Parents who are concerned about contents and whereabouts of their childrens' mobile devices may find relief in the new announcement from AT&T.

As more and more parents hand cell phones to their children for safety reasons and the ability to have access to their children in emergency situations, there is an increasing concern over wasted and unnecessary usage of family minutes.

AT&T introduced a new service which allows parents have total control on calls made and received on their kids' phones. Parents will also be able to track other mobile activities.

Carlton Hill, vice-president of voice products for AT&T's wireless unit and the mother of two teenagers noted in the report that the company was hearing complaints from parents of teenagers about the overuse of the phones, so they wanted to so something about it.

The Smart Limits service, available as an add-on for $4.99 per month, per line, requires no contract and will work on almost all phones. Using the web site provided by AT&T, parents can control features like call blocking and hour limits, as well as limits on text message and download allowances.

Using this service, it is also possible for parents to block Web sites they don’t want their children to browse from their cell phones.