
T-Mobile wants to give your phone number superpowers - natejackdev
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/05/26/t-mobile-wants-to-give-your-phone-number-superpowers
======
ohthehugemanate
Wait, you mean I'll be able to use my phone number just like my username on
popular free services like Facebook Messenger, Skype, or Google Talk? Those
have been free for a decade or more, and this will only cost me $10 per month
per account? Sign me up!

Now if only they would sell all my communication data behind my back, or at
least give it away to the NSA, this would be the PERFECT deal. Do you think
there's a way to make sure my money goes to fight net neutrality?

~~~
shliachtx
I think you're missing that $10 a month is for each _additional_ phone number
you want to use. Your regular phone number works with this for no additional
charge.

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zxcvbn4038
This is going to be great - what are Yahoo!, Citibank, and everyone else who
has declared war on VOIP by refusing to send SMS or voice auths to them going
to do now that the third largest carrier in the US is all VOIP? Its a
rhetorical question, they are going to drop the "that number doesn't look
right" crap.

I remember being denied loans and credit cards because I only had a mobile
phone (no hard line), but today no bank would dare do that because it would
exclude the majority of the population. Now they're going to swallow their
pride and allow VOIP numbers.

Now if we can just get everyone on board with preventing the banks from
disabling paste on form fields!

~~~
icc97
Citibank in the UK sends SMS authentication

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Mathnerd314
> Google was among the earliest to experiment with this idea. Google Voice
> Released in 2009

Pretty sure the earliest was Grand Central in 2005-2006:
[https://techcrunch.com/2006/09/25/grandcentral-could-make-
ph...](https://techcrunch.com/2006/09/25/grandcentral-could-make-phones-
lovable-again/)

Google bought them and relaunched, but it wasn't an "experiment" so much as a
rebranding / UI refresh.

------
propogandist
From the Digits privacy policy:

>4.3. Data Security. The Service provides an unencrypted wireless connection
to the Internet. Your transmission of data over this connection could impact
the security of your data. By participating, you agree you are responsible for
the security of your Device(s) and of any data in the transmissions you make
or receive. You also understand the risks of unencrypted access to the
Internet. You understand that you are in control of whether to take certain
security precautions, including encrypting data transmissions, backing up any
data and protecting your system with virus protection, a firewall, and robust
user authentication.

unless I'm reading this wrong, it seems this is an unecrypted service [?]

(pop-up modal here:
[https://gui.t-mobile.com/gui/login?client_id=WRCMAV_STG&scop...](https://gui.t-mobile.com/gui/login?client_id=WRCMAV_STG&scope=associated_lines%20TMO_ID_profile%20token_validation%20permission&response_type=code&access_type=OFFLINE&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwrgweb2.plr.t-mobile.com%2Freg_srv&state=https://wrc.t-mobile.com/wrcpro/home.html)
)

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MR4D
My iPhone already has this functionality. And I don't have to pay $10 per
month for it either.

Probably a poor copy of iMessages, but without the encryption.

~~~
shliachtx
As I mentioned in another comment, the $10 is for each _additional_ phone
number (if you want to get extra phone numbers). Your regular number works for
free.

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kalleboo
Instead I wish we could kill phone numbers... who remembers a phone number
other than their own these days? Email addresses are much easier to remember.

Around here everyone has LINE, and I make more Skype and LINE voice calls in a
month than I do phone network ones. The phone network is basically reserved
for calling business for me.

~~~
yladiz
One thing to keep in mind is that email is not synchronous, so you can get an
email and just not reply for a while. Of course you can ignore phone calls,
but it's not the same as ignoring an email. Additionally, phone numbers are
useful if you don't have access to data, for some reason, or need to contact
someone in an emergency. As a counter to your point about remembering phone
numbers, I don't remember most, but I remember very important ones (like my
father's).

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voidz
Is this an ad? It sure looks like an ad.

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fapjacks
T-Mobile is tied for Most Reviled Company in my life, right next to Time
Warner Cable ("now Spectrum"), and my local infuriating privatized electric
power monopoly. Most Americans have one of these, so they'll know what I'm
talking about. Every time I see John Legere's face, my fist involuntarily
swipes for a hit.

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njarboe
Mobil phone numbers are like what social security numbers were, only global
and without any pretense of legal protection on other use. The majority of
people will start worrying about this when you start being able to open credit
by providing your phone number instead of social security number. Then
identity theft will start occurring by the phone number vector. Be wary of 2FA
via phone.

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heisenbit
Do I need a new number and are these new numbers portable?

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eiji
Pre-Paid plans not included.

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jpswade
This is not a super power.

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kbar13
I think this is great and it's a long time coming. I have a bunch of google
voice numbers that I use for various applications, but it's such a terrible
service that I welcome any alternative.

