ANI vs Caller ID 1

[estermer]

What is the difference between ANI and Caller ID?

We had an ISDN PRI from a carrier that would forward every incoming number. It was great. We changed carriers and now, if a callers number is blocked, we don't see it.

Was one ANI and one Caller ID? If so, what do I ask the new carrier to turn on so that I get this number info every time?

Thanks.

 

[jgideon]

ani is the billing telephone number used by the carriers, and is normally assigned by the telco switch, not the PBX. CallerID, or Calling Party Number, is the 'display' number provided by the caller's equipment (PBX), or provided by the originating carrier in the case of calls from POTS lines. (With POTS, the ANI and the CPN are almost always the same. With a PBX, they are usually NOT the same)

Normally with ISDN, the CPN is always sent with the call, along with a 'privacy flag'. The expectation is that your equipment will respect the flag and show 'private', even though it has the number. It could be that your previous carrier stripped the flag when they call was sent to your PBX (or your PBX just ignored the flag), but your current carrier is probably stripping the CPN data and not passing it to you.

There may be a tarrifed service that you can subscribe to that passes you everything (I think that's what the virtual prepaid card service companies use), but it's probably not a 'standard' offering.

 

[estermer]

So if they are sending it with a privacy flag, is there a way to setup the Avaya to display the number anyway?

 

[Dunstan]

In short no. Because a PBX is a regulated piece of communication's equipment it is designed to mask the number if the privacy bit is flagged.


You can buy a device external from the PBX that can give you the blocked number, one that I have used is

http://etm.securelogix.com/

.


The way they get around regualtors is it is sold as a security device not a communications device. Therefore it is not required to mask the digits....What you get are the real Q messages on the D channel.

But the definity will not do this for you.

 

[BHodgins]

ANI = automatic number identifier AKA guaranteed delivery of phone number; usually ANI is used in conjunction with inbound tollfree service. If you're paying for the call, you are permitted to get the number via ANI service even if the other end has caller ID blocking.

CPID = calling party ID; if the other end has their number blocked, you won't get the number. I've not heard of the number coming anyways with a privacy flag; could be though.

SBC does not yet have an ANI service offering on their inbound toll-free service, only CPID. So if you switched from one carrier (i.e. AT&T) to SBC, that could explain why you're no longer seeing some numbers. We learned this the hard way.

 

[s8700user]

Careful though. Secure logix does not strip the flag on all the calls. If the co does not pass the number, securlogix cannot display the number. I have Securelogix at several of my sites, and although it is a great tool it does have several limitations.

 

[BHodgins]

which securelogix product does this?

 

[s8700user]

The ETM appliance. The AAA server is used to dial in and authenticate a call to in on an analog line.

 

[estermer]

So how much would somthing like this cost?

 

[Dunstan]

The cost really depends on how much trunking you have and how many sites you want to install for. It varies considerably.