CallerID Name on Outbound Calls

[salo0920]

Hello Norstar Group.

Perhaps this question is better posted in the General Telephony Discussion, but I have had such great success with you guys that I though I would try here first.

I have been struggling with this problem for many months now and it just occurred to me that this was probably the best place to seek an answer to my dilemma, so here goes..

I have an office in New York City which I rent out to several subtenants. I provide a common telephone switch for the suite with 3 PRI's attached for all outgoing and incoming calls. When a new tenant moves into my space I either give them some of my 300 DID's or I have their existing number ported to one of my PRI trunk groups. Everything works great, except, when they make an outgoing call, I can force whatever callerid I want (usually theirs or their real number) through the switch but the name that goes out (gerts attached) is MY company name. Also, because these numbers now reside on my PRIs, I can't seem to get them listed in 411 or other directory assistance as these numbers seem to belong to me.

So my question is this.. Does anyone know a carrier or the magic words to say to a carrier to get them to port a number to my trunks but have the callerid go out and the 411 say the actual customer's name? Am I seeking the impossible here? Verizon and IDT both say that if the numbers are on my trunks they can only be callerid with my company and can only be listed that way as well. How do others solve this problem? I am not the only guy in town sharing office space and telephone resources, am I?????

I would offer a small reward for the first person who offers a workable solution, but I think I would be banned from this forum if I did. I would promise, however, eternal gratitude and a big thinks in return for some help here...

Harold Bondy
harry@mserve.com

 

[jgideon]

CallerID has only really been a hot issue in the past couple of years. The basic information youy've stated is correct--the 'name' displayed is the one that is on the account of record.

With CallerID, the Calling Party number is 'sent' forward, but the name is 'retrieved' by the receiving end. If the receiving telco has a billing agreement with the telco that holds the DID's, (regardless of the carrier that actually carried the call) the receiving CO does a database dip into the LIDB to retrieve the line name that goes with the number. Typically there is a single name for an 'account' (i.e. every DID uses the 'billing name' on the account) but technically there could be entires for each discrete DID. I have yet to find any carrier that will actually put multiple company names in the LIDB for a single account. If the two telcos don't agree, the number displays but the name will say 'unknown name' or '[state name] call' or something similar.

However, the directory listing thing should be a big deal--you should be able to purchase additional listings for the DID's from your lec/clec.

I'll ask around to my lec and clec contacts again, but as far as I know no one has a 'product' to fit this requirement.

I work with several sites that have outbound call centers (fundraising for colleges and universities), and they ended up getting a POTS line installed for each name, and their PBX transmits the POTS number for all callers for that institution. You loose station specific CID, but at least a good name shows up.

Anybody else have suggestions?

 

[salo0920]

Jgideon,

The POTS line is a great suggestion. Except what do you do for incoming calls? If you have a POTS line with an assigned number, I cant imagine that that number can also live on a PRI at the same time. Where would inbound calls to that number be routed if not to the POTS which opens up a whole other can of worms, no??

 

[polarbear85]

Why not get the call forwarding feature from the telco for the POTS line and just "permanently" forward it to an appropriate DID on your PRI?

 

[salo0920]

Polarbear85,

That would possibly work except for the expense. Consider, rather than finding a direct way of porting these numbers to my PRI, I will be going to the expense of adding a POTS line or 2 for every customer (tenant) and now, call forwarding (with multiple paths) without multiple paths, the 3rd thru nth callers calling the main number will get busy. Then add the fact that our telco (Verizon) charges us the local call rate for each and every call that is forwarded. This solution, while technically workable will break the bank and defeat the entire purpose of taking on these customers. They might as well just keep their lines.

 

[jgideon]

Salo0920, unfortunately, that's the same conclusion that is drawn by many. I'm still looking for a LEC/CLEC that will do per-number name entries in the LIDB. It's certainly possible, just a question of will they do it.

 

[salo0920]

Jgideon,

I have made contact with a CLEC that says they will do it. I am signing contracts today and will report back in about 30 days when the circuit comes in to let you know my experiences. If they are favorable, it will be a win for us all.

 

[jgideon]

Cool! I'd be very interested!

 

[hawks]

Same here I have some of the same problems. Good luck.