Verizon Launches Chaperone - GPS Based Kid monitoring Service

Verizon released news that they are getting into the kid monitoring market with their new Chaperone program that allows parents to monitor where their kids are while giving their kids the ability to call a select few people with this easy to use mobile phone. The phone itself is the GPS equipped LG Migo phone, and the program that is wrapped around it seems to have been well thought out. Now to be able to monitor where the kid is, you probably need to keep the phone with the kid and the phone needs reception. So this assumes that kids can take mobile phones to school (our school doesn’t allow it), and that the school isn’t in a dead zone (ours it totally void of any mobile phone signal due to its location behind a hill). But if you have younger kids, and don’t have these problems, read on if you want to be able to monitor them from your own mobile phone or via a password protected part of the web. There are some innovative features and precautions that make the program interesting.

Some explanation from Verizon below:

Based on Global Positioning System (GPS) data, Chaperone is designed to supplement the parameters parents have already established with their children with two options, Chaperone Child Locator and Chaperone with Child Zone. The availability of Chaperone with Child Zone marks the first time a wireless service allows parents to establish predetermined areas in which a child can travel with their Migo phone and automatically alert the parent about the location of the device when it enters or leaves the defined area. Features of these services include:

· Chaperone Child Locator – Once the child is equipped with a new or updated Migo phone and the service is activated on the account, parents can locate their child’s Migo phone from a PC via the Chaperone Web site (www.VerizonWireless.com/Chaperone). Optionally, parents can download the Chaperone application from the Get It Now virtual store, at no charge, to conduct single location requests for the Migo phone directly from the parent’s Verizon Wireless phone. The Chaperone application for parents is available for use on a growing number of Get It Now-enabled phones.

Using this service, parents can:

Perform single location requests of the Migo phone’s whereabouts and display the location of the Migo phone on a map via the Chaperone Web site or the parent’s Verizon Wireless phone

Program the Migo phone’s automatic calling buttons over the air from the Chaperone Web site

Customize Chaperone settings, including ‘English’ or ‘Spanish’ language, creating a unique name for the child’s Migo phone and enabling or disabling the emergency calling button

Chaperone with Child Zone – Using the Chaperone Web site, a parent can construct an area called a Child Zone around the vicinity of locations that their child frequents (such as school, playgrounds or daycare centers).

Different locations can be “zoned” for one time, always on, or for up to 24 hours. When the child arrives or leaves the predetermined area with their Migo phone, the parent is alerted via TXT Message on their Verizon Wireless phone.

Additionally, the Migo phone allows a child to be in quick contact with their parents or other relatives by pressing one of four buttons to speed dial loved ones when the buttons are programmed by their parents, whether they are calling just to say “hello” or in the event a problem occurs. Designed for family communication, the Migo phone allows parents to program up to four important phone numbers, like their home, mobile or work numbers, emergency services, a babysitter or a grandparent, then children can speed dial these “helpers” with the simple touch of a button.

Safety and Security Come First
As a protection against deliberate misuse of the service, Verizon Wireless will sell Chaperone and Chaperone with Child Zone services, through its 2,100 Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and Circuit City retail locations nationwide, through verified agents and through its telesales group.

Chaperone is not available for purchase over the Internet. Importantly, Chaperone is only available to Verizon Wireless customers on a Family Share Plan to help restrict unauthorized use of the service.

According to Lee Daniels, director of product development for Verizon Wireless, Chaperone is a service designed for busy families to keep their lines of communication open, while also helping parents give their children more freedom by giving them a tool to be in touch. “Chaperone provides a connection between parents and their children when they aren’t physically together, and it gives parents an added tool for keeping in contact with their children. If the unexpected happens, a child carrying a Chaperone-enabled Migo phone will be able to quickly get in touch with parents or another responsible adult – and even emergency personnel – who can help,” said Daniels. “It’s just one of the ways that Verizon Wireless is leveraging location-based technology to provide our customers with services that are relevant to their lives.”

Location Based Services (LBS) are enabled by the enhancements Verizon Wireless has made to its award-winning wireless network, allowing consumers to access new services utilizing new GPS data and navigational information which includes VZ Navigator, a tool that provides consumers with access to mapping, audible turn-by-turn directions and the ability to find over 14 million points of interest, and now includes Chaperone. Using GPS and Verizon Wireless’ network, LBS services securely communicates valuable location information across the wireless network based on specific privacy settings that are established by the users and by the network.

[See our recent post on the fact that this service isn't totally worked out yet - "GPS Directions on Mobile Phones - Not Ready for Prime Time"

In order to access Chaperone, a Verizon Wireless customer must subscribe to Chaperone and then activate the service through a secure, password protected Web site. Specific educational materials and terms of use are available to customers and were designed to assist parents and children use Chaperone in an informed and responsible manner. Chaperone is only available to Verizon Wireless customers on a Family Share Plan to help restrict unauthorized use of the service.

June 12, 2006

Verizon Launches Chaperone - GPS Based Kid monitoring Service