AT&T, T-Mobile Partner to Combat Lame A** Robocalls

AT&T and T-Mobile are partnering to deliver cross-network robocall protection built on SHAKEN/STIR standards, providing verification to customers that the call they’re getting is from an actual person and not a robocaller or scammer.

For background, STIR/SHAKEN stands for Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs (SHAKEN) and the Secure Telephone Identity Revisited (STIR). They’re some of the worst acronyms in the business, but hey, James Bond is cool and he wouldn’t robocall you.

The way it works is pretty straightforward, and even better, it will only improve as more network operators implement the system. T-Mobile and Comcast were the first in the US to do so.

For example, a call that is spoofed, as in it shows a faked number, will fail the SHAKEN/STIR Caller ID verification and will not be marked as verified when it hits your device. In other cases, verification will confirm that a call is really coming from the identified number or entity. According to the press release, “More calls will be verified over time as more device providers participate, and as more network providers implement the standards.”

Robocalls suck a**.

// T-Mobile | AT&T