VZ Wireless Usage Controls -- For $4.99 a Month

Kevin Maney writes with mixed feelings: Verizon Wireless has finally come through with something that should've been available from wireless carriers for a long time: parental controls on cell phone use.

Early this year, Verizon Wireless said it was planning to create such controls -- and it's nice to see that the company followed through. Its new "usage controls" were launched last week, and they give parents a lot of the control they need. You can set time limits, for instance, so your kid can't engage in text messaging after a certain time on a school night. You can set limits on the number of texts, or block texts from certain numbers. (The other carriers offer nothing like this.)

My biggest beef: Verizon is charging $4.99 a month per phone to turn on usage controls. That just has the feel of nickel-and-dime money-grubbing. Giving parents the power to control phone use for their kids seems like the least a carrier should do, considering that the carriers are selling a service that's highly addictive for most teens and pre-teens. I'm sure plenty of parents will fork over the money, but by charging for controls, Verizon Wireless just missed an opportunity for enormous good will.