Comments on: AT&T launches FamilyMap service, lets you spy on anyone, anywhere

By: jessica

jessica — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:09:56 +0000

does it show the actual adress you are at?

By: serious

serious — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:05:10 +0000

My teenage boy has just begun to drive. Even though I ask him to call me when he arrives somewhere safely…being a teenage boy, he often doesnt LOL. He has made many trips of 150 miles and more this summer, and I have had peace of mind knowing he has gotten to his destination. If i didn’t trust him, he wouldnt be going so far away, and wouldn’t be driving…but I know he has made it and that’s all I need. This services can be abused by overzealous parents, but if not this, then they will find other ways to obsess. I am not that parent..I just sleep better knowing he’s not lost or worse for the moment. It’s one less thing.

By: oh well

oh well — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:40:09 +0000

oh well .. i pay the bill so i can know where you are .. dont like it? buy your own phone and pay for the bill or put a roof over your own head.

By: Chilly

Chilly — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 02:00:24 +0000

I have two kids getting up in cell phone age my wife and I am divorcing……… I think this is GREAT so I know where my boys are. It will give me a piece of mind.

By: jeffsmom

jeffsmom — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:08:36 +0000

It is not about trusting your kids. Our 8th grader is on a trip to DC. We know that she arrived safely. She can track us as easily as we can track her because she has the password to the account. If we had this service two years ago, we would not have had a cell phone stolen. And it gives considerable peace of mind to parents who worry about abductions from ex-spouses or the guy in the green car that attempted to abduct a girl who rides the bus home with my daughter.

For us, the key is that we shared the password info and can be tracked by our daughter. The drawback is the cost – we won’t continue after the free trial period because AT&T said it will cost us $45 per month to have shared tracking. Would get it in a heartbeat at $10 per month for us all!

By: joe

joe — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:05:54 +0000

Pro’s and Con’s:

We’re taking a 2-week Euro-trip and I thought this would be a great safety measure for my 6-yr old: my wife or I toss a phone in her backpack and if we get separated we can find the other. Too bad it only works in AT&T coverage area (not even in the far-off country of Canada.)

My wife wasn’t sure where she was at in relation to where she wanted to go and called me to ask how to get to a particular address. Too bad the accuracy at the moment was a 6.6-mile radius.

My wife was trying to find her mom and sister who live down-state (still in the AT&T coverage area) but neither phone showed up on the map.

So, the service is spotty and about as accurate as the iPhone ‘location services’ when there is no GPS signal (using cell-ID/triangulation) which is to say, ‘not very.’

I would like to use this and have it be much more accurate. Unlike some of the more paranoid people out there, we have a pretty good and honest family relationship so neither of us even think to use this for spying. I’d suggest that is the source of some problems for others.

Also, currently, with the accuracy that I’ve seen of no better than a half-mile radius, if you are trying to determine the exact location of a handset, good luck. If I was a kid, I’d tell my parents to go ahead and track me knowing that all I have to do is give them an address in the neighborhood and I’m gold. Even if a parent uses their scheduled reporting service, there’s no way to tell if your kid made it home after school or is 5-doors down at the neighbor’s/girlfriend/crack-dealer’s pad.

By: Kyle

Kyle — Sat, 30 May 2009 23:07:02 +0000

I have a great fix…. Turn off your phone!

By: jill

jill — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 02:54:02 +0000

yeah this really is a great service, it got my ex put in jail for 8 months because he used the service from sprint on my own account when he wasnt even on it to stalk me for over a year. That year was hell for me and my son. It would be agreat service if people were actually going to just use it for good but you have to understand that people will always find shady uses for everything.

By: kerbang

kerbang — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:02:48 +0000

I understand the “Big Brother” rant but there is a flip side, What if you were in trouble, what if you (or yours) were missing? Forget finding you stupid phone, what if they were trying to find YOU.

$10 seems about right for a simple tracking program. If you want it for free, you write it.

While remote gps turn-on is possible, power on is not. Also cell triangulation is very inaccurate anywhere lacking a high density tower array.

By: kaci

kaci — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 05:19:17 +0000

i work for at&t selling phones and seriously this is a great thing. you have no idea how many parents buy their small kids phones. say for instance a child is walking home from school daily…this is something u would want to have just for extra protection incase the worst happens. how about ur a small business with ten lines with us…and u think ur employeee ran off with the company phone…this could help or maybe to make sure they are on their job site. $ow about when u ground ur kid but want to take the night out with ur hunny? perfect way to make sure they dont leave the house…this isnt anything that is government or big brother…just a feature that gives people peace of mind.. iphone has had an app like this for awhile called loopt…check it out. their is also smart limits which can help u block numbers and texts and set the time of day the person can use the phone

By: Vernon McJules

Vernon McJules — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 03:21:29 +0000

@ mom of teen:
The phone won’t tell you what your kid is doing, just where he is. So when he says he is going to a friends house, you can see that he is exactly where he says he is. He’ll just be smoking pot, picking up some STDs, and then moving to stronger drugs like heroin, blow, crank, and ecstasy. So be a parent and get your kid help instead of spying on him. Spying won’t get him to clean up, being a parent will have better results.

By: Redcat678

Redcat678 — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 23:44:19 +0000

You can’t forward a text on the I phone but
They can track ur everymove
Priorities!!!!!!!
Genius

By: hereiam

hereiam — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:24:11 +0000

A couple of notes – in addition to the feature itself, the line that is doing the tracking has to have unlimited data if you are going to be checking in through your phones web browser to track people. Also, every time you locate a phone, that phone will use 2 KB of data – or two cents worth if you don’t have unlimited data on the lines being tracked as well.

