Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with callerid

How to record and display full ANI/Caller-ID?

forrie — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:02:09 -0800

How can I record the full ANI signal (caller-ID) incoming and display its content, separate of whether the privacy bit is set or not? From what I've read, the Caller ID signal that runs in most US residential markets (ie: Verizon) may display "Private" (based on a flag set to 0 or 1), though the actual full number is still transmitted in the ANI stream. Modern devices are programmed to display "Private" when this privacy flag is set.

If that's correct, it's reasonable to assume one could craft their own hardware (or software) to capture the full Caller ID signal and display.

Curious if someone has more info on this....

What fax machine should I buy?

aeschenkarnos — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:15:24 -0800

I need a fax machine. Recommendations? I recently bought a business whose previous proprietor used the same number for his fax and his telephone. I've gotten a new line installed, and intend to gradually switch customers over to using it, but in the meantime I'm left with the annoying situation of faxes and phone calls coming in over the same line, to a late-80's thermal paper fax which picks up every call. If it is a fax it takes the call, as it should, but if it is voice, it answers the call with "Please Wait ..." repeated indefinitely until I pick up.

I am in Australia, phone lines provided through Telstra; requests for the obvious technological solution of the phone provider identifying whether the call is fax or voice prior to me or the machine picking up, seems to be beyond their abilities to implement or even understand. The solution, at this time, needs to be a machine at my end.

I want to be able to redirect the phone to my mobile when I'm out of the office; therefore, the fax has to be able to easily (1) be "put on the line" if a call I pick up turns out to be a fax; (2) be able to easily be put into "not pick up" mode; (3) ideally, choose whether or not it picks up based on a list of caller-ID numbers, ie customers' fax numbers. I'm prepared to take the risk of fax calls to my mobile. Ideally, I'd like to be able to connect the fax via USB to a computer to perform both incoming (ie, the machine stores them as TIFF or similar files) and outgoing faxing.

So, I need a new fax, and there are overwhelming numbers and varieties of the things, none of which I have so far identified as capable of the tasks above. I don't care about scanner/copier capability; if the fax machine comes with it, great, if not, so be it.

I could set up a computer with a fax modem instead, but it would have to be capable of the behaviors described above, particularly the "pick up/don't pick up" decision based on the caller ID, allowing the call to "redirect on no answer" to my mobile if the machine does not pick up.

Any make and models (or software) to recommend? Budget for it is ~$500 max.

How to setup caller id for Skype? (I have a monthly subscription).

omair — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:45:09 -0800

How to setup caller id for Skype? (I have a monthly subscription). I have a subscription to Skype (3 dollars per month, unlimited to Canada and US), so to call landlines and cell phones, I don't need to by Skype Credit - I have already paid for it. Right?

However, I cannot change my Caller Identification number, because Skype wants me to add credit first. Why? Is it actually only possible for people who pay per use, but not for subscription users? Or am I doing something wrong?

Fraudulent Telemarketers on my Cell Phone!

fogster — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:05:01 -0800

Telemarketers calling my cell phone. With spoofed Caller ID. For fraud. How do I send them to PMITA prison? I'm one of those people that's very guarded about my phone number. Maybe 20 people on the planet have my home number, and about 5 people have my cell number. So when I got a call Monday night from (717) 432-5696, I was instantly suspicious. I didn't pick up, and they didn't leave a message. I Googled the number, intending to just let Google tell me whose number it was (a random couple in PA), but I noticed this page, indicating that hundreds of people left complaints about being called by this number and trying a callback, to find the number out of service. Those who did pick up said it was a robodialer (illegal!) calling their cell phone (illegal!) to sell them "extended warranties" for cars they didn't own (fraud!), and that the caller wouldn't tell them who they were (illegal!) and/or started swearing at them when they asked.

This morning my cell phone started ringing with a call from (323) 581-3046. I quickly Googled the number, but didn't get to pick up before I had an answer. But same deal: lots of complaints (starting today) of phishing-sounding requests for auto warranties.

I understand that it's easy to spoof Caller ID with a digital line / VoIP, which is what I suspect is going on. I also understand that, since I haven't picked up, I don't exactly have a strong case against these guys.

However, I refuse to sit back and let them keep at this. Next time they call, what can I do? (I've read of a *57 "Call Trace," but I don't know how it works, and I've read things suggesting that it's not all it's cracked up to be. More information on this welcome.)

I'm hearing rumors, BTW, of cell companies "releasing" the lists of their cell numbers. I suspect this is a chain-letter hoax, but can anyone point to something definitively debunking (or confirming...) it?

My cell number is not explicitly on the Do Not Call Registry, but my understanding is that, as a cell number, it's effectively there "by default."

I'm an unemployed recent-college-grad, so I don't really have the means to bring a lawsuit, but I do have a lot of disposable time. If it matters, I live in New Hampshire, and my cell phone is from Verizon Wireless.

It's "Saw" all over again. Really.

DMan — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 22:23:41 -0800

Is it possible to spoof a Caller ID easily? If so, can you call a number and spoof that number's Caller ID to itself? As in, Person A gets a call from...Person A. So a very good friend of mine's family is getting repeated calls from someone. The calls are very terroristic in nature, and we're all very scared about it--this isn't some innocent prankster, it's more serious than that.

I believe I know who is running the operation, and I believe it to be a very close "friend" of theirs. I won't go into detail as to why, but for now, let's assume that it's her. She has supposedly been receiving these calls as well, but I think she's really in control of the operation and is doing so to get attention (although this is undiagnosed, I believe her to have a mental disorder).

So, this "friend" is with a family member, and the family member receives a call with a Caller ID of the "friend". My first question is here: Could someone really be spoofing the ID? That's the explanation that the "friend" gave for this behavior.

Also, the "friend" supposedly (according to her, not what I call a reliable source) received a call* with the Caller ID of...herself. Is this even possible?

*both this call and the one to the family member went straight to voicemail. This is not the concern and I know how that is done.

Anyone have some ideas here? I really think this "friend" is doing this, and I need some information to help fit the pieces together. It's a real mystery.

I need to get a fake phone number that works right!

evariste — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 17:56:47 -0800

VOIPeurs, I need a SIP of your wisdom... So here's the situation. My cellphone is my primary phone. But I'm also paying for a Vonage line, so that a good friend can have a local phone number to call me on. The Vonage line has gone up from $25 to $33 a month with all kinds of new taxes over the past couple of years, and I don't even use it: I just use it to forward any calls to my cellphone.

I want to ditch the Vonage and get something else that lets me have a phone number in that area code, and just immediately passes on any phone calls to my cellphone. Call forwarding is the one and only feature that I need, so Vonage's offering is kind of overkill. But one nice thing about it was that the minutes were free.

I tried getting a Skype number + Skype Unlimited, but forwarding wouldn't work until I bought some Skype Credit. So Skype Unlimited...isn't really. And furthermore, once I did that and had someone call me and try it, I found out that the forwarded calls lose their caller ID information! I don't want to have it show up on my cellphone as Unknown. I want to know who's calling me. So Skype was a dud.

I've since done some Googling, and found something called GrandCentral. I'm not sure if it'll do what I want, but if someone here has it and you think it will work for what I want, I'll buy, borrow, beg, or steal an invite and sign up for it.

I also found some guy in a forum describing how he uses a combination of CallCentric, a "DID provider", and CallWithUs to get cellphone forwarding that keeps caller ID info intact. As I dimly understand it, a DID is nothing more than a phone number. Right? And what this guy is doing, seems to me