But if you’re a T-Mobile user, you might have escaped the surge of bots. That’s because T-Mobile claims to have blocked 21 billion spam calls in 2021 alone.
So, how did they manage such a magnificent feat, and should your friends expect the same standard from their mobile service providers anytime soon?
T-Mobile’s ScamShield Does All the Magic
ScamShield is a service by T-Mobile that was released in 2020. It’s not a paid or opt-in plan. Instead, the service provides protection from spam callers to all T-Mobile users regardless of their phone plan. Going into the feature’s settings, you’ll be able to decide whether you’d like suspected scam calls to be blocked entirely or include a “Scam Likely” warning.
T-Mobile is using AI and machine learning to analyze call behavior. Suspicious calls are branded as “scam likely” and won’t even reach through to your phone before being blocked.
In a press release, Jon Freier, the President of T-Mobile’s Consumer Group, said:
Will Scam Detection Become the Norm?
T-Mobile ScamShield has only been around for one year. T-Mobile’s AI and ML technology is likely to learn and evolve in the upcoming years to detect even more elaborate scams and spam calls.
It’s important to note that T-Mobile wasn’t the only one hunting down spammy calls for a better user experience, but they’re in the lead. AT&T, as well as Verizon, blocked 16 billion and 13 billion spam calls in 2021 using their own filtering tech.
