CallerID information is wrong and outdated - How about you?

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 29, 2005 Posts: 3

I'm testing out Vonage right now (before I switch from Verizon). I noticed that most of the CallerID data on the Vonage network is VERY, VERY outdated...making it flat out wrong.

For example, my work has several phone lines. When I call my Verizon line from any line, the company name comes up correctly. On Vonage, it only shows up correctly from the primary number. One of the other numbers says "MUNICIPAL TAX"...so that is obviously outdated by MANY YEARS!

Another example, my cell phone comes up as "Wireless Caller" on Verizon. On Vonage, it comes up as "PCS PHONE". About 5 years ago, I was on Sprint, which is a PCS network. However, I switched to Verizon back then (again, 5 years ago). Then, over a year ago I switched to AT&T Wireless. So, this data is VERY old.

Does anyone else have this issue? I have contacted Vonage asking about how they get their data and noting that their source is out-dated. However, to be honest, the tech support has sucked because they don't really listen to what I'm saying and just keep telling me to reboot my adapter...even though I say that the information displays the same in my account on the Vonage website. So, should I reboot the webserver? Very Happy

This is really a show-stopper for me. If the CallerID data is incorrect, what good is it?

I would really like to know others experiences. I live in NJ just outside Philly. So, it is not like the area I live in has "mom and pop" phone companies providing data.

Brian

Posts: 72 · Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 7:47 pm Post subject:

I'm in NJ, also. I have noticed that though the calling number is always displayed correctly, the name is often way out of date. When I call someone else from my Vonage line, they usually don't see a name at all, they see my number displayed for both the number and the name field.

Recently, a regular caller (from New Mexico) who has turned up with the wrong name for several years suddenly began to show up with the correct name. Perhaps someone at Vonage is finally starting to get things up to date?

Perhaps there should be a single definitive national database for mapping phone numbers to names, for use by all carriers who offer CID?

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 29, 2005 Posts: 3

Thanks for the info. Now I know that I'm not alone in this.

Does anyone know if tech support ever passes information on to the NOC? My dealings with tech support, so far, have been abysmal. No one actually reads what I write (when emailing). They read the first sentence or two and then assume the answer is a canned answer. I usually have to reply three times before someone actually reads the message completely.

If Vonage wants to keep their customers, they really need to step up on this. The way they can differentiate from the Comcasts and the Verizons out there is good customer service. However, very few companies get that these days. Yes, it costs more money to properly staff and train a tech support department (I should know, I'm a Director of IT). But, in the long run you get payback on that several fold through loyal and vocally supportive customers.

Just my two cents on this one...

Posts: 10 · Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 12:13 pm Post subject:

I have noticed the same thing. I must have misunderstood how caller ID worked. I thought the caller information was initiated from the sender. Is this a wrong assumption?

Posts: 204 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Dec 04, 2005 Posts: 204

milhans wrote:

I have noticed the same thing. I must have misunderstood how caller ID worked. I thought the caller information was initiated from the sender. Is this a wrong assumption?

You would be correct in that you were incorrect.

Caller ID name is a shoe-horn type of technology. In my opinion, it wasn't really thought out very well (well, if you consider that Ma Bell didn't think she'd ever have competition, I suppose it was acceptable for them).

Anyway, how it works is that the originating (caller) side sends the phone number of the caller to the terminating side (callee). The terminating side looks up the phone number in a database and displays the name it has in there. Seems pretty simple. It is, as long as there is only one phone company. The roadblock is that there are multiple Caller ID name databases now. There are independant ones and there are ones proprietary to the provider. So provider X might publish their names in database A but provider Y looks up in database B (and maybe provider Z has their own database). And, of course, the databases don't talk to each other and when a provider makes a change they usually only change the entry in their pereferred database, not all of them.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 29, 2005 Posts: 3

Actually, there is something else going on as well. I called from my cell phone three times over the past two days and it showed up differently each time! First time it said PCS call, the second one had no data (except phone number), and the third time it came up with a local town.

So, same cell phone calling same Vonage produced different results. So, there is obviously something else happening.

Posts: 27 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Oct 29, 2005 Posts: 27

brianlees, My guess is that you have an isolated problem. I have had Vonage for the last 3 years without any problem. As to tech support, hang up and call again. If that doesn't work then ask for a supervisor. I do that when I cannot get the right answers. Tech support of most companies read from a script and don't know their ass from a hole in the ground. Time Warner's tech support for one really sux and that's after waiting 10-15 minutes to get one to pick up the phone.