Can I shut off the data and messaging and only make calls?

@JohnnyDoe

smart limits wont work for DATA.  And if the user has a iphone they can get around all the blocks.  heck you can do it on a android phone.  My suggestion is buy a 15 dollar Gophone flip phone and give the teen that.  I did that with my teens.

@GLIMMERMAN76 It blocks data while on cellular just not on wifi. Really need to set parental controls on the physical phone and then give the phone to the kids afterwards... but that's an easier said than done move

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@JohnnyDoe wrote:

@GLIMMERMAN76 It blocks data while on cellular just not on wifi. Really need to set parental controls on the physical phone and then give the phone to the kids afterwards... but that's an easier said than done move

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Its a over priced tool if you get down to it.  The time restrictions dont work for data most of the time.  They actually removed it but it looks like they added it back so maybe it works better.  You dont need smartlimits to turn someones data off on the phone just log into myatt and shut it off.  A call to tech support they can remove texting from the line.

Absolutely agree there - that way there far fewer work arounds for the tech savy kids/teens

News flash:  Kids today don't use the phone (very often) or texting features.  They use Snapchat or Instagram, both apps--designed to be used with cellular data or on a wifi.  As it turns out, open wifis are ubiquitous.  Schools these days almost always have a kid-friendly wifi. So do libraries, Starbucks, shopping malls, McDonald's, grocery stores, clothing stores, and (in some cases lately) entire towns and cities.  Consequently, cutting your kid off from inappropriate uses of their phones (i.e. while they should be concentrating on driving, or while they should be doing their jobs sacking groceries or watching youngsters splash around in the deep end of the community pool, etc.) is darned near impossible.

There are a few apps out there that take over the kid's phone and give the superuser (i.e. the parent) the ability to turn apps on and off from afar, but they have mixed results (i.e. enormous lag-time before the desired settings take effect)---and the kids can almost always find work-arounds from other kids on YouTube who have battled their parents and the apps.

Most advice out there says to "have an honest conversation" with the teen to get them to change their reckless behavior. (And then I wonder whether those authors have ever been the parent of a teen.)  I can't count the number of "honest conversations" I've had with my teen about the perils of picking a song while sitting at a stoplight.

Okay, AT&T.  You've already got the cellular data under control through your Smart Limit service.  I'm urging you to add a function that allows the account owner to control the wifi settings (even on/off) for any phone on the account.  No lag-time, please.

Parents of knuckleheaded teens will be happy to pay $9.99/month to have that control.  AT&T can sell it as "We're really looking out for our youngest drivers."  Everybody wins.  (Even if the kids don't think they're winning, they are.  They're alive and concentrating on their driving skills if only a bit perturbed that they have to listen to----gasp---the RADIO!!!!!)

(While you're at it, add a function to control Bluetooth, hotspot tethering, and Near-Field Communications.  DriveMode is good, but it only manages phone calls and texting.  We need one for communications apps like Snapchat and Instagram.)

Smart Limits is gone now. No parental control for flip phones