This means that if you conduct a call or send a text from your connected device – like a smartwatch or tablet – it’ll appear to the recipient from the same number as your regular phone number.
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It seems kind of silly that you can only use your phone number on a single device.
To be clear, users will not be able to have multiple phones linked under one number. Thankfully, most of this technical legwork should be invisible to you and me – enabling NumberSync on a secondary device like a tablet would require one final new step at the end of the normal setup process. “This is really a first in the industry that we are giving customers the ability to do this”, AT&T Mobility CEO Glenn Lurie told Re/code. NumberSync will operate on the network, eliminating the need for a Bluetooth connection to a user’s smartphone. AT&T SVP Jeff Bradley says the feature will launch later this month with one supported device from a hush-hush phone maker (our money’s on Samsung), with a few more to follow by the time the holidays roll around.
The best part is that you won’t have to be in range of the phone; it doesn’t even have to be powered on or actively connected to the network.
AT&T also hinted that the same tech could be used in connected cars, though that’s further down the line. According to an AT&T blog post, the project will solve the problem of not being able to text from your watch, tablet, or any of an ocean of increasingly connected devices you may have laying about your home.
NumberSync is a network-based technology, so OEMs will have to work with the carrier to support it. That’s something AT&T hopes will become the norm.
AT&T introduced its new NumberSync service on Wednesday and it’s exactly what it sounds like. That gives it a leg up over platform-specific solutions, such as Apple’s Continuity between iPhones and iPads.
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Of course the benefit to AT&T is that the more devices now pulling from a shared data plan, the more likely you are to eat more data, and in turn need a bigger monthly data allotment.
