“AT&T is nearly ready to launch a feature that will allow a customer’s smartphone, tablet and other devices to share a single phone number,” Ina Fried reports for Re/code.
“The feature, now called NumberSync, is a key to making it more attractive for customers to own multiple devices with built-in wireless connections, just as it was important to offer shared data plans,” Fried reports. AT&T said it expects to launch NumberSync on an initial device ‘fairly soon’ with additional devices coming later this year.”
“Many existing smartphones will be able to support the feature through a software upgrade; the company’s goal is to work with all manufacturers to support the feature going forward in both phones and connected devices, such as tablets and watches,” Fried reports. “There won’t be a separate charge to share one number, but AT&T already charges a per-device fee, typically $5 or $10, for each device that connects to a shared data plan.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If you’re smartly all-Apple then you’ve already experienced what this will be like: One number rings on your iPhone, Mac, iPad, and/or Apple Watch and you can make and receive phone calls from any device through your iPhone, but only when they’re all on the same Wi-Fi network. AT&T’s new feature promises to liberate your devices from that shared Wi-Fi network requirement and still allow one number to work across devices. Convenient!
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “David G.” for the heads up.]