Overview

STIR/SHAKEN is the protocol designated by the FCC for carriers like Skyetel to use to verify the validity of the Caller ID data being sent over the PSTN. Effective June 30, all telecommunication providers must provider STIR/SHAKEN support or an approved form of robocall mitigation. 

We've written a lot about STIR/SHAKEN on our blog, and you can learn all about it there:

https://skyetel.com/lets-talk-about-stir-shaken/

https://skyetel.com/lets-talk-about-stir-shaken-again/

Broadly speaking, Stir/Shaken is the mechanism chosen by the FCC to validate your outbound Caller IDs in a way that gives consumers confidence to begin answering their phones again. You can actually see it in use now - verified calls already show as being special on iPhones. This is a call from Mrs. Skyetel using Stir/Shaken Attestation: 

That little checkmark is going to become much more prominent and important after June 30, so it is important you complete this form quickly :)

Enrolling In STIR/SHAKEN

When STIR/SHAKEN is not enabled on your account, you will see a pink message asking you to enable it:

When you click it, you will be taken to a validation form that asks for information about your account and your use of Skyetel's services. Skyetel needs to reliably know who you are so that if a fraudulent or illegal solicitous call is traced back to your account, we can contact you quickly to resolve the complaint. 

Don't worry - Skyetel maintains an excellent network reputation and customer base, and we do not expect to be subject to many of these kinds of complaints. For 95% of our customers, this will be the last you'll hear about STIR/SHAKEN and you will never see a traceback request or warrant. 

View STIR/SHAKEN Status

To view your STIR/SHAKEN status, you may click on your Username at the top right of the Portal.

 

Stir/Shaken Call Signing

Skyetel will begin signing outbound calls as soon as the majority of our customers have completed enrollment, but no later than the FCC mandated deadline of June 30, 2021. For customers who are using Skyetel for all of your Phone Numbers, you can kick back and relax. All of your outbound calls will be Attested at Level A. 

For customers who have phone numbers on other networks (😔), you will need to enroll in Off-Net Numbers to be attested at Level A. Please contact your account manager for more information.

Privacy

Before we go further, we want to highlight that we take your privacy very seriously. The information you provide to use via this form is kept strictly confidential. We do not share or sell it with third parties, or make it available to people outside Skyetel's core teams. 

All of the information you provide us is used so that we can make Stir/Shaken seamless. 

What to expect

Not all calls will arrive attested

While Skyetel has enabled Stir/Shaken for our outbound calling, not all calls will arrive at the destination with their attestation levels. This is because many legacy carriers have not enabled Stir/Shaken on their gateways, or have extensions granted by the FCC for their deployment.

Attestation will be intermittent at first

Because not all carriers or carrier gateways currently support Stir/Shaken, you will find that your call’s attestation will arrive intermittently when you call the same number back to back. This is not a Skyetel bug, and is expected behavior.

You can track your attestation via our portal

You can see what attestation level we are sending outbound calls with by exporting your call records via our portal:

 

STIR/SHAKEN Validation Form

The Validation form has 4 main sections. Each section helps validate your account for STIR/SHAKEN and enables us to comply with Traceback requests in an automated and secure way.

Section 1 - Current Address

This section is concerned with identifying your legal name and contract/service address. When we attest your calls, it is required that we know both what your outbound CID is (which we already know because you use it to place outbound calls) and who owns or has rights to use it. 

If you are a business, please use your Businesses legal name. If you are an individual, please use your full name.

Section 2 - Contact Information

This is probably the most important part of the validation form. In it, you name two people who we can contact if we receive a traceback request or warrant. The information you provide must be a direct individual, not a support address or general mailbox. We need this information so that if we receive a traceback or warrant, we can contact you swiftly to work toward any resolution. 

Section 3 - STIR/SHAKEN Tokens

In this section, we ask if you have your own tokens for use with STIR/SHAKEN. Most people will say "No" to this section (and if you don't know what this all means, just say no). We use this information to make sure we do not sign calls that you are signing for yourself. 

If you have your own tokens and certificates, and are registered with STI-PA, click yes. We will not sign calls on your behalf so that you may use your own certificates. 

Section 4 - Skyetel Services

This section helps us understand what level of attestation Skyetel should associate with your account (A, B or C) and if you will need access to our Off-Net STIR/SHAKEN tools (where you can enable Stir/Shaken on phone numbers not on your Skyetel account). We suggest reading this blog so you can understand what the Attestation levels are:

https://skyetel.com/lets-talk-about-stir-shaken-again/

That's It!

Now that you have validated Stir/Shaken on your account, your outbound Caller IDs will be attested by Skyetel to be accurate and reliable. We expect that this will cause a significant improvement in call deliverability and people will actually start answering their phones again.