how I 
could control her data usage so as not to exceed the 25MB/mo and incur large charges unexpectedly. I was told my only 
option was to buy her an unlimited plan for $30/mo. None of the data plans allow any parental control on how my 
daughter utilizes the Internet. Turns out the only control option available costs $5/mo. This option will only allow me 
to set  the time of day that she can use the phone. In other words, I can turn off texting, calls (except emergency and 
a trusted list), and data. But, I can't control individual services nor do I have any parental control over the use of 
the Internet.

Given that Verizon has now made data plans mandatory for the majority of their phones, more and more children are going 
to have unfettered Internet access in their hands (unsupervised). While I trust my children, I still worry they will 
unknowingly run up the data costs or find the more colorful corners of the Internet. Is there anything that we can do 
to protect our children in this situation besides the obvious of saying no to a phone?


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