OVERLAND PARK, Kan.—Sprint Nextel Corp. has made changes to its child-location offering designed to simplify the registration process, make the service available to more families and expand the range of handsets that can be used to locate or be located by the service.
The timing coincides with back-to-school preparation around the country.
Sprint Nextel now is offering a PC-only option for locating a child’s handset, so that parents will not need to have a handset from the carrier in order to track their child’s handset. The number of phones compatible with “parent” functions has been expanded from 17 to 30 models, while the range of handsets that can be located is now at 50, according to the carrier.
The number of Sprint Nextel’s capable handsets is significantly larger than other operators offering similar services; Verizon Wireless, for example, only has one locatable handset. Mobile virtual network operator Disney Mobile recently added a second handset to its line-up, but both devices can be used by either a parent or child.
Sprint Nextel also added a feature that allows parents to restrict the child’s access to the open Internet via the phone; parents can opt to allow all plans on their account to be limited to accessing only Sprint Nextel’s Vision content and “certain Internet sites that Sprint has deemed appropriate for all ages,” according to a company statement.
The locator service is available for $10 per month and requires a data plan if a parent wants to use their handset to locate a child, according to the carrier’s Web site.
