AT&T launches mobile user tracking
Exactly three years ago, Sprint unveiled its plans for a child-tracking phone service. The $9.99 monthly plan hooked a kid's phone up with a piece of software that pinpointed the handset's location on a map.
Today, AT&T has debuted FamilyMap, its version of essentially the same service, which will also cost $9.99 for two trackable phones, and $14.99 for up to five. Compatible handsets do not require full GPS connectivity, but can be made visible through A-GPS or cell tower pings.
The service can display the tracked device on a satellite or interactive street map, and can be assigned a schedule for checking at certain times of the day. Since the devices can be tracked either on a PC or another mobile handset, AT&T has included the ability to show if the device is being monitored from another location.
The service works for any AT&T A-GPS phone, including those on prepaid plans, and the FamilyMap application is browser-based, offering support for Internet Explorer 6, and 7, Firefox 2 and 3, Chrome, and Safari.