Good Ol' Fashioned Caller ID Finally Coming To Cell Phones

Why is caller ID an almost universal feature for landline phones and yet virtually unavailable for mobile phones? T-Mobile has been wondering the same thing.

or mobile phones, it's possible to display a caller's name, show a picture, and even play a different ringtone, but only if you've taken the time to program that caller into your contact list ahead of time.

Now, T-Mobile is bringing what has become a ubiquitous feature for landlines to the mobile space for the first time. The carrier calls the new service Name ID, and it's powered by a company called Cequint.

"It's so simple -- it's not sexy, it's not cool, it's not a video game, but it could be one of the best additions to mobile," said Cequint CEO Rick Hennessey in a statement.

Name ID is an extra service that T-Mobile customers will have to specifically sign up for. It costs $3.99 per month and only works on supported phones, but it's quite likely it will be a standard supported feature on all or most all T-Mobile phones in the future.

There have been special apps or third-party services that scanned through white pages or other directories to tell users who was calling. However, this is the first time such a service has been offered directly from a mobile carrier to its customers.

It is unfortunate that the service costs such a relatively high price, though, considering for almost all landline providers now, caller ID is an included feature with no additional fee. Nevertheless, it's a nice addition.

Additionally, the carrier said it will be updating existing phones to be able to use the feature in the coming months.

One of the first devices available is the Samsung Exhibit, a new Android-powered phone exclusively offered through T-Mobile. It could be a competitive advantage to bring T-Mobile back into the game after it has failed to attract much excitement in the last couple years.

Via PC Mag

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