MetroPCS Screen-it service puts a name to shock callers

by Darren Murph posted Oct 17th 2008 at 5:57PM

Go figure -- MetroPCS, a carrier far from the forefront of most people's mind, is bringing about a feature that couldn't possibly arrive soon enough. The Screen-it service "displays the calling party's name on a subscriber's wireless phone," regardless of whether he / she has said person in their contact list. We know, you landline users have been enjoying this for eons, but up until now, we cellular customers have had to Google phone numbers before the fourth ring in order to find out if it's our dentist or our credit card company calling. Hey, big boys -- can we this stuff out to everyone else not associated with MetroPCS? Thanks.

[Via phonescoop]

Filed under: Messaging, MVNOs, Misc

Tags: Call screening, caller ID, CallerId, CallScreening, MetroPCS, Screen-it

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

SomeGuy @ Oct 17th 2008 6:21PM

A little "Oops" in their thinking. MetroPCS says they are introducing this service in hopes to help ween people from Wireline service. Ok, great...wonderful. Small problem though. Wireless does not keep a directory of names to numbers so that's a small problem. The person will only see "Wireless Caller" or the state of the number instead...So thanks MetroPCS for providing a service to get people to leave Wireless....and then find your service to be a bit useless...oops!

Neutral

John M @ Oct 18th 2008 1:32AM

It depends on your wireless carrier, AT&T does put the account owners name on caller ID instead of "Wireless Caller", at least it does for my phone in Dallas.

Neutral

Sneakz @ Oct 17th 2008 6:30PM

In Canada, we have this feature. Its called Name Display is available on almost all Rogers Wireless handsets. (iPhone 3G excluded).

Neutral

0mega @ Oct 17th 2008 8:19PM

Yea I was about to say, Rogers has caller ID with names! Wow we're ahead of the curve then! Sweet! (Nothing like seeing "BEST BUY CANADA" after applying :) )

Neutral

cedrikfd @ Oct 17th 2008 6:43PM

Fido have thiss as well for a long time... It works magically on my Motorola Z6w.

Highly Ranked

badqat @ Oct 17th 2008 8:09PM

Hey, big boys -- can we this stuff out...

Don't you mean "can we GET this stuff out"?

Neutral

Tito @ Oct 18th 2008 1:04AM

This isn't about wireless callers, it's about when a landline customer calls you their name will show up... right now it doesn't do that.. as for wireless callers? Most including T-Mobile allow it but it's up to the landline carrier to accept the info from the wireless carriers.... I think that Metro would want to accept it

Neutral

greenlight @ Oct 18th 2008 7:03AM

In Sweden you can get this for any Symbian or Windows Mobile phone (it intercepts the calls and goes online to look the number up)

Neutral

SomeGuy @ Oct 18th 2008 9:25AM

The point I was making was this: There currently is no cell phone directory in the US (since MetroPCS is US only). John M, you stated the account holder's name show's up for you...ok...but what if it's the account holder's child or spouse that calls...it's still not accurate. And Tito, you're correct, it is regarding wireline calls; however, if you read the article they state they are doing this in hopes of getting people to move off of wireline numbers. So in that aspect, if you take people from wireline and put them on wireless, then you just defeated the purpose of this feature since MOST...and I say again, MOST, wireless carriers do not publish your name with the number. Verizon Wireless has always refused to do this to protect personal information.

Neutral

Le Big Mac @ Oct 20th 2008 9:57AM

Actually, with AT&T you can get your wife's or child's name attached to their cell phone number as well.

Anyway, even if you have the account holder's last name, it's a lot better than simply the number. Limiting the possibilities to 3-4 people is a lot better than now.

Is there a technical reason why cellcos. don't provide this information already? or is it simply that they're too cheap to pass along the name info with the number info?

Neutral

Tito @ Oct 19th 2008 2:52PM

Honestly, that's one of many reasons why I hate Verizon Wireless. I have T-Mobile, and I have my brother and parents on my account... the landline caller ID shows their name, not mine. Why? Because I called them and asked them to. It was that simple.