TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Bellsouth Caller ID

Re: Bellsouth Caller ID

Choreboy (choreboyREMOVE@localnet.com)
Sun, 12 Jun 2005 04:12:48 -0400

Robert Bonomi wrote:

> In article <telecom24.261.2@telecom-digest.org>,
> Choreboy <choreboyREMOVE@localnet.com> wrote:

> [[.. munch ..]]

>> So Bellsouth won't tell me what cellphone carriers provide names for
>> their Caller ID. Is this information available anywhere?

> Not suprising. Bellsouth *doesn't*know* who provides names, and who
> doesn't.

> All they can do is pass along what is supplied.

> Probably just knowing the cell carrier is not sufficient.

> It probably depends on the type of servicecontract as well. e.g., I
> doubt names are even available to the carrier for 'pre-paid' phones.

I wonder what carriers would supply names? With a land line, if you
pay for an unpublished number, your name won't show up on a Caller ID
display, will it? It seems to me that a cellphone customer is paying
for an unpublished number. Unwanted calls to a cellphone can be
terribly inconvenient as well as costing the customer minutes.

Suppose in a traffic jam, you call the dentist to say you'll be ten
minutes late. Six months later your cell phone rings as you drive to
work. You have told nobody your number except your wife and daughter,
and they know you don't want to be called while driving. Thinking it
must be an emergency, you reach for the phone and wreck your car.

The next day your phone begins chirping during a funeral. Because
your wife and daughter are with you, you never expected this. By the
time you turn it off you are getting dirty looks.

The day after that, it rings while you are in the checkout line at a
supermarket. It's the dentist's receptionist reminding you to
schedule a checkup. You are in no position to check your schedule.

If you start getting calls like that because a receptionist's computer
got your cellphone number from Caller ID, won't you be likely to
change carriers?

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