# What ever happened to Caller ID? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 29, 2018, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-caller-id/823694 "2018-10-29T23:48:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![oligopoly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@oligopoly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oligopoly)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-caller-id/823694/41 "2018-10-30T16:09:56Z")
If a number which isn’t saved in my Contacts calls my Pixel 2 mobile phone, the phone looks online for the number and then shows me who’s calling. Very clever… ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-caller-id/823694/42 "2018-10-30T16:39:26Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > On another note, what exactly is prefix spoofing supposed to accomplish? As has been stated a few times, it’s to make you think the call is from somebody nearby. I think it is also a basic misunderstanding of how US phone numbers work by foreign scammers. Unless you’re in a small town in the US pre about 1987, there are going to be multiple exchanges in the local calling area. Americans know this, so the calls from your area code and exchange look really weird. Some of the scammers must have picked up on this, because I have noticed an upswing in scam calls from my local area codes, but not from my exact exchange. Unfortunately, I’m much more likely to answer these because it could be the cable saying I’m the next stop, or my dentist’s reminder call, etc. > [@RitterSport](#): > > Non-GQ answer: There is an app called **Hiya** available for Android (and maybe iOS I was hoping somebody would mention Hiya (and other companies providing the same service). Those of you who get non-address book numbers identified on your mobile phone, it is because there is a (possibly builtin) app doing an internet lookup of the number. Hiya is builtin on my Samsung, and it works reasonably well in identifying legitimate callers. Because the scam calls spoof a random number, those are often identified as some individual I don’t know. These do use crowd sourced spam reporting, but it’s not very useful, because the calling number changes too frequently. To the OP, cell phones in the US have always only shown the number, unless the number is in your local address book. In the last few years, smart phones have more options to show the callers name using external database lookups. The problem is, that none of the players who are able to fix the spoofable IDs and spam calls—the major carriers and the FCC—care about it one bit. I think that is very short sited on their part, because how many of you would switch to T-Mobile (or whoever) if they advertised they could reduce your spam calling by 99%, and they actually could do it? ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-caller-id/823694/43 "2018-10-30T17:17:21Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > Voice Mail is my new Caller ID. If they don’t leave a message, they aren’t “real” people. I do the opposite. If I don’t recognize the number I answer & immediately hang up. If it’s someone who is real & wants to talk to me, they’ll call back & I can apologize that I ‘accidentally’ hung up on them. I found that otherwise the robocallers were leaving messages. It’s less effort to answer & hang up then to go into VM to delete a message. > [@Doug\_K](#): > > Spoofing should not even be possible. That’s 100% the > fault of the phone carriers. They built that capability into their systems. There is no legitimate reason for anyone to be able falsify the number they are calling from. It was created as a feature so that any phone an employee called you from a business could come up as that business even though it would natively display something else, like the employee’s name or “conf room #3” because of the trunk line. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-caller-id/823694/44 "2018-10-30T17:44:15Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Someone wants to speak with me. Rather than making them wait until the next day, my receptionist will offer to have me call them, and she explains that I’ll be calling from my personal phone which has caller ID blocked. Doesn’t that create an infinite loop of phone tag? I do not answer calls with UNKNOWN or RESTRICTED caller ID. Even if I knew you were going to call me with caller ID blocked, how would I know it’s you, and not some spammer? I guess you must be pretty important to be able to set conditions for people to get a call back from you. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-caller-id/823694/45 "2018-10-30T17:46:34Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Actually, they never completely were. And they are definitely not now. A landline user can port their old telephone number to their new location, etc. And there’s all sorts of other methods where a landline number doesn’t relate to location. Anecdotally: when we bought a house, and moved out of our apartment, in 1996, we tried to keep the landline number that we had in the apartment. We were moving about 8 miles, from one western suburb of Chicago to another, and within the same area code. When I asked the phone company (at that point, Ameritech) about it, they said, “no, sorry, it cannot be done. You have to get a new number from the ‘exchange’ in your new suburb.” Now, I don’t know if it was a matter of it **couldn’t** be done, or if it was just a PITA for the phone company, or if it was possible, but expensive. