Family Allowances by T-Mobile
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As most of you know, I work as Tech Support for AT&T. Not long ago, we introduced a feature called “Smart Limits” which allows you to limit the amount of text messaging, outgoing calls, etc from specific mobile on your account. It allows you to set the amount of text, downloads, etc a mobile is allowed per month. This went over like a lead balloon. Mainly because, when it was first released, there was a bug that prevented 911 operators from calling the mobile under certain circumstances. The feature was pulled for a time and then reintroduced without the incoming block option. As it is now, you can only limit outgoing calls, not incoming. At $1.99/month, per phone, this feature, in my mind, really isn’t worth it.
T-Mobile has introduced thier version called “Family Allowances“. This service seems to be much more thought out and user friendly. Using slide bars, you set the amount of minutes and text a family member is allowed to use and are sent a warning when they reach that limit. Thier service, once the limit is reached, is temporarily suspended unless you raise the limit either from your phone or on the web. By adding “allowed” numbers, you can always get in touch with the family member even if the limit is reached and without worrying about them using the phone beyond what has been alloted. Since I am not a member of T-Mobile, I cannot get the entire description or pricing but it seems like it can also block purchases and other actions by the user.
T-Mobile users, check it out.
I am sure this is the way AT&T envisioned their service to work, but they were in such a hurry to release it they did not ensure that it worked properly, which caused upset customers, loss of revenue and more expenses from having to pull the feature and re-work it.
7 Comments
T-Mobile FA User
August 13th, 2008
at 6:07am
I am a T-Mobile User & I just signed up for Family Allowances…& can give you inside info, if you want…
“…but it seems like it can also block purchases and other actions by the user.”…yes you can individually limit/block…
* Whenever Minutes…minutes that cost when you go over…
* Unlimited Minutes…anal parents can limit the Unlimited Night/Weekend minutes (or any minutes not in “Whenever Minutes”) (the FA interface calls these “Included Minutes”)…
* Messaging…text/pix/flix…not separate controls for different types tho, just “Messaging”…
* Downloads…this is the purchasing thing you heard of…
…then you can also…
* Schedule…create a schedule of when people can call…however you can only use their predefined sched ranges…you can’t block a line “from 12am to 12pm”…you can only block or allow certain ranges T-Mobile dreamed up…
Mon-Fri…one group covering Mon-Fri, not separate days to select…
9am - 2pm
4pm - 9pm
9pm - 11pm
11pm - 6am
Sat-Sun…another group putting Sat-Sun together…
9am - 12pm
12pm - 6pm
6pm - 11pm
11pm - 6am
* Allowed Numbers…you can create a list of 10 numbers to always allow or never allow, separate lists per line…this option has 2 sub-lists…
* Allowed Numbers - Always Allowed…list with up to 10 numbers, per line…
* Allowed Numbers - Never Allowed…list with up to 10 numbers, per line…
* Allowed Numbers - Never Allowed - 411 Block…as a checkbox, you can block access to 411 & it doesn’t count against the 10 you have in your Never Allowed list…
“At $1.99/month, per phone, this feature, in my mind, really isn’t worth it.”…eeek…per phone! AT&T’s “Smart Limits” really ain’t worth it…even T-Mobile’s $2/mo per account (max 5 lines per account)…is kinda a rip-off…these controls/limits should be EXPECTED…not a “pay more for it” thing…right now I signed up for FA since it’s only $2/mo & since they said it was an introductory price…I didn’t wanna wait & have to pay more (I’m locked in at $2/mo)…but I still think we need a Lawsuit to force all cell companies to provide this type of control by default…
“…there was a bug that prevented 911 operators from calling the mobile under certain circumstances.”…this might be my naive idea of a fix, but can’t AT&T just make a list of all the 911 center call-from numbers & add them to an always allowed incoming list…OR…can’t all the 911 call-from numbers just be forced to display as “911″, then AT&T could add 1 number to the always allowed…how is T-Mobile dealing with this? FIX IDEA 2…AT&T could make a note when you dial 911 & allow ALL incoming for the next hour or 2 (or dial #911# to toggle the allow all incoming for 911 {to turn it off before the hour or 2 is up})…then it don’t need a global list of 911 center call-from numbers…(by call-from number I mean whatever would show in caller id, if a 911 operator called you)…
This blog needs a preview…& markup…I coulda made nice, indented lists…
Paul Daly
August 30th, 2008
at 11:28am
I tried the T-Mobile Family allowances service, but encountered a pretty obvious problem. My phone stopped working during the weekend. The restriction on minutes was not just limited to whenever minutes. An hour on the phone with T-Mobile support. They were never able to even understand the problem and insisted on trouble shooting my phone. When we increased the minutes allowances the phone worked. When we restricted them, phone stopped working during the weekend. The customer service/tech support folks couldn’t see why that was a problem. So I had the option removed from my account. I suggest waiting until the service matures a bit before trying it. Right now it is buggy and the technical support folks are not far enough on their earning curve to understand or recognize problems with the service.
ashante
December 26th, 2008
at 10:01am
the family allowance needsz to be off tmoible itsz dum and it mess up ppl phonesz
latasha
January 18th, 2009
at 7:39am
It’s perfect for people that want unwanted numbers calling or to prvent children downloading
Mike (Republic of Texas)
April 10th, 2009
at 1:21am
It’s interesting that the people who post messages saying that they think that this feature is not a good idea are also the people with the worst writing skills that I’ve ever seen. I suspect that this is because they are the kids for which the parents needed this type of service because of the irresponsibility of the kids.
I have unlimited text messaging on my family plan service, but I’m considering adding the family allowances to it because my 14 year old daughter is spending entirely too much time either sending text messages or making phone calls. This sort of system would allow me to punish her for various things without completely taking away her phone. I would be able to prevent her from making or receiving calls to anyone else while still allowing me to contact her when necessary. Personally, I think that it should be a basic service that should be included with every line, but if it is $2 per month, it’s not *too* bad.
Andy
April 16th, 2009
at 1:23pm
This whole Family Allowance thing is full of ****.
Andy
April 16th, 2009
at 1:29pm
And by the way, Mike your way to strict and over protective, first off I’m 14 and I can type perfectly fine, I see SO many adults that cant even type “you” but instead “u” but thats not the issue right now. You should let your daughter live her life and not end up like a loser parent like you. I don’t care if you think I’m disrespecting an adult, because you guys think you are gods over us kids.