AppleInsider Staff
While Apple's Continuity feature allows users to place calls and texts within its own ecosystem of products, AT&T plans to bring those same capabilities to a range of LTE-capable devices sharing the same phone number, regardless of platform, thanks to a new service called NumberSync.
Apple's Continuity requires devices running iOS 8 or OS X 10.10 Yosemite or later, and they must be connected to an iPhone via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi for features such as SMS text messages and traditional phone calls.
But AT&T NumberSync will operate on the carrier's wireless network with LTE-connected, registered devices, meaning it isn't dependent on a Bluetooth connection to the user's smartphone. NumberSync will work even if a user's smartphone isn't near their other devices, or even if it's completely turned off.
While Apple's Continuity is free with the company's latest hardware and software and an Apple ID, AT&T NumberSync will require an LTE-connected device registered to a shared data plan.
Though AT&T's announcement on Wednesday didn't specifically mention Apple, the carrier said it's working to bring it to future connected devices, regardless of hardware manufacturer or operating system. AT&T plans to bring the first NumberSync device to market "soon," with additional devices set to launch this holiday.
"We're taking a standards-based, network approach that will make connecting a wide variety of devices easier to give you a better user experience," AT&T Chief Marketing Officer David Christopher said in a blog post. "Our plan is for NumberSync to become the norm on a variety of our future connected 'devices.'"
NumberSync will work with tablets and wearable devices with integrated cellular radios. It will be offered at no extra charge beyond the $10-per-device fee AT&T charges per month for a connected tablet or smartwatch.
That means that at launch, Wi-Fi-only devices — like the Apple Watch, Apple's Mac lineup, or certain iPad models — Â won't feature compatibility. In comments to Engadget, the company said only LTE-compatible devices officially added to a Mobile Share data plan will work.
Apple's Continuity, meanwhile, is free for users who own an up-to-date iPhone, iPad or Mac.
There are also technical changes that device makers, including Apple, will need to make if NumberSync will come to their platform. For example, the iOS Phone and Messages apps would need to be modified to support AT&T's NumberSync network.
Though NumberSync won't work with Wi-Fi, AT&T did begin enabling Wi-Fi calling for iOS 9 users last week, giving subscribers the ability to place calls via their home wireless network and bypass its own LTE signal. Rivals T-Mobile and Sprint have offered Wi-Fi calling on compatible devices for some time.
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Malcolm Owen
Christine McKee
Amber Neely
34 Comments
"It will be offered at no extra charge beyond the $10-per-device..." In plain language: it will be offered at an extra charge.
Sounds dumb and doomed to failure.
"It will be offered at no extra charge beyond the $10-per-device..."
In plain language: it will be offered at an extra charge.
Funny. That is precisely how I interpreted it.
I absolutely love Continuity on OSX. I use it extensively, and it works really nice. Kind of difficult now wondering how I managed prior to it.
AT&T really should just stick to what it knows best. It is not a software company and the logistics of getting devices from a multitude of different companies is a daunting task to say the least. For me, there is no way I would "pay no extra charge after the $10" to get this feature that is included with OSX/iOS for free, and no way would I trust AT&T to keep such a system working seamlessly on an Apple-level.
Stick to being the pipe for mobile. Even with just that, you're barely able to keep that working.
This is great example of how a feature comes into existence because someone in the engineering department says, hey, this is possible so let's do it. Completely opposite of the way Apple functions, which can be described as designers thinking about what would be best for the user experience, regardless of whether it's possible or not, then telling engineering to 'make this possible.' AT&T getting into the software platform business is a huge joke.
Apple's Continuity requires devices running iOS 8 or OS X 10.10 Yosemite or later, and they must be connected to an iPhone via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi for features such as SMS text messages and traditional phone calls.
No, they must be connected via Bluetooth or be on the same WiFi network. Both, obviously, are local network only.
AT&T's variant works via their LTE cellular service, and so over a wide area network. This is fundamentally different, but only time will tell whether people will find it useful – or worth the extra cost