2 cents isn’t much, but considering that this application is most likely going to be used by overprotective parents and psycho boyfriends/girlfriends and the like, you could easily run up your bill substantially if you’re going to be tracking someone 20 or 30 times a day.

It really won’t help you locate a lost phone either – if you lost you phone in your house, but have no idea where, checking the family map feature will basically only confirm that your phone is somewhere in or near your house.

And for you conspiracy nuts worried about ‘big brother’ – pull your head out of your @ss. This is a consumer application to be used by the account holders. ‘Big Brother’ has been able to track your cell phone signal for years – the family map feature just means that the consumer can now have access to the same technology that the government and corporations do.

By: DUH

DUH — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:28:12 +0000

I love hearing about parents saying how well this protect and insure the safety of their children. LOL! Companies thrive on “Lazy America”. People want to have all, do all, no all and be all without as little effort as possible. Take time to teach your kids some rules and allow them to find themselves. If you did your job as a parent instead of plopping them in front of a tv with nintendo or sega when they were growing up and taught them right for wrong you wouldn’t be so paranoid.

You’re not gonna stop them from drugs, sex or anything else unless at one point something clicks in their head that says “I shouldn’t do this”. No “I can’t control my kid cause I never taught him a damn thing, GPS system” is gonna stop them from being kids and exploring the world.

If you taught them from when they were young they have the tools to choose right from wrong. No GPS is gonna tell them not to smoke pot or have sex.

Big Brother will succeed in tracking our every move and it will be because we the people are too lazy and too stupid and will practically beg them to do so with these so called “safety enhancements/devices”.

By: Vernon McJules

Vernon McJules — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:16:16 +0000

By: Justin

Justin — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:53:14 +0000

I’ll stick with Google Latitude for this …

By: Jake

Jake — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:43:52 +0000

I can just see what this will lead to. A kid saying they will be somewhere and then the GPS moves so the parent calls like “where are you going!?!” and the kid is like “um to the store to get some chocolate milk” and the parent will clearly not believe this. and the kid gets in trouble because he didnt stay put, even out of the house.

and just wait until the kid goes into the theater and gps cant get a signal and goes into cell triangulation and watch parents freak out.

more of a problem than a solution. i bet some of you kept your kids on leashes too.

By: Bdizzah

Bdizzah — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:48:45 +0000

@ mom of teen,
Seeing as your child admitted to smoking pot, why the need to digitally stalk him? Were you not a kid? Did you not experiment with substances (if not drugs, I can be almost certain you drank before you were of legal age)? It is one thing for the feds to be able to track you, although i am not a fan of the idea, but something all together different when a private citizen can. And to all the potential stalking bf’s and gf’s; grow the fuck up, a little trust goes a long way.

By: Glenn

Glenn — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:57:17 +0000

I noticed whomever wrote the article left out the fact that by saying “family” members, it means only those wireless handsets on YOUR account, and not any handset that is out there. I would suggest that the facts not be skewed.

By: DrBlackberry

DrBlackberry — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 09:49:14 +0000

@Justin-You are absolutely right. Leaving on a GPS program DOES tap the battery, even if running in the background. I have seen people leave on Telenav on BBs and their battery life is less than half of what it should be otherwise. Paranoid Parents: if your concern is your child’s safety, consider that your child might be LESS safe if they have a dead battery and cannot call out!

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 05:53:26 +0000

im excited for this. Good way to track a stolen phone. Good way to knowbwhere your teen is at or if your youngster made it home safe from school. Or if youre kid is having a diabetic episode you can find them immediately. people really need to get over the big brother concerns. Its only loaded onto family accounts anyway.

By: Justin

Justin — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 04:42:51 +0000

lol I can see it now, “why is my battery draining so quickly?” Because you’re being tapped.

By: Adam

Adam — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 03:48:00 +0000

Yes, Sprint did launch this already. It was called Sprint Family Locator. And when previous posters said it was a “while” ago what they meant was THREE YEARS AGO. Thank you ATT for the original idea.

By: John

John — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 03:40:58 +0000

@mom of teen Sorry to hear that your son is smoking pot, but honestly, tracking your son with this service isn’t going to stop him. He will only resent your more. This is just a band aid for a deeper issue. Anyway, yeah, where has our privacy gone.. this blows,, and no, I hope that other cell phone companies font follow suit.

By: ~Phel

~Phel — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 03:17:22 +0000

Bob it’s not about willingly giving your location, it’s about being on a plan with someone, ie parent, employer, significant other, and them having the ability to track you. Or your the acct. holder and want to track someone without them knowing when you’re doing it…

By: midibite

midibite — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 03:17:17 +0000

All your base are belong to us!

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 03:13:38 +0000

Google latitude is significantly limited:

Android-powered devices with Maps v3.0 and above.
Most color BlackBerry devices
Most Windows Mobile 5.0 and above devices. Note: Some Windows Mobile devices don’t support cell-ID location detection.
Most Symbian S60 devices

By: Bob

Bob — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:36:30 +0000

Anyone whom has a smartphone can do this for free via google latitude, save yourself 15 dollars a month. Once you sign up you can have your location shown on google maps COST = 0.00

By: Me

Me — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:36:08 +0000

Hmm, as a CSR for Big Blue, this is the first I have heard of it, wish I had seen this at work today, I would have asked my boss about it. I will definetely look tommorrow though. It looks like a neat feature, but this only means two things to me…More training, and trying to sell a feature that people are just not going to want to add because they are calling in to drop as many features as they can to reduce their bill. Yay for me!!

By: 99Slobra

99Slobra — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:18:55 +0000

Yeah and all phones listed for this feature will recieve random text messages letting them know they can be tracked at anytime.

You just can’t put this on and not let anybody know.