Firefox Relay can now fend off spam SMS and robocallers, too
From phone calls, to emails, to text messages, as soon as we invent a new way to communicate, someone’s going tostart spamming peopleon it. Mozilla has a service calledFirefox Relaythat was designed to help keep spammers at bay, letting you protect your contact info through the use of email aliases. That system is nowwidening its scopeto phone numbers, hoping to help similarly save you from spam SMS and annoying robocallers.
Phone number maskingis the newest Firefox Relay Premium feature, and it works a lot like email aliases. Users who upgrade to this service can generate a phone number alias to share. It supports replying to the last SMS you’ve received, in case that’s required for one-time confirmation texts.
Every month, you’ll get 50 minutes for incoming calls on your alias line, and up to 75 text messages. If you exceed those limits, calls will just stop coming through until the next billing cycle. Another bummer is that it only lets you generate a single phone number alias, and you’re able to’t change it once it’s set. On the bright side, all plans with phone number masking come with unlimited email masking as standard. Phone number masking is only available in the US and Canada for now.
Firefox Relay Premiumgoes for $4 a month if you get the annual plan, and $5 per month for monthly billing. Mozilla says that it plans to add support for outgoing calls, SMS, and more regions in the future. If you don’t like the sound of paying for all this, maybe think aboutchecking out Google Voice, which offers a similar set of functionality, and doesn’t have to cost you a dime.
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