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-caller-id/823694/46 "2018-10-30T17:51:09Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I guess you must be pretty important to be able to set conditions for people to get a call back from you. I guess. Like I said, I can call the next day from work or you can answer my call. I’m doing them a favor and the overwhelming majority appreciate that fact. I make maybe two calls like this a month. ETA: > [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Doesn’t that create an infinite loop of phone tag? No. If they do not answer I hang up and give up. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-caller-id/823694/47 "2018-10-30T18:58:56Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Anecdotally: when we bought a house, and moved out of our apartment, in 1996, we tried to keep the landline number that we had in the apartment. We were moving about 8 miles, from one western suburb of Chicago to another, and within the same area code. When I asked the phone company (at that point, Ameritech) about it, they said, “no, sorry, it cannot be done. You have to get a new number from the ‘exchange’ in your new suburb.” > > Now, I don’t know if it was a matter of it **couldn’t** be done, or if it was just a PITA for the phone company, or if it was possible, but expensive. At one time, number portability was impossible. Gradually, the phone companies implemented it, but even though it was legal, often balked and the front-line clerks would stonewall you. I have had to go thru supervisors to port a number sometimes. > [@ftg](#): > > Actually, they never completely were. And they are definitely not now. A landline user can port their old telephone number to their new location, etc. And there’s all sorts of other methods where a landline number doesn’t relate to location. Pre-cellphone days, ALL US numbers were geographically-limited. In 1974, I moved about 15 miles away, _in the same area code,_ but could not retain my phone number. As number portability became legal, not all carriers implemented it at the same time or the same way. I once wanted to port a number from carrier A to C, but C refused. However, I found out that C would port _from_ B, and A could port _to_ B. So I opened an account at carrier B, transferred the number to them, and the next day, transferred from B to C, then closed the B account. It worked like a charm. That was 1998. In 2017, I was forced to do the same thing with 3 other carriers for the same reason, so they still haven’t learned how to do it. [/QUOTE] > [@Chronos](#): > > On another note, what exactly is prefix spoofing supposed to accomplish? Back in the day when people actually knew each others’ phone numbers (instead of storing them on your phone and forgetting about it), I don’t think I knew anyone who had the same prefix as us. If I saw an incoming number with the same prefix, I wouldn’t assume it was someone I knew. I’d know right away that it wasn’t, because I’d have remembered if someone had the same prefix. Prefix number spoofing may work better in small towns. In mine, there are only 2 likely prefixes; the first has been the same since the 1950’s and the second, since the 1970’s. So a number from one of those stands out. OTOH, there are more spoofing algorithms than just that. I now get spoofed numbers that are identical to mine except for the last digit. Or identical to my local prefixes, but with a different area code (you would think that wouldn’t work, but a quick glance can fool you). > [@kayaker](#): > > Nope, I’m happy with the way I do it. If I get a call and a name doesn’t show (not a contact), I do not answer, since I know it is a spammer. If a business contact somehow got my number, that would alter the situation enough to be a pain in my ass. They might call with a question and assume I’d listen to their voice-message and return their call. I don’t want that possibility. > > I get spam calls every day, but I do not answer. Once a week or so I’ll open my voicemail and read, (Apple voice to text is great) delete, and block. I’m glad that works for you. In my case, I once lost a good customer because I didn’t call back for 4 hours, as I was at a convention. Some occupations move fast, and if you don’t, you lose. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-caller-id/823694/48 "2018-10-30T20:10:27Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Anecdotally: when we bought a house, and moved out of our apartment, in 1996, we tried to keep the landline number that we had in the apartment. We were moving about 8 miles, from one western suburb of Chicago to another, and within the same area code. When I asked the phone company (at that point, Ameritech) about it, they said, “no, sorry, it cannot be done. You have to get a new number from the ‘exchange’ in your new suburb.” > > Now, I don’t know if it was a matter of it **couldn’t** be done, or if it was just a PITA for the phone company, or if it was possible, but expensive. In 1996, that probably meant that one or the other (or too many) of the exchanges was too old to support number portability. There were services where they actually connected a wire from one exchange to another, and services where they actually installed a telephone dialer in the old exchange-- to dial your new number and connect through – but those were expensive business services, and you would have needed to talk to a business salesman. