Scam Shield is T-Mobile’s spam blocking app. Its goal is to warn users of spam calls and protect them from being scammed using features like Caller ID and proxy numbers that users can give out if they’re uncomfortable with revealing their personal numbers. Users should be aware that the app is only available to those with postpaid contracts — prepaid phone users cannot access Scam Shield.
T-Mobile does offer a limited free version of its Scam Shield app, but you’ll need to upgrade to the Premium package to access its most important features. Scam Shield Premium costs an additional $4.00 per month for each line, and the cost is tacked onto your monthly bill.
For $4.99 per month or $39.99 per year, you can enjoy all of the spam blocking benefits of Robokiller. We’ll even start you off with a
7-day free trial.
Like many spam call blockers, T-Mobile’s Scam Shield denies known scammers based on a global blocklist. Callers that are not in the user’s contacts list will be sent to voicemail, and numbers that are in the user’s personal blocklist will be shut out altogether and given an error message.
Unfortunately for Scam Shield users, they will not reap the benefits of
audio fingerprinting — a technique that allows RoboKiller to
track spammers by their voices, not just their phone numbers. This leaves Scam Shield users vulnerable to
caller ID spoofing, as well as the same spammers simply using different phone numbers.
As T-Mobile concedes on its website, the Scam Shield app may block legitimate calls that the user wants to receive. Unfortunately, their advice for dealing with this issue is simply to disable the app at any time. They also direct businesses to a website where they can register their number as a legitimate caller to avoid being cut off from their customers.
Letting legitimate calls through is just as important as blocking out the bad ones, which is why Robokiller allows its users to
fully customize their block and allow lists. We analyze calls in real-time, so you get all the calls you want and none of the ones you don’t.
T-Mobile does provide its users with a way to slow down spam texts, but it has nothing to do with Scam Shield. Primary account holders can turn on the Message Blocking feature in the T-Mobile app or on the website. Unfortunately, this feature blocks texts based on broad categories and has tons of exceptions; it won’t block emails sent to your @tmomail.net address or texts from short-code numbers, for example.
The bottom line? Scam Shield itself does little to protect you from spam texts. Robokiller, on the other hand, offers
99% effective protection from both spam texts and calls.
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