T-Mobile has unveiled 'Digits', enabling T-Mobile mobile number to work across virtually all the connected devices - phones, tablets, wearables and computers. Just like AT&T's NumberSync that offers unified messaging and calling across supported devices, the new feature ends the century-old telecom limit of one number locked to one phone.
Digits which is still on opt-in beta enables customers to make and take calls and texts on whatever device is most convenient. In addition, customers can just log in and, bam, their call history, messages and even voicemail, all from a single place.
For businesses, Digits will enable them to move to a mobile-ONLY workforce. Businesses can give their employees Digits to use on their personal smartphones – even if those phones are on AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, said T-Mobile.
To break free from the one-number-one-device limitation with many-to-many routing capability for calls, texts and data and to re-imagine traditional network authentication, T-Mobile said its engineers built an entirely new IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) service management layer and Identity Management solution. Instead of authenticating devices through SIM cards, Digits gives customers their own identity.
Thanks to joint development between T-Mobile and Samsung, Digits has already built natively into the newest Samsung smartphones (Note 5 and Galaxy S6 and later). T-Mobile said it is already working with other device makers to integrate DIGITS natively into their devices. Until then, Digits is available through an app on Apple’s App Store and Google Play as well as via browsers on PCs or Mac computers.
John Legere, president and CEO of T-Mobile
DIGITS works just like your T-Mobile phone number, except it is way more powerful. DIGITS works across virtually ALL your devices, and those devices can have multiple numbers on them. And this is my favorite part: you can even use DIGITS on Verizon, AT&T and other smartphones.
Mike Sievert, Chief Operating Officer of T-Mobile
This isn’t the first time you can add extra numbers to a device, but this IS the first time you can do it all – multiple numbers on one device and one number on multiple devices – and do it with carrier-grade quality. DIGITS is your real T-Mobile number with every bit of the reliability, call prioritization, services and mobility you expect.
