atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Inter-Tel Telephones & Systems Outbound Caller ID

On an InterTel Axxess 5.346 system with a PRI and PAL... all of a sudden the name associated with outbound Caller ID for our company has changed. We've talked to our phone service provider, Cbeyond, and they tell us that the outbound Caller ID is handled by our PRI. Yet, I never made a change to the PRI, nor can I even find where this would be in the PRI settings.

Instead of the company name, what is showing up on our clients' caller IDs (external phones) is the name of an individual that works here... and the main number for the company. The number is correct, but the name is new... and it doesn't matter what phone is used to call out from. The person whose name that shows up has worked here since the company started and no changes have been made to the programming associated with his phone, or anything for that matter, in at least 10 months. So, I'm stumped. What's causing this?

That version cannot change the outgoing calling party name. New versions can, but most service providers do not support this feature and this is why:

When you call out, that call is routed across the public network and eventually reaches the far ends' service provider. The SP sees that the customer being called is configured for Caller ID Name & Number. The SP then does a DB lookup (usually a 3rd party database) based on the calling party number and matches the number w/ the name. The name is inserted into the call stream and away the call goes.

The other method to change a calling party name is to have that person's number programmed into a fone that then has a distinct name associated w/ it. The call arrives w/ 202-555-1212/ ABC Co., but the called party sees 202-555-12122/ Dave Smith.

These days either scenario could be the culprit and it can be difficult to pinpoint the cause, however the cause cannot be the PBX in your case.

Thanks. I was fairly certain it wasn't on our end. It's good to have confirmation of that.

After some more testing, I've noticed that on a carrier like Qwest, the name for CID shows correctly for our company. However, on VoIP carriers like Comcast, it is showing the employee name and not the company name. I haven't narrowed down whether it's always a VoIP carrier that this happens on. Does anyone know if this is a clue or just specious reasoning on my part?

For the moment, since I have no idea how to resolve this, I've left it in Cbeyond's hands, for whatever that's worth.