Dear cell phone service provider,

We’ve been together for a very long time. I really don’t ask for a lot from you. In exchange for almost never hearing from me, we have FIVE phones and pay you an exorbitant amount of money. It’s time for you to start providing some useful services in exchange for that hefty bill. I want, no, I NEED you to create a parental control features for cell phones that is modeled after the WoW parental controls. I want to be able to go in at any time and change the schedule of when my teenagers’ cell phones can be used. That’s not all I want need. I need to be able to control specific functions on the phone, like sending calls, receiving calls and most importantly, texting. I should be able to completely turn off texting from midnight until 6 a.m. I should be able to turn off all incoming/outgoing calls except 911 and me during school hours. I should be able to change my mind about these settings any time of day or night. In fact, I think that anytime a teenager’s phone goes over 10K text msgs in a single month, you should send a text count message to my phone. I’m not kidding. Let’s get this set-up going right now.

Thanks,
Cathy

9 thoughts on “Dear cell phone service provider,”

  1. Who is your provider? I’m pretty sure verizon has these services, but I don’t think its free.

  2. You couldn’t talk me into using Verizon to save my life. Verizon has a strong network and is a fine service as long as you are just using the phone. The minute you need customer service or have a problem, you’ll learn that they are truly evil.

  3. AT&T has parental controls for an extra 4.99 a month.

    http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/articles-resources/parental-controls/smart-limits.jsp

    You can:
    * Number of text and instant messages
    * Dollar amount of downloadable purchases (ringtones, games & more)
    * Amount of Web browsing usage allowed per billing cycle
    * Times of day the phone can be used for messaging, browsing and outbound calling
    * Who the phone can call or text (incoming and outgoing) by blocking or allowing certain numbers
    * The access of content inappropriate for children

    I agree with you, Doug. Verizon’s customer service is horrible. AT&T’s is a little better, you just have to be on the phone 2 hours to make anything happen.

  5. You couldn’t pay me to use AT&T again. When I had them I had constant dropped calls. As a matter of fact their advertising actually makes me laugh! Verizon works great and I would trade a little customer service for a service provider that always keeps your phone connected.

  6. Dare and I are the opposite. I can handle some dropped calls in exchange for customer service. I got on with Bellsouth mobility in 1997 which became Cingular which became AT&T Wireless. I actually had a sim card (the size of a credit card) that was labeled “first 100 customers” which I don’t believe I was one of the first 100 Bellsouth mobility customers but just had the fortune to get that sim card. None-the-less, it caused quite a stir in the office the day I finally upgraded that phone.

    As a Bellsouth Mobility customer, you lived with dead zones. I could be driving down the road and have to excuse myself to my caller “We are going to be disconnected. I’ll call you back in 40 feet.”

    Frankly I find AT&T’s service pretty darn good. The customer service rocks and that’s why I’ve never sought another service.

    I also believe that each person’s needs are different and one company many be good for one person and bad for another. A frequent traveler will require a different cellular company than someone who never travels more than 15 miles from home.

    I didn’t know about the AT&T parental controls. Now I need to look into that.

  7. Dare, I had Verizon when I was working a job that had me traveling all over TN. My employer formally reprimanded me for not returning voice mails when I insisted that I never received those voice mails. Then, one day, my phone went crazy as two dozen messages were all of a sudden dumped into my phone. Messages that were 2-3 weeks old! I called Verizon to find out what happened and they refused to talk to me. Never again.

  8. We’re changing carriers as soon as we can get out of our Verizon contract… there is no excuse for the poor reception and service we’re having down here in “The Pancake State”. And those AT & T Parental controls look great! Wish we’d had that a few years ago.

  9. When I left Verizon, I had everything dropped but one small monthly fee and just used up the contract even though I stopped using their phone. They didn’t even try to keep me when they were the ones clearly in the wrong. Customer service fail.

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