I purchased a storm and got a free blackberry flip for my son. Before I complete the purchase I asked if I would be able to get the usage control option and family locator on the phone later or did I have to do it now when I purchased the phone. I was informed that I could do it later either online with my Verizon or I could call and do it over the phone. With that in mind I went through with the purchase, about three months later I called in to turn on the features on my sons phone. Come to find out you can NOT put usage control or family locatee functions on any blackberry devices. Now I thought I messed up and misunderstood the rep. at the store. I went back and asked and they said that I could I informed them that it wasn't true and that they are misinformed. So later that night I went on the Verizon website to see if said I couldn't do it. It says the phone can family locate (call me slow but if you are just reading over the info for the phone you would assume you could locate that phone) and no where does it say anything about not being able or not able to use usage controls, this is something only a Verizon rep. can find out when they put it in there system to tell you which phones can. So I called back to see if there was anything I could do, only to be told when I could upgrade my phone. I really want to be mad, but I figured it would get me no where seeing that I'm in the contract. So now I wait until my contract is up to move to another carrier.
Try it yourself and tell me what you would think....
Go to the Verizon Wireless home page in the search block type " Verizon Family Locator", then click the second one "Verizon Wireless: Family Locator". On the next screen click "Shop for Chaperone Family Locator Capable Locatee Phones ". Scroll down and you should see the BlackBerry Pearl Flip. (Like I said before...call me slow but wouldn't you assume you could use it to be the locatee)
Or try anywhere on the site to find which phones can not use usage controls.
Just for giggles ( while you wait for the contract to end ) go back to the store and have the rep that told you you could and have them do the deed. Take both phones to verify.
I had to get the reps in Thomasville to fix a few things and they were nice enough to do it. Some of the phone reps dont have a clue. Even the ones that speak english.
Family Locator is totally different from Usage Controls. Just want to make sure you're understanding that.
Family Locator is the new name for the old Chaperone service. It lets you locate the device based on it's GPS location. You can view it thru a mobile web browser or on a PC and you can also get texts alerts for certain conditions. Family Locator IS available on Blackberry devices.
Usage Controls is a feature that allows you to restrict the usage of the phone as far as messaging, minutes and data usage. It also allows you to block some numbers from communicating with that device. Usage Controls IS NOT available for Blackberry or any other smartphone devices, only basic phones.
Smartphones/Blackberry's cannot be LOCATEE phones becuase typically the locatee phone is for a child. And typically, a child shouldn't have a Blackberry or other smartphone device. That's just ridiculous.
Also, a lot of the reason why the Family Locator application itself is not available on any smartphone/Blackberry is because it's a BREW application. The developer of that application would need to rewrite the application using the language for each specific advanced device; Blackberry, WinMo, Palm, Android. That takes a lot of time, resources and money; of which BREW developers don't always have in surplus.
All in all, I think it's sad and frustrating that reps (in-store or CS) can't always provide consistent, clear information. This, of course is largely due to each person's unique personality, memory and general IQ. All the more reason I would be happy if it were robots answering my call, at least then I'd know what to expect. Oh well. In due time I'm sure it'll happen.
I did go back to the store with the phones in tote. I was reassured that it could not be done. On a lighter note, everyone has been very professional even when they were clueless.
Yes I did know there was a difference, I just didn't know that I couldn't use the features. I agree with you "a child shouldn't have a Blackberry or other smartphone device" but my son is very responsible and he figured out all of the functions before I had a chance to open the manual. Although he is responsible he is still a kid and I wanted to be able to find him if I had too. I would have got a regular cheap phone had I known I couldn't use the two features. But the cheap phones were still more costly than free. I didn't know anything about the BREW, and it does make sense how you explained it. All I can say is I wish you were in the store the same time I was going through with this purchase, your info would have helped out a lot.
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