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Fixed Mobile Handsets Special Feature

Dog day afternoon

09 May 2007
Telecoms Special Features

And so it begins...

Earlier this year we reported on the sinister Guardian Angel GPS bracelet phone, which is designed to "locate the patient instantly in case of wandering."

Now Scandinavian operator TeliaSonera has gone and made an affordable version of the monitoring bracelet, which it is marketing under the guise of a pet tracker.

"The worst nightmare for all dog owners would be to lose their darling pet. However, Sweden's 700,000 dog owners can soon keep better track of their doggy with the help of their mobile phone and a GPS receiver that is attached to the dog's collar," the marketing blurb says.

"Every year approximately 15,000 dogs disappear now and then from their owners and many have wished for a simple way to find their runaway pet."

And like the runaway pet, who hasn't made it as far as the hospital lobby in flight from the men in black suits before being tackled to the ground by white-coated psychiatrists?

At a price of around SEK79 (EUR8.5) per month and accessible by any mobile phone, it's suddenly a whole lot cheaper to keep tabs on those "runaway pets".

The GPS receiver packs a SIM card into the collar so that if an SMS message is sent to the GPS unit, it replies by sending an SMS or MMS message with text or a map image indicating where the dog is located.

"A dog owner can also decide how far the dog may be allowed to run freely, and when the dog has exceeded the set limit, the dog owner will receive an alarm on his mobile phone," TeliaSonera adds.

 

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