Caller ID Restrictions

[fisamo]

DIFFERENT SUBJECT:
Also, it would be cool if I could call my VOIPo from my cell, when voicemail kicks in press ***, VOIPo asks for a password, and VOIPo would let me call friends in Canada for example.

OR, add a list of CIDs like my cell, the wife's cell . . . and have some number at VOIPo that recognizes my CID and simply lets me make a call to Canada using minutes from my VOIPo account.

AND SENDS ON a preferred CID so the party I am calling knows me.

For all practical purposes, CallVantage already offers this feature. However, instead of calling my CV line, I call one of approximately 50 numbers distributed throughout the US. If the number is 'recognized' (e.g. in my entered in my control panel), I can just enter a PIN; if I"m not calling from a recognized number, I have to enter my CallVantage # and the PIN. Once logged in, I can turn "locate me" on or off, set/cancel Do Not Disturb, get my voicemail, or place a call using the CallVantage service. The called party sees my Callvantage # on their CID display. This feature, along with CallVantage reliability and good sound quality, keeps me very loyal to that service.

[gbh2o]

I think you should probably separate the issue as related to residential from Express handling.

I also have to consider multiple things when I route calls from my * boxes. Although this is just a hobby for me:

My daughter in NY has an assigned DID, but dials outbound through _an_ available trunk prioritized and selected on several factors. Her husband in VA has no DID, but has a system extension; he dials outbound through _an_ available trunk prioritized and selected on several factors. My mother in FL has POTS, but uses a local DID to call family on extensions, and has DISA access as well. My mother-in-law has POTS and accesses DISA via a local DID as does my wife when she needs to make a personal long distance call while at work. The rest of my family around the country has a variety of extensions and local DIDs to communicate with internally with each other, but are generally expected to use their own POTS for their long distance. I don't need to pay for their freight, they earn their own living and can afford it. The one exception is that I generally allow them to place personal calls to family members overseas through my system since I have a variety of cost-effective routes [and some extensions] available.

So is it better to reflect a caller ID associated with some varying outbound trunk, or to attempt to pass through the CallerID info if received from the call initiator, or perhaps one by which the caller may currently be directly reached, POTS, cell phone, etc.?

[gbh2o]

After a night's rest and time to think a bit more, I guess the first question I have to ask is whether you are planning on differentiating how Caller ID is handled between the Codeblue/Residential offering and the Express/'Roll-yer-own' package?

If so, I believe a limited ability to substitute caller ID should be available for the residential customer, based on some sort of verifiable call-in-from-that-number system perhaps as mentioned above.

I don't think such a system would be practical for the Express service, just because of the much different target audience and probable uses. Perhaps just ensuring that each call at least has some valid caller ID information is all you can do to protect yourself. Or grab ANI information if available? I suppose the ultimate solution is to just simply _reject_ any call with invalid entries in the fields, and a "No Caller ID, no call" message to the caller. I guess that does away with Caller ID blocking? Wouldn't bother me at all! ;-) I'm not sure _you_ want to, or even should, attempt to play traffic cop since you have no real way of knowing the true origin of a call.

[fisamo]

I guess I still don't understand why you can't override the CID info. After all, if you can reject a call based on whether or not the CID is 'owned' for that user, can't you simply replace what the user passes with that CID info? That would certainly make it harder for a user to dynamically pass different CIDs (should you choose to make that an allowable option)...

Another question about this issue is in regard to providers who offer outbound-only service. What CID info would they pass if no DID is assigned to that account? In particular, how would they be in compliance with a "Truth in CID" act? If they pass 'Unavailable' and that results in them being billed at the highest rates, how will they stay competitive? (That's a rhetorical question, of course--I realize it's not voipo's problem. )