Robocalls have become a scourge on U.S. consumers, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler said this past summer upon calling on the tech industry to help find solutions. One proposed fix, just launched by ATT, is to provide wireless customers with automatic blocking of fraudulent calls and warnings of suspected spam calls.
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Rolled out yesterday, ATT’s Call Protect is just the latest effort to reduce the number of automated marketing calls that people receive on their phones. As of last month, some 2.4 billion of such calls were made in the U.S., according to the cloud-based telecom service YouMail.
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Technology might help to slow the volume of robocalls, but it’s also what has enabled them in the first place, according to the FCC. Faced with such a doubled-edged sword, the FCC created an industry-led Robocall Strike Force this summer, which is chaired by ATT CEO Randall Stephenson.
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Aimed at Phone Fraud and Scams
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Nuisance calls are an industry-wide problem that unfortunately affect many people, Jeff Bradley, ATT’s senior vice president for Device and Network Services Marketing, said yesterday in a statement about Call Protect. We’ve listened to our customers and know they want a network that provides tools to proactively assist in blocking nuisance calls.
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ATT customers can activate the new service either through their online accounts or through a complimentary Call Protect mobile app for iOS or Android smartphones. The service is available to postpaid wireless customers with ATT’s HD Voice; warnings about suspected spam calls will be provided only in HD Voice coverage areas.
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By automatically blocking suspected fraudulent calls, Call Protect is designed to reduce the chances that a customer will become the victim of a phone fraud or scam, ATT said. The company acknowledged the service could also inadvertently block some wanted calls or service messages,…