When caller ID for landlines was first released it was a very big deal, now it is a ubiquitous feature, but not for mobile phones. Mobile phones can do thousands of things that many people never would have expected, but until now they didn’t have a core feature of landline phones.
Your mobile phone will display a caller’s name and picture, but only if you have saved that number as a contact. T-Mobile is attempting to change this. The company announced that they will be the first of the four major U.S. carriers to debut a caller ID feature. T-Mobile calls the new service Name ID. The system is powered by Cequint, a company that specializes in caller ID technology.
With Name ID, once a caller’s name and location data is displayed on screen, it will allow you to save that information with one click. The service is available immediately on the Samsung Exhibit 4G and will be supported on the T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide later this month. The Name ID service will cost an extra $3.99 a month, but T-Mobile is offering a 10-day free trial.
So another point is scored for Mobile phones. The use of landline phones is continuously fading, and by adding a key feature, mobile phones will have even more power to take over. It’s funny to think how caller ID was such a necessity for landlines after it was released, but people have been using mobile phones without caller ID and there weren’t many complaints.