So my daughter recently got a new phone, and to tell the truth she has done some things and I am at the point where I cannot trust her. She's 13 years old, I have heard that you can only read them if she is under 16. I tried calling customer service but really, every time I call I end up hanging up becuase the wait is so long.
And is there any possible way I could put her phone as a childs phone? Would I be then able to read her texts?
I've heard that t-mobile gives out recordings of calls and printouts of texts for around $50-$80. Is there any truth to this? Please help, I really need to know.
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mpapple10 Posts: 1132
Phone Model: T-Mobile Shadow/HTC Juno
Service Provider: T-Mobile
Sat Nov 29, 2008 11:25 am
detailed billing will show you the number she is calling and texting but there is no record on t-mobiles end ( or so they say) of what the text message says.
emazing Posts: 3
Sat Nov 29, 2008 10:35 pm
Thank you. Does it show how many times she has texted or called that number?
you can check up to date sms incoming and outgoing numbers and texts through mytmobile . com, if you are on a family account you can call in to cc and set your number as the PAH (primary account holder) and have access to all lines on the account. Though you cannot check actual content of the sms you can view dates times and numbers from the current billing cycle and the last 2 months.
tmobile along with most other cell phone companies have very strict privacy policies and it is very difficult to obtain the actual content of the sms even if its your own phone or a phone on YOUR account. The only cases in which this is acceptable is through court order at the request of a judge and often times it can take months to obtain the information if it is even still accesible.
As far as obtaining content of sms there are third party programs you can install in a cell phone that covertly foward all incoming and outgoing sms to another number or to an email account, however these programs often times cost quite a bit of money and require a bit of technical knowledge and time to install, but they also provide other services such as realtime gps location of the cell phone among other things.
zeniam Posts: 7
Mon Jan 19, 2009 9:18 am
I use Verizon and know they offer this. I assume most carriers have something along these lines. I can order (for a monthly fee of course) control usage of my daughters phone. She is in the Army as a Combat Medic so I don't need to but if I did I could. As the master account, I can control things like how much texting, and I think I could even set up times etc. I have browsed t online but since I had no need for it I didn't pay tooo much attention but I know the ability is there. I cannot imagine any phone service not offering this sort of control. It is another common need and another way to make a few bucks more a month off of us. I do know I can get detailed info on when, who, etc. by just going online and tapping into the account and I don't have to pay for that. But to control usuage, yes, there is a fee.
stymus Posts: 24
Fri Jan 23, 2009 10:38 pm
Yes Tmobile has that ability its called family allowance as log as there are 2 lines on the account. You can mange how many mins they can use, when they can use the phone, how many text they use, even block numbers you don't want them to call or text. Its 2.00 a month its a great feature. But T0mobile does not have records or what is said in a text message sorry
zeniam Posts: 7
Sun Jan 25, 2009 2:26 am
I have to wonder about where the legal privacy lines are drawn. Being the master account holder, as most all parents are, are you allowed to see what is coming in and going out on the sub phones that you are actually in charge of? With that in mind, I have to think that if they can charge a parent to be able to see that, that they would surely offer it since many people would take full advantage of it. I am guessing the legality is that you can't because lord knows they charge for every other little thing they possibly can. Perhaps it is simply too much volume for them to deal with. Makes you wonder. What a great tool though for kids that are at risk or make poor choices.
Actually text messages take very little bandwidth or storage space. the only reason that stops then from this is text messages are protected by the same phone privacy laws.
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