T-Mobile USA has announced a new service called Family Allowances, to allow parents to easily manage when and how their family members use their phones and service on T-Mobile’s network.
From the official release:
With Family Allowances, parents can give their teens an upfront monthly wireless allowance that works on all the phones T-Mobile offers – virtually eliminating the worry of surprise overages. The feature lets parents set and change limits for minutes, messages and downloads (e.g., games, ring tones and wallpaper) using a simple online tool. Once the allowance is reached, the feature shuts off service for that specific element and parents receive a notification. Parents can stay in contact with their family members by setting up “Always Allowed” numbers that will continue to connect, even after allowances have been spent. Any unlimited calling features that are included in a family’s plan, such as myFaves and T-Mobile-to-T-Mobile, can also still be used, which preserves the value of the calling plan. Additional controls are available so parents can choose to set allowances on unlimited calling features, if desired.
Family Allowances will be available in the coming weeks at select T-Mobile retail stores and through mobile operator’s website. For the introductory rate of $2 per month, parents can manage all lines within their T-Mobile family plan.