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-caller-id/823694/49 "2018-10-30T23:05:54Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > It was created as a feature so that any phone an employee called you from a business could come up as that business even though it would natively display something else, like the employee’s name or “conf room #3” because of the trunk line. That’s not even remotely the same thing. The phone system at my former employer worked that way. We could set the extensions to show that the call came from one of our numbers, but it had to be one of the numbers associated with our system, not some random other or non-existent number. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-caller-id/823694/50 "2018-10-30T23:17:12Z")
> [@yearofglad](#): > > My cell phone only identifies a caller if the caller is in my Contacts list. I think the OP is referring to a caller ID that will identify who the caller is in any case (or at least who the number is assigned to). My cell phone does not have that feature - it tells me the city and state of the caller and nothing else. Caller ID was always about merely revealing the caller’s telephone number. When the service was first launched, there was some controversy because phone number prefixes – i.e. what had once been alphanumeric exchanges – could still give a clue as to where the caller lived, and it was thought that businesses might use this information to profile potential customers. As with **yearofglad** and just about everyone else, I only get to see the name if they are in my address book. For that reason I never delete anyone. Even if there’s someone I don’t wish to talk to, it’s useful to know if they attempt to call, and especially to put them on silent ring. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-caller-id/823694/51 "2018-10-30T23:36:02Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Spoofing should not even be possible. That’s 100% the fault of the phone carriers. They built that capability into their systems. There is no legitimate reason for anyone to be able falsify the number they are calling from. There actually is for businesses. If I make a call from my direct office number “416-555-1627 FinsToTheLeft”, I might want it to show “416-555-1000 Big Company Name” so that you recognize who is calling. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-caller-id/823694/52 "2018-10-30T23:38:31Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > That’s not even remotely the same thing. The phone system at my former employer worked that way. We could set the extensions to show that the call came from one of our numbers, but it had to be one of the numbers associated with our system, not some random other or non-existent number. That limitation was imposed by your system, not the phone company. As you can tell from all the spoofed calls now, the phone companies have no limitation whatsoever nor make any attempt to verify whatever number you specify for the display. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2018, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-caller-id/823694/53 "2018-10-30T23:43:41Z")
> [@](#): > > Caller ID was always about merely revealing the caller’s telephone number. Then what’s it called when I see the caller’s name on my screen on my landline phone? At my phone company, they have separate services - Caller ID, number only and Caller ID, Name and Number (which I have). No, I’ve never had that (name of person not in address book) on my cell phone, but then I’ve never thought of my cell as having Caller ID. ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2018, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-caller-id/823694/54 "2018-10-31T00:07:20Z")
Under POTS service caller ID is intentionally unreliable consumer service which was put in place on top of the ANI (automatic number identification) system used by the network in order to protect privacy etc… Caller ID _name_ or CNAM is also a distinct service from numeric caller ID. Anyone with a PBX or trunk line can set the Caller ID number as mentioned by other posters. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2018, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-caller-id/823694/55 "2018-10-31T01:29:50Z")
