T-Mobile today announced that it is the first U.S. wireless provider that has managed to complete deals with all wireless networks to implement full number spoofing and spam call protection for customers.
With these partnerships in place, T-Mobile has completed its implementation of the STIR/SHAKEN standards that are in place to combat illegal caller ID spoofing. T-Mobile is now able to authenticate calls with wireless and network providers that represent 98 percent of wireless customers in the United States.
T-Mobile offers a "Scam Shield" Un-carrier feature that susses out and blocks scams and robocalls. The company has been working on improving Scam Shield, and its new partnerships with Spectrum Voice and Charter Communications ensure number verification across almost all providers in the U.S. to authenticate incoming calls for T-Mobile customers.
"T-Mobile was first to implement number verification in 2019 because protecting customers against scammers and spammers is one of the most important things we can do as an industry," said Mike Sievert, CEO T-Mobile. "To date, T-Mobile has protected over 80 million customers from more than 33 billion suspect calls - and counting. With the combination of Number Verification, free Caller ID and the scam blocking tools in Scam Shield, and by working with network providers of all sizes, we are providing the industry's most comprehensive scam and spam protection for free to all our customers and working every day to make scammers jobs impossible."
The FCC is requiring all carriers in the United States to implement STIR/SHAKEN by June 2021, so other major wireless providers like AT&T and Verizon will need to add the same protections for their customers.
T-Mobile's Scam Shield is a free Caller ID tool that warns customers when a number calling is likely to be a scammer, and there's an option to block scammers entirely.
AT&T and Verizon have similar spam caller prevention tools, but both charge for premium access. AT&T charges $3.99 for features that include Caller ID (though it is included free in the highest tier unlimited plans), while Verizon charges $2.99 per month for Caller ID. Both AT&T and Verizon are working to implement STIR/SHAKEN for identifying spoofed calls.
Wednesday February 19, 2025 8:02 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today introduced the iPhone 16e, its newest entry-level smartphone. The device succeeds the third-generation iPhone SE, which has now been discontinued.
The iPhone 16e features a larger 6.1-inch OLED display, up from a 4.7-inch LCD on the iPhone SE. The display has a notch for Face ID, and this means that Apple no longer sells any iPhones with a Touch ID fingerprint button, marking the ...
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Over the years, Apple has switched from an aluminum frame to a stainless steel frame to a titanium frame for its highest-end iPhones. And now, it has been rumored that Apple will go back to using aluminum for three out of four iPhone 17 models.
In an investor note with research firm GF Securities, obtained by MacRumors this week, Apple supply chain analyst Jeff Pu said the iPhone 17, iPhone...
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Now that Apple has announced its new more affordable iPhone 16e, our thoughts turn to what else we are expecting from the company this spring.
There are three product categories that we are definitely expecting to get upgraded before spring has ended. Keep reading to learn what they are. If we're lucky, Apple might make a surprise announcement about a completely new product category.
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"Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," he said, with an #AppleLaunch hashtag.
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In iOS 18.4, there's a new Ambient Music option that can be added to Control Center. There are four different sound categories, including Sleep, Chill, Productivity, and Wellbeing.
Each category can be added to Control Center separately, and tapping one plays a random selection of sounds or music from that particular category.
You can't choose what's playing from Control Center, but if...
Currently, iOS merely displays a tiny checkbox under each STIR/SHAKEN verified phone number/name in Recents tab. That is not enough.
At the very least, it should display more prominent icon on the incoming call screen. Furthermore, Silence Unknown Callers should be expanded to:
* Silence Unknown Callers: Callers not in Contacts, outgoing calls, and Siri Suggestions * Silence Unverified Callers: Callers not verified by STIR/SHAKEN. * Silence International Callers: Callers not in local region (e.g., US if your carrier is US) or current region (if you are roaming internationally)
And iOS needs Call Screening feature similar to Android.
On this carrier and got a call about my expiring warranty (for my 10 year old car) yesterday (normally about 1 a day), will be interesting to see if this does a thing. If its only labeling, its close to worthless.
It does make me wonder if we really need phone numbers at this point, at the height of this nonsense (and inability or lack of motivation of the carriers to fix it), a full size ipod touch with connection through a wireless provider (but no phone number) was sounding pretty good.
Ahhh for actual blockage, you have to get their app, it appears, and it (according the app store) harvests your contact info, usage data and user content (whatever that is) along with other stuff not directly linked the user (but probably easily linked later on).
How annoying. That full size ipod touch with a wireless connection but no phone number anyone can call sounds better at every turn.
AT&T and Verizon have similar spam caller prevention tools, but both charge for premium access. AT&T charges $3.99 for features that include Caller ID (though it is included free in the highest tier unlimited plans), while Verizon charges $2.99 per month for Caller ID.
