VANCOUVER – Telus launched a pair of products today that will help lost customers find where they’re going and let parents electronically track their kids.
Navigator and Kid Find are the two new GPS services that will help "consumers get increased peace of mind whether on the road, at the park or going trick or treating," said Robert Blumenthal, Telus senior vice-president of products and services, in a press release.
Navigator and Kid Find now operate throughout Telus’ 1X Digital PCS coverage area in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario’s Golden Horseshoe region, which stretches from Oshawa to Kitchener, and Barrie to St. Catharines, and is expected to roll out nationally in the future, the company said.
These services leverage traditional GPS technology with Telus’ network based location technology to provide reliable location fixes in a wide variety of surroundings, including indoor and outdoor environments.
The telco partnered with Networks in Motion for its Navigator and Kid Find services.
Navigator provides real-time audio and visual turn-by-turn directions similar to in-car navigation systems and allows clients to use their handset to plan their route ahead, search for destinations from over 1.5 million points of interest and get results according to their preferred mode of travel and route.
It’s available to clients with the Samsung A950 on a free two-day trial offer, and can be subscribed to for $10 per month plus a one-time 50-cent download fee.
Kid Find lets parents electronically track the location of their kids cell phones in real-time on an interactive map either through their own Telus mobile or on mytelusmobility.com.
"Kid Find protects users’ privacy with secure pass codes and mandatory permission requirements that put the client in control of privacy. Only clients who are payment responsible for the account or have been given permission to manage the account can access location information," says the release.
Individuals being located will be notified by a flashing GPS indicator on their mobile phone’s screen each time a location request is sent to their phone. Additionally, when Kid Find has been activated by the account holder, a one-time notification will be sent to the handset to be tracked. Kid Find can be temporarily deactivated by shutting the handset off or disabling the GPS status.
It’s now available on select Telus mobile phones for $5 per month for unlimited usage, plus a one-time 50-cent download fee.
