T-Mobile and Sprint are rolling out number-verification to customers across both networks. Using the STIR/SHAKEN standards recommended by the FCC, the carriers hope to better fight robocalls. Ideally, this will make it harder for spammers to spoof numbers and give customers more confidence that the number calling them has not been ripped off by a robocall.
Wider support should be coming in the next couple of years. Last month, President Trump signed a law that requires phone service providers to implement the verification protocol, though they have a year to get started. The law comes after years of the Federal Communications Commission pressuring carriers to do something about robocalls but largely trying to make it happen voluntarily.
T-Mobile has already started verifying calls between its customers as well as with AT&T and Comcast customers. But it still doesn’t validate calls from Verizon customers, and AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint have announced even fewer call verification partnerships with major providers so far. Sprint also announced today that it would authenticate calls with Comcast.
“We’re in an arms race with these scammers, and we’ve got to join forces as an industry to keep all wireless customers protected,” T-Mobile CEO John Legere said in a press release.
T-Mobile is also expanding its Caller Verified feature to 23 smartphones. Soon, customers with more devices will see “Caller Verified” on their screens when a non-spoofed call arrives from a T-Mobile or Sprint number.
T-Mobile and Sprint are also in the middle of a merger that, if approved, would make this verification process a little less meaningful since they will ultimately be sharing one network anyway. The merger still hinges on the results of a lawsuit brought by a number of states seeking to block it over concerns it would decrease competition.
Ultimately, STIR/SHAKEN is an important protection for phone providers to start building in, and its ubiquitous presence can’t come soon enough. We may see more carriers adopt spam-blocking tech in the near future.
