T-Mobile and Sprint boost their joint efforts against robocalls
While waiting to be allowed to merge at last and create a fierce competitor for the Verizon/AT&T market duopoly, T-Mobile and Sprint are joining forces to take their fight against robocalls and scammers to the next level.
The nation's third and fourth-largest wireless service providers, as well as the number one and two industry players, have already taken various steps on their own to curb the number-spoofing plague that's been spreading for so long, reaching unimaginable heights in recent years.
But efforts like AT&T's Call Validation feature, T-Mobile's Caller Verified functionality, and Verizon's Call Filter tools can only go so far as long as they don't work across networks. That's where T-Mobile and Sprint's close relationship comes in handy, facilitating today's rollout of anti-robocalling functionality to customers of both cellular companies.
Starting now (or at least relatively soon), you can rest assured knowing that the number shown on your caller ID display is legit... as long as said call is conducted between Sprint and T-Mobile's networks. That's a small step forward for the STIR/SHAKEN technology that's supposed to be implemented across all major US carriers in the not-too-distant future.
For what it's worth, this is actually not T-Mobile's first collaboration of the sort, as the "Un-carrier" has previously partnered with AT&T and Comcast as well to authenticate calls made back and forth. But there are still plenty of similar connections waiting to be put in place before every single customer of every single operator can be protected for every single call.
There's also another detail to note before getting too excited about today's announcement. Unfortunately, T-Mobile's Caller Verified feature is still exclusively available on a small number of phones. Oh, well, at least said number has jumped from 17 a few months ago to 23, with "more coming soon." On the not so bright side of things, Magenta is not very keen to actually share a list of these 23 handsets.
Caller Verified functionality was first launched on Samsung's Galaxy Note 9, so if you own that model or other fairly recent high-end smartphones, you should be able to see a sign next to a confirmed number on your screen for non-spoofed calls between T-Mobile and Sprint after installing the "latest software update."
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