Some of you may have heard of ATT Smart Limits before.  Several months ago att mobility introduced this new service but had to pull it due to issues.

Smart Limits is a feature that allows you to limit the amount of text messaging, picture messaging and outgoing calls a cell phone makes, you can also block specific numbers from calling the phone.  This is usefull for parents of children with cell phones to limit thier use of it and prevent specific numbers from calling thier kids.

You can set and control the following..

The service will be available for $4.99 per month, per line.  Currently it is ONLY available to customers who had the original feature and to employees.  The original feature allowed the customer to limit incomming calls by time or minute usage, but it was found that if the person called 911 during a time when the incomming calls were restricted, and dropped the call for some reason, the 911 operator could not call the phone back.  A rare occurance, but ATT decided to remove the feature for adjustments.  Rather than wait for that issue to be fixed, they decided to re-introduce the feature with the incomming limitations removed.  Once the 911 issue is fixed, the restriction on incomming calls will be added.

All in all I think this is a great feature, especially for parents.  It will give them some peace of mind that thier kids will not create a huge phone bill from downloading or texting too much.  It can also be used as a reward technique.  Let’s say your child gets good grades on a report card.  The parent might allow the child $10 in downloads such as ringtones, wall papers, or games for thier mobile. 

The ability to limit phones not in direct control of the account holder is something I think will take off.  Personally I think $4.99 per month is a bit much but that may change.