Deadline fast approaching for phone providers to install anti-robocall technology
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- A looming deadline should finally force all U.S. phone companies to take stopping robocalls seriously.
As of September 28th, all phone companies large and small will have to block calls from providers who have not told the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) where they stand on protecting customers from robocalls.
This is because of anti-robocall technology Congress put into law in 2019 - called "STIR/SHAKEN."
But according to CoPIRG Foundation, only one-third of the largest mobile and home phone providers nationwide have installed caller ID verification aimed at eliminating illegal robocalls, even though most of those businesses were required to do so by June.
“How much longer are we going to tolerate people’s lives being destroyed when they fall for an imposter call that looks like it’s coming from their bank or the IRS? This is inexcusable, it has to stop, and phone company compliance will make a big difference,” said Danny Katz, CoPIRG Foundation executive director.
A report from CoPIRG Foundation found that overall, 3,063 telecommunications providers who reported their status to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as of this month and who the FCC did not exempt from submitting information:
- Only 17 percent said they’d completely implemented anti-robocall technology.
- 27 percent had partially implemented the technology.
- 56 percent said they were not using the industry standard technology but rather are using their own methods to manage robocalls.
“Here we are with more than 80 percent of phone companies not doing all they can to stop robocalls. These unwanted calls drive all of us crazy and victimize too many of us,” said Katz. “As if the $10 billion a year in fraud losses from illegal robocalls isn’t bad enough, they cost us Americans another $3 billion a year in wasted time.”
Gloss