T-Mobile Call Translation beta is live – no fancy phone required

One benefit of the AI ​​boom is that the adoption of live translation is accelerating. Various phones, headsets, and apps are constantly improving the technology, and now T-Mobile has its own slightly different approach, with its network-based Live Translation beta officially underway.

one in blog post today (via) droidlife), T-Mobile CTO John Saw announced that the carrier has finally launched the Live Translation beta. The feature was announced in February, and the beta is now live for selected participants, supporting over 80 languages. The idea is that T-Mobile handles the translation through its network, without your phone having to purchase any additional hardware or software. T-Mobile says it should work with almost any phone on its network, from modern smartphones to old-school flip phones.

To use it, a T-Mobile customer dials *87* during the call, and then the conversation can be translated in real time. Only one person on the call is required to be a T-Mobile customer, and the provider says translations can be delivered in your own voice, which sounds both interesting and a little Black Mirror.

T-Mobile says the feature is free during the beta for selected participants, though the wording leaves the door open to charging for it later. That doesn’t mean the utility wouldn’t be worth charging some amount for it, but T-Mobile will know it’s not your only option for translating calls, which should ideally keep any costs down.

According to T-Mobile, Live Translation is an early example of “network-native AI”, in which more intensive computing work is moved off the device and onto the network infrastructure. This may sound practical, but the question of privacy is sure to come alive as T-Mobile expands its AI ecosystem.