T-Mobile Completes Spam Prevention Rollout, Now Authenticates Calls From 98% of Wireless Users

[MacRumors]

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.

Article Link: T-Mobile Completes Spam Prevention Rollout, Now Authenticates Calls From 98% of Wireless Users

 

[yaxomoxay]

But what if my car warranty is expiring for real?!?!?

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗]

Hoping other cell phone carriers follows this.

 

[Sasparilla]

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.

 

[JCoe13]

Hoping other cell phone carriers follows this.

Based on the article, it seems that this will be required by June 2021 for all carriers

 

[w5jck]

T-Mobile has often rolled out spam blockers, and they have never worked. I'm not optimistic about this iteration either, but I'll give it a try...

BTW, a large number of the spam/scam calls I get are from T-Mobile numbers, so obviously they cannot even police their own network.

 

[BeefCake 15]

But what if my car warranty is expiring for real?!?!?

All these courteous calls down the drain...

 

[nutmac]

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.

 

[Unity451]

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.

AT&T is the worst.

 

[Springman]

Just downloaded it and will see if it helps - I currently silence unknown callers and while that works great I do occasionally miss a legitimate call.

 

[MacStreamer]

I've had alot of success with Robokiller.

 

[Mick-Mac]

I wish there was even more that could be done to stop these scumbags. If there is a confirmed scammer then wouldn't it just be lovely if they could automatically be bombarded with the equivalent of a DNS attack, or maybe there could be provisions in the cell phone plans that if a number is being used for scamming then the calls are charged, not free. There just doesn't appear to be any way to *effectively* punish these guys...

 

[Mike_Trivisonno]

I am so tired of AT&T calling me 2 or 3 times a day asking me if I am interested in upgrading my service even though I am not a customer! AT&T is a garbage company with the worst marketing program ever devised...they actually make you hate them. Screw AT&T.

And also the Auto Warranty people that call letting me know the warranty on my brand new car that I just leased 4 months ago is about to expire. Scumbags.

Thank you T-Mobile. I love you and your service.

 

[Mike_Trivisonno]

I wish there was even more that could be done to stop these scumbags. If there is a confirmed scammer then wouldn't it just be lovely if they could automatically be bombarded with the equivalent of a DNS attack, or maybe there could be provisions in the cell phone plans that if a number is being used for scamming then the calls are charged, not free. There just doesn't appear to be any way to *effectively* punish these guys...

The death penalty. And even that might not get them to stop.

 

[Killbynumbers]

If only they could stop the car warranty calls. Occasionally I do have to answer my phone while on the job and they got me yesterday.

 

[mthomas184]

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.

So I turned off "Silence Unknown Callers" on my iPhone and got a call about 25 minutes later that my warranty was expiring lol Still came through, wasnt identified, still looks like it did before so who knows.

 

[velocityg4]

Does the app even do anything? I downloaded it before. All it seems to do is give me an interface to turn the feature on or off. Which I already had turned on through the website. So, the app seemed superfluous and I removed it.

I just noticed in the last couple days a verified label under some calls. So, maybe I don't need the app. Unless the app has been updated to add features (in the free spam blocking arena). Not available on the website for your carrier settings.

Also, I really wish Apple would update to something better like Google has. The best is a little question that pops up for new callers. Simply asking if the call was spam or not. Making blocking much faster. Rather than all the steps you have to go through. To look at a callers info, block and approve the block. Especially with text messages. Plus block calls with no caller ID without blocking everyone not in your contacts.

 

[justperry]

I wish there was even more that could be done to stop these scumbags. If there is a confirmed scammer then wouldn't it just be lovely if they could automatically be bombarded with the equivalent of a DNS attack, or maybe there could be provisions in the cell phone plans that if a number is being used for scamming then the calls are charged, not free. There just doesn't appear to be any way to *effectively* punish these guys...

Move to the country I live in, I have no such problems here.

It makes a difference that I live in a country where English is not the/a main language.
Most spammers seem to speak English besides their mother language, they won't learn the language I speak.

 

[alexandr]

But what if my car warranty is expiring for real?!?!?

i love you)))

 

[jarman92]

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.

Except the app is from T-Mobile and they already have your contact info and call/location data...

 

[The_Martini_Cat]

I put my phone number on my emails but ... my phone only rings when it is someone in my contacts list! None of the spam calls ring at all, but I think I am getting a bit reduced functionality from what you would want from a phone. ??. OTOH, it's peaceful around me??

 

[GreenPixel]

That full size ipod touch with a wireless connection but no phone number anyone can call sounds better at every turn.

Drop a data-only SIM in your phone. Done. I had a couple phones for my kids and did that for about 3 years. Worked great.

 

[HDFan]

BTW, a large number of the spam/scam calls I get are from T-Mobile numbers,

my phone only rings when it is someone in my contacts list!

But are they "real" numbers? In a period of 1 hour I received ~10 calls about my Amazon account, all different numbers. Called Comcast, but they couldn't do anything about them because the numbers were spoofed. They said there was no way to find the actual number.

Can't limit to contacts list as I get a lot of calls from new numbers - appliance repair, medical calls, etc.

 

[Wolf Of Infinite Loop]

Suuuuuuuure it does. Kind of like how they boast that the have the best network, when overall compared to other major companies they are trash.

 

[Allyance]

Does the app even do anything? I downloaded it before. All it seems to do is give me an interface to turn the feature on or off. Which I already had turned on through the website. So, the app seemed superfluous and I removed it.

I just noticed in the last couple days a verified label under some calls. So, maybe I don't need the app. Unless the app has been updated to add features (in the free spam blocking arena). Not available on the website for your carrier settings.

Also, I really wish Apple would update to something better like Google has. The best is a little question that pops up for new callers. Simply asking if the call was spam or not. Making blocking much faster. Rather than all the steps you have to go through. To look at a callers info, block and approve the block. Especially with text messages. Plus block calls with no caller ID without blocking everyone not in your contacts.

works for me