T-Mobile Offers Caller ID, A First For US Carriers

T-Mobile announced today that it will be the first major US carrier to offer a name-based caller ID similar to what's long been available to landline users. Although mobile users generally save contacts by name into address books on their handsets, there are those times when someone's contacting you for the first time that would make having a name ID more convenient.

For instance, if they are not already in your address book and they attempt to call, you may be less inclined to pick up, not knowing if it's a telemarketer or a stalker ex-boyfriend on the other end. Hence, T-Mobile's new "Name ID" service could be a nice add-on. However, it will cost an additional $4 per month but select new phones will get a 10-day free trial. The service is built on technology from Cequint and will display you name, phone number, and city from where you are calling.

"Before Name ID for mobile phones, deciding whether or not to answer an unfamiliar call often left customers guessing," senior vice president of T-Mobile USA Brad Duea said in a statement. "Now Name ID allows T-Mobile customers to more easily determine which calls to answer."

But with other free options these days for filtering calls, such as with Google Voice, it's hard to see T-Mobile's Name ID getting much love especially for $4 extra a month. Other carrier will likely provide the same service very soon, except for Verizon as they do not provide this customer data to the carrier-supported Caller ID database.

[via Electronista]