T-Mobile is the first operator to activate anti-spoofing technology with all other major operators

T-Mobile has reached a new milestone in the war with spam calls and texts by establishing STIR / SHAKEN support with all major networks in the United States. This will go a long way in preventing scammers from avoiding anti-spam and call blocking methods by falsifying caller ID information. T-Mobile is the first major wireless operator to meet the targets set by the TRACED Act before the FCC’s June 30 deadline.

Scammers notoriously use number spoofing to hide the true origin of a call or text message, sometimes even using an area code corresponding to the number they are contacting. The STIR / SHAKEN protocols are designed to make this tactic easily detectable by attaching metadata at the entry point of a call or text and passing it over networks so that the destination can determine whether the caller ID data is accurate.

T-Mobile’s announcement highlights that 98% of all wireless customers in the U.S. are now covered by STIR / SHAKEN through its network. In other words, if a call comes or goes to a T-Mobile customer, chances are very good that it has been authenticated and comes from the number that appears in the caller’s information. Although calls can still originate from sources where they can be faked, they will not be authenticated and must be marked as unverified numbers.

This is not T-Mobile’s first “first” in the war against counterfeiting numbers. The operator has led the process with the first verification of calls in operation between two networks in early 2019 and, subsequently, on three networks at the end of the same year. Integrations continued in 2020 and T-Mobile finally completed its goal with the integration of Charter Communications’ Spectrum Voice.

The TRACED law will take effect on June 30, requiring all major networks to link STIR / SHAKEN integration with all other major networks. This leaves almost exactly three months for everyone to recover. As the barriers to interconnection for each operator have largely been reduced to some nascent networks and the completion of final tests, we can expect some similar announcements ahead of the June deadline.