CallerID - Vonage Dashboard - Motorola VT1005 or PAP2

Posts: 15 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Nov 14, 2004 Posts: 15

Greetings.

I have: Cable Modem (RCA) -> Router(WRT54G)->ATA(Motorola VT1005. I have had Vonage for about 16 months with basically good service but with some bumps along the way.

I have two problems. The Caller ID on my connected phone does not show the name of the caller. In addition, the Vonage Dashboard does not show the name of the caller. Both of these items did display names some months ago.

I spend 1 hour on the phone to Vonage India and then level 2 support. I told them that I use to get the name displayed some months ago and then it stopped. Nothing could be discovered.

Well last night, some names started to appear both on my connected phone and on Vonage. However it is random. The same number can call me 5 times and only once will it show the name of the caller on both locations.

Now on to my second problem/question. I was thinking that I would upgrade my system to a Linksys PAP2. Part of the reason is that firmware upgrades are no longer being distributed for the Motorola. Second, it might help the callerID name problem.

Comments?

Posts: 193 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 193

The Dashboard only shows connected (anwered by you, vm or ans mach) calls, where as the phone will show all calls. Is the call showing, but no cid info?

I would also consider the mta 2442 that just came out. Haven't heard any reviews yet tho.

Posts: 135 · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:54 pm Post subject:

The Short Answer:
Upgrading to a PAP2 will not help your CallerID problem. The problem is not with your adapter. If you were having a problem with the CallerID not being displayed on your phone while it is displayed correctly on the website then you could point to the adapter (or the phone or the house wiring).

In this case the phone adapter is sending you exactly what it is receiving (and what is displayed on the website). It can not display any more info that it receives.

The Long Answer (with lots of speculation):
The problem is that the Vonage system is not always able to provide you with the Name info to match the CallerID number info. I have also seen this from time to time but it works for me nearly all of the time. The problem is that when a call is received for you the only information that Vonage receives is the Caller Number. The Vonage system must then do a database lookup using that number to get the CallerID name. If the database they are searching is not up to date it may not have information to display. ( I am also wondering if the system can be overloaded at times and it is not able to find the CallerID Name in time to be displayed. This is pure speculation on my part.)

I know that I will see different CallerID Name info displayed for the same phone calling me depending on how the call is made. I have my main Vonage number (area code 703). I also have a virtual number in a different area (area code 636). If I call my home using the 703 number from my cellphone I will see the number and name displayed. If I call the 636 number from my cellphone I see the number the but name is displayed as "PCS Phone VA". If my mom calls from 636 I see the exact opposite behavior. Her name will display if she calls the virtual number but not if she calls the main number.

This tells me that the CallerID Name info is probably being picked up by the switch (owned by the CLEC, not Vonage) where the call is being received.

If the name info is being lost (or, not found) because of a problem or configuration at the CLEC there might not be much that Vonage is able (or willing to) do about it.

Posts: 15 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Nov 14, 2004 Posts: 15

Thank you for the feedback.

The caller ID (CID) shows the phone number all the time, both on the telephone and on the Vonage dashboard for incoming calls. The name is the missing component. Even when the caller phone is plugged directly into the ATA device.

I can receive a phone call from the same number 4 times in a row. One out of 4 times the name will show on the phone CID and on the Vonage Dashboard, the remainder times it is missing.

Posts: 35 · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 9:22 pm Post subject:

Inbound Caller ID displays based on whatever is forwarded by the carrier to the Vonage gateways. It is just forwarded on with the SIP headers in the "FROM" line to the device. If your call log in your web account doesn't show the caller ID name, then Vonage is not receiving the name and it may be a problem with the underlying carrier. Getting a new device will not correct the issue.

Posts: 15 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Nov 14, 2004 Posts: 15

Tried this between POTS phones and the CID name appears every time. Between Frontier and QWest it also works. Between QWest and Vonage is works 1 out of 4 times.

Posts: 249 · Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2006 12:45 pm Post subject: Re: Blaim the Gateway?

netwalker9999 wrote:

Tried this between POTS phones and the CID name appears every time. Between Frontier and QWest it also works. Between QWest and Vonage is works 1 out of 4 times.

Anytime you get a 1 out of 4 deal involving Qwest your a hero!

I bought a new Panasonic phone last month. I notice that on that particular phone that the name associated with the incoming phone number if it is listed in the phone's call book will appear on the name portion of the caller ID.. I have the next door neighbors listed as "The Dingbats" and that is what that phone shoes if they call. The other phones inn the house show their real name.

Posts: 15 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Nov 14, 2004 Posts: 15

OK,

Got lots of responses, but none that hit the target. So, I replaced the VT1005 with a PAP2. Here are my observations.

I think the voice on the Motorola VT1005 was a bit crisper than the PAP2. But, all in all I think the PAP2 is delivering a better voice solution. I no longer get the periodic in-coming call stutter that I had with the VT1005

And now, to my amazement, I am getting more names on my CallerID (CID). Honest about that. My son has not had his name show up for 1 year and boom tonight it showed under his phone number. Also, the name is showing up on the dashboard on the web site. I have read all the suggestions in that these two items are disconnected. But, I don’t know.

All in all, I am happy with the upgrade. I like the voice interface to the PAP. You could never get into the Vt1005 system without messing around with the IP connection.