Verizon Set To Offer Free Robocall Blocking App, New Tech To Combat Spam – AT&T, Comcast Too

<div _ngcontent-c14 = "" innerhtml = "

Verizon is getting ready to offer a free robocall blocking app at the end of this month, if it Steps up efforts to combat the growing plague of spam calls.

In 201[ads1]9, pretty much everyone is on a robocaller's speed-dial list. That often means several spam calls per day.

Verizon knows this of course. offers a paid blocking app for $ 2.99 a month But the new freemium (free + premium) strategy for adding to the paid app, will now be a free * version.

Verizon expects to have instructions on how you can download and use the free app by the end of this coming week.

SHAKEN / STIR … what that?

 

More broadly, Verizon will call into an authentication technology called SHAKEN / STIR to & nbsp; help authenticate that the phone number on a user's caller ID is the phone number that originated the call.

put it another way, SHAKEN / STIR (or STIR / SHAKEN if some call it) verification tells consumers if an incoming call is really coming from the number listed on the caller ID display.

AT & T and Comcast made some noise this week on SHAKEN / STIR when they & nbsp; said they are working together to stop the robocall madness

Here's what AT & T and Comcast said:

While authentication won't solve the problem of unwanted robocalls by itself, it is a key step towards giving customers greater confidence and control over the calls they receive.

For example, a call that is illegally "spoofed" – or shows a faked number – will fail the SHAKEN / STIR Caller ID verification and will not be marked as verified. By contrast, verification will confirm that a call is really coming from the identified number or entity.

AT & T, Comcast Announce Anti-Robocalling Fraud Milestone Believed to be Nation's First March 20, 2019

About the coming months, carriers will be conducting tests with each other's systems, verifying that their SHAKEN / STIR implementations are compatible, according to AT & amp; T and Comcast.

—-

Notes:

* There are already " free " apps out there. Nomorobo & and RoboKiller are popular third-party apps that offer a free trial period. After that, both ask for a small monthly fee, which is typically no more than $ 1.99 per month. Hiya is a free app.

** FTC is in the process of approving STIR / SHAKEN. STIR stands for "Secure Telephone Identity Revisited" and SHAKEN for "Signature-based Action of Asserted Information using toKENs."

In currently using Verizon's paid " Call Filter " robocall / spam app on my iPhone XS Max. It doesn't catch all spam calls so often resort to " Do Not Disturb " mode – which effectively blocks all robocalls. See me write-on using Not Disturb .

">

Verizon is getting ready to offer a free robocall blocking app at the end of this month, as it steps up efforts to combat the growing plague of spam calls.

In 2019, pretty much everyone is on a robocaller's speed-dial list. That often means several spam calls per day.

Verizon knows this of course.Also offers a paid blocking app for $ 2.99 a month.But the new freemium (free + premium) strategy in addition to the paid app, will now be a free * version.

Verizon

SHAKEN / STIR … what's that?

More broadly, Verizon will tap into an authentication technology called SHAKEN / STIR to help authenticate that the phone number on a user's caller ID is the phone number that originated the call.

To put it another way, SHAKEN / STIR (or STIR / SHAKEN if some call it) verification tells consumers if an incoming call is really coming from the number listed on the caller ID display

AT&T and Comcast made some noise this week on SHAKEN / STIR, when they said they are working together to stop the robocall madness

Here's what AT&T and Comcast said:

While authentication won't solve the problem of unwanted robocalls by itself, it is a key step towards giving customers greater confidence and control over the calls they receive.

For example, a call that is illegally "spoofed" – or shows a faked number – will fail the SHAKEN / STIR Caller ID verification and will not be marked as verified. By contrast, verification will confirm that a call is really coming from the identified number or entity.

AT&T, Comcast Announce Anti-Robocalling Fraud Milestone Believed to be Nation's First, March 20, 2019

Over the coming months, carriers will be conducting tests with each other's systems, verifying that their SHAKEN / STIR implementations are compatible, according to AT&T and Comcast.

—-

Notes:

* There are already "free" apps out there . Nomorobo and RoboKiller are popular third-party apps that offer a free trial period. After that, both ask for a small monthly fee, which is typically no more than $ 1.99 per month. Hiya is a free app.

** FTC is in the process of approving STIR / SHAKEN. STIR stands for "Secure Telephone Identity Revisited" and SHAKEN for "Signature-based Action of Asserted Information using toKENs."

I currently use Verizon's paid "Call Filter" robocall / spam app on my iPhone XS Max. It doesn't catch all spam calls so often resort to "Do Not Disturb" mode – which effectively blocks all robocalls. See my writing on Do Not Disturb.