A good find: GPS to locate the kids

Other ways to tether
With the interest and increase in GPS devices, a cell phone isn’t the only way to “tether” your child, although it certainly makes sense.

There are other options, but they are generally more costly with higher monthly service fees.

The $500 WorldTracker GPRS can send a location report every 15 seconds, as well as an alert “if the target moves from a pre-defined area,” according to the company that makes it, Tracking the World. Location reports are viewed on a Web page.

The device, sized to fit in the palm of a hand, requires a monthly service plan. Among the choices is a $59.95-a-month unlimited use plan.

Tracking the World The WorldTracker GPRS, to the left of the cell phone, is about the size of a pager, and can send a location report every 15 seconds.

The Amber Alert GPS ($229 and $249) works in conjunction with cell phones. A parent uses his or her cell phone to call a number to check the location of the child, and a text message is sent back from the GPS unit with the exact location.

If the parent has Web browsing on the cell phone, it can show a Yahoo map with the location of the child. Coordinates can also be entered on a computer directly to Yahoo or Google maps, according to the company.

Subscription rates range from $14.99 to $49.99 a month for one- and two-year plans.

The Wherifone GPS Locator phone by Wherify Wireless is designed for younger children, and comes in colors like lilac, pink and blue. The phone, available at places like Toys R Us and Amazon.com, costs between $50 and $100. Monthly service plans start at $19.95 a month.

The phone has a prominently marked emergency “SOS” button for 911 calls and a three other buttons that parents can program for one-touch speed dialing.

A resource, not a panacea
No matter how you choose to use GPS to locate your children, in a phone or a separate device, experts want you to know that a Global Positioning System is a resource, not a panacea.

And, companies that provide GPS services are very clear in stating that location information is not always on the money.

Verizon Wireless, for example, says on its Web site that location information can be “delayed, inaccurate, interrupted or disrupted due to many factors such as atmospheric, environmental and geographic conditions, satellite location or other factors associated with use of satellites and satellite data, cell site location and information or other network conditions.”

“All services rely on this broader technology, the satellites up in the air, and you do have to watch out for things like really, really bad weather, which can affect the accuracy of those readings,” said Neal of Kajeet.

“You also need to be mindful of where the phone with GPS is. If it’s in a deep, dark basement somewhere, you’re not going to get a good reading, no matter whose phone it is. It has to see the satellite or the cell tower.”

Aylward, of COMCARE, suggests parents also preprogram their children’s cell phones with important numbers of family members, and put the letters “I-C-E” (for “In Case of Emergency”) next to those names.

“That way a child can call mom or dad, or uncle or aunt, really easily, as well as 911, or, if there’s an emergency, and a responder arrives on the scene and a child can’t explain who he is or where he is, with the letters ICE on the child’s phone, a responder can make that call to the right person.”