On Tuesday, Dec. 20, AT&T has launched a new smartphone app designed to warn subscribers before they pick up their phone in case that an incoming call might be spam.
AT&T Spam Filter App
According to a description of the app posted on the AT&T website, the Call Protect feature resembles a traditional email spam filter, but especially designed for phone calls. The call spam filter works in two ways. The phone will display an alert for suspected spam calls, in addition to blocking known spam calls and network-level monitoring.
If the call is indeed spam, the users of the AT&T smartphone app can mark it as such within the application. In this case, any future calls from that number will be blocked. This works, somehow similar to the built-in call blocking features present in Android and iOS.
The Call Protect app is free to download and use and it has both Android and iOS versions. AT&T customers can already download the application made available on Tuesday, Dec. 20.
The only catch is the fact that Call Protect only works while users are in the HD Voice coverage area that is AT&T's implementation of VoLTE. It aims to greatly improve sound quality by sending calls over the cellular data network. AT&T's HD Voice coverage is available in much of the eastern portion of the US but has large gaps in virtually all of the Mountain West and west of the Mississippi.
The Call Protect service is able to label potential spam by analyzing calls based on the VoLTE network's data capabilities. HD Voice is compatible with the iPhone 7 and many mid-range and higher-end phones on the AT&T network, but it's not clear whether your smartphone will need to be compatible with HD Voice in order to use Call Protect.
The system introduced by AT&T will allow for automated blocking of spam or fraud calls. The AT&T Call Protect system is able to identify specific numbers believed to be sources of fraud. Depending on your preferences that can be implemented through the setup of the application, the Call Protect system can either block these spam calls outright or deliver them with a warning.
Users of the AT&T Call Protect app are also able to whitelist specific numbers. However, in order to temporary blocks specific numbers, users will need to download a separate Call Protect app. The feature can be activated through the MyAT&T system and is only available on postpaid Android and iOS devices.
Spam Calls Issue
For those AT&T customers who will be able to use the Call Protect app, it is good news that AT&T is committing resources to defeating spam phone calls. According to PC Mag, a Microsoft study conducted in October found that unsolicited phone calls are rampant and around 20 percent of Americans have lost money to tech support scammers.
According to The Verge, manual number blocking has been allowed by phone companies for years, and third-party apps like Privacystar and Whitepages provide larger databases of untrustworthy numbers in order to preemptively block calls from the outside. However, the new spam filter system from AT&T would give operators more comprehensive data regarding suspected numbers and build in those warnings at the network level.
More broadly, at the national level marketing calls are subject to the Do Not Call registry. Customers of phone network carriers can also report specific instances of fraud directly to police or through their respective carriers.