currently I have a cell through Verizon. I only see names if they are in my contact list, except if they have texted me with something like Hey this is Alice, can you call me? and then it says Maybe:Alice I have to cold-call my patients sometimes and they tell me my name popped up on their TV (usually) so SOMEONE is providing caller ID-like services. I used to have a patient’s son I would call to see if it was ok to see his mom. I would call his number and leave a message, and he would call back immediately with his number blocked. I was laughing at him because, dude, I already have your number…I just called it! I seriously do not get why so many people are afraid to answer their phones. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2018, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-caller-id/823694/56 "2018-10-31T03:44:58Z")
> [@FinsToTheLeft](#): > > There actually is for businesses. If I make a call from my direct office number “416-555-1627 FinsToTheLeft”, I might want it to show “416-555-1000 Big Company Name” so that you recognize who is calling. But again, that’s not spoofing. That’s still a legitimate number that belongs to the company. Spoofing is substituting a completely bogus number - one that may or may not belong to a real phone, and that’s what shouldn’t be allowed. > [@Musicat](#): > > That limitation was imposed by your system, not the phone company. As you can tell from all the spoofed calls now, the phone companies have no limitation whatsoever nor make any attempt to verify whatever number you specify for the display. That was a limitation of our phone carrier. Well, not so much a limitation as that spoofing was a “feature” they refused to implement. The system was set up and installed by our carrier, and in their training they explained that they didn’t want their customers just using fake numbers. If all carriers would refuse to give the ability to spoof, we wouldn’t have this problem. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2018, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-caller-id/823694/57 "2018-10-31T08:19:16Z")
[Which area code gets the most robocalls?](https://www.nbcchicago.com/investigations/Which-Area-Code-Get-the-Most-Robocalls-499044881.html) > [@](#): > > “There’s been an explosion in the scam calls,” said Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail. “It got very easy for people to make them. There’s a whole bunch of scammers calling number after number after number, hoping someone will answer to pitch them on their scam.” > [@](#): > > Data collected by YouMail, a tech company that focuses on telecommunications and markets a robocall blocking app, shows the number of automated calls placed nationwide increased 50 percent from February to July. > > A mind-numbing 4.4 billion robocalls were placed to Americans in September. About 40 percent of those were scams, YouMail found. Personally, I think YouMail’s definition of scam has too high a bar. Any caller who pushes blatantly false information or disguises their phone number, even if they have a legitimate product, is a scammer. This includes car warranties, “free” medical devices, claims to make your web site #1 on Google, and credit card interest rate reduction schemes. That 40 percent is more like 99%. ---
**Author:** ![Osano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@Osano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osano)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2018, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-caller-id/823694/58 "2018-10-31T18:35:52Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > I never had that feature. I assume that it was a feature of the US cell phone system, which has completely changed since 2000: the underlying technology is quite different. > > Either that, or you’re misremembering (I’ve worked in support, and I’m used to that), but that doesn’t have to be the case: the features of the US cell phone system are different now than they were in 2000. We had a landline that would verbally speak the caller ID in computer voice. So I am definitely not misremembering. One of my close friend’s last name became a running joke on how bad the phone pronounced it, it would completely butcher “Daughtery”. This feature worked for landlines and cell phones but i do recall some cell numbers would just say wireless caller. I had a friend that worked at Sprint back then (my cell provider at the time) and he changed my phone ID (how it showed up on caller ID) to my name but in a abbreviated form. Must have been phased out like picture in picture on the TV. They couldn’t cram as many commercials in your face so they got rid of it. Plus I heard that it had something to do with an extra tuner/antenna and was a cost saving tool. I agree with one of the previous posters I’d gladly switch providers to have my spam calls reduced. Same with TV, Id pay quite a bit to get no political campaign ads. Honestly who has their opinion swayed by those commercials? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2018, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-caller-id/823694/59 "2018-10-31T19:57:54Z")
> [@Osano](#): > > We had a landline that would verbally speak the caller ID in computer voice. Most likely the voice was generated in the receiving equipment, like an answering machine, independent of the telephone company or landline. And the voice chip was probably made in Taiwan, Japan or Korea, so it’s not surprising that the pronunciation was odd. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-caller-id/823694.md?page=2)