When the home phone was the primary form of contact for a household, a service changed the way we answered the phone. Caller ID allowed us to see who was calling and screen our calls accordingly. If our exes called over and over, we knew, if someone tried to prank call, we were able to see who it was and we were happy about that.
When cell phones took over as the primary phone used by homes, they lacked this service due to complicated technical reasons. Unless we had the person added in our contact lists, we didn’t know who was calling. Now caller ID for cell phones has been figured out. We now have the ability to see who is calling even if they are calling from a new number that is foreign to our cell phones. That is of course, if you have the right service provider.
Service Provider Offering Caller ID:
As with any new service that reaches the mobile market, not all carriers offer it. For caller ID, you can add this service to your plan if you have T-Mobile. They are the first carrier to announce caller ID for your mobile phone. The service will be launched with their Android powered Samsung Exhibit smartphone initially. In the future, caller ID will be available for existing phones on their network.
With this introduction, the future holds room for competition. As of now, T-Mobile is the only carrier to announce the technology, however, there are restrictions. For instance, Verizon hide their registered customer information so you won’t be able to see who is calling if they call from a Verizon phone. As caller ID technology for mobile phones increase, we should see more carriers offering the service, reduced prices for the service, and perhaps even a change in Verizon’s policy that will allow mobile phone users to see Verizon customer’s names when they call.
Cost:
The service will cost $3.99 a month for T-Mobile users who want to add caller ID. This is similar to the original cost of landline caller ID when it was released and as we see now, it is now a free service for many landline carriers. Perhaps as more wireless carriers carry the service, the prices will decrease and eventually become standard in phone packages.
Though T-Mobile has launched caller ID for mobile phones, there are still flaws. In the future as more carriers add the service, the caller ID for mobile will become as dependable as landline caller ID. For now, T-Mobile users can enjoy the service for what it is and the rest of us will get it eventually.
Victor Converse is a private investigator and freelance blogger for reverse phone lookup.org – one of his favorite tools for finding out what he needs to know in the information age.