Why is it that my land line caller ID (usually) comes up with the name of the caller, but my cell phone can only display a name that is already stored in its memory? Apparently, the name information is not sent to a cell phone. My question is why not?
MY home phone and cell will show name and number of any call from an AT&T phone. Both my phones are AT&T. Is your home phone one company and your cell another?
Coincidentally, both of my phones are AT&T. But I have never seen any cell phone carrier provide name ID with the caller ID. This includes AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. And if it makes any difference, I am in Texas.
The feature you are referring to is commonly known as ‘caller name’. ‘Caller ID’ is the feature that displays the phone number.
The reason that you don’t get caller name on a mobile is that the primary protocols used by mobile phones (CDMA and GSM) do not have provisions to send the name, only the number.
The protocol used by your home phone is very different than the one used by mobile phones. This protocol supports caller name.
On the other side of the coin, when I receive a call on my landline phone from someone calling on a cell, it’s a tossup whether I will see the name, or something like “Cell caller” or a city and state along with the phone number.
I think some cell providers maintain a database of caller id names to be sent on outgoing calls, whereas others (Verizon, I’m looking at you) don’t bother.
My cellular company (Fido, in Canada) offers two separate services: call display and name display.
Call display provides only the number, which your phone can identify if the number matches an entry in the address book.
Thanks. I had assumed something of the sort, but didn’t know where to find the info.