Verizon to extend free robocall, spam and call-blocking tools to all customers
Verizon customers will be able to sign on starting in March.
Verizon says it will be expanding its free spam- and robocall-prevention features to all its wireless customers, starting in March, on phones that support the tools.
Verizon wireless subscribers with compatible Android phones and iPhones will all get spam-caller identification, robocall filtering and call blocking at no extra cost. Robocalls are filtered based on a risk level chosen by the customer.
Verizon's move follows T-Mobile's announcement of its Caller Verified feature last week. Both companies incorporate the FCC's STIR/SHAKEN (Secure Telephony Identity Revisited and Secure Handling of Asserted information using toKENs) caller-verification protocols for filtering out mass-scale phone-number spoofing.
Based on the statistics proffered by identification service YouMail, 4.7 billion robocalls attacked consumers in December 2018 alone, hitting an average of roughly 14 calls per person. That's way too many.
