This new tech is named call authentication technology and AT&T plus T-Mobile has just started rolling it out. If a phone call is made from one network carrier to the other using a compatible device, then the receiver will see a “Caller Verified” message which will prove for certain the call is not from a robot or a spammer.
The Federal Communications Commission ordered US mobile carriers’ to implement a new system to fight and stop robocalls by the end of 2019. The FCC has been criticizing the slow progress being made by the carriers but now at least these two are engaging in the process. Outside of AT&T and T-Mobile, a growing list of networks support the authentication tech.
This authentication partnership is based on the SHAKEN/STIR standard, which can verify if a caller ID is accurate or not. T-Mobile was first to introduce this on their network back in January and then in March AT&T and Comcast announced they were partnering to authenticate calls. Sprint is going to test this on their network but later on this year.
There are some limitations with this new standard, mainly that it can only tell when a call is definitely legit, rather than knowing if it’s definitely spam. The more networks and devices that join the standard, the more it will improve. The ratio of authenticated to unauthenticated calls will increase which increases the likelihood that an unauthenticated call is spam and can be ignored per usual.