Below is an overview of Caller ID features and functions and how is integrated within the KAZOO platform.

<aside> 💡 NOTE: This documentation refers to the Monster UI implementation

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User Stories

• A user wishes to see information about an incoming caller
• A user wishes to assign a unique name and/or phone number to outgoing calls based on the device or extension used. For example, if the extension is a mobile number, to set an outgoing “ID” to display as “XYZ Mobile.”
• An account wants to clarify when and how fees are assigned for Caller ID services.
• An account or user wants to assign a unique “prepending ID” to incoming calls based on its area code, or even its unique number. One example might be to prepend all incoming calls from a priority customer with “PRIORITY”.
• An account wants to filter out nefarious phone numbers based on its incoming caller ID.
• An Account has departments (such as sales, with a main support number). So customers don't have an internal number to call back directly, display the group’s main number and not the specific number of the associate.

About Caller ID

To an end user

Caller ID typically is associated with the display of a number (and sometimes a name) identifying the source of an incoming call. Caller ID is a service offered by your phone provider; it is either included as part of a broader “plan” or (less often in current systems) it is provided as an added line item with a monthly stipend.

To service providers

Caller ID information is provided to the phone companies by independent databases who collect their data from phone contracts, directory assistance lists, and other means.

For numbers outside of a company’s own data, (e.g. for Verizon to get a Sprint CallerID) they pay a fee for the data and attach the information to the call data. Recent fees have been a penny for each lookup (or call). Initially, this was a “line item add-on” for users, however more recently the fees they pay are passed on to the user are included as part of a larger package.

Landline v. VoIP v. Cell Phone Caller ID

In the world of landlines

Caller ID Name is controlled by the receiving carrier. If a customer with an old-school landline receives a call, and subscribes to their local phone company's Caller ID Name service, the RECEIVING phone company will lookup the name of the caller in the LIDB system, which is like a national Caller ID database. This system costs money to insert entries into, and money to get them out of, so each time a call is received by the RECEIVING phone company, they have to actually pay a "dip" charge to lookup who the caller's name is. This is why this is a pay service. This is controlled by the LIDB. 2600Hz charges $5 to update this DB for your numbers. This has to be set in advance and allowed 48 hours to propagate and can't be changed on the fly or sent with the SIP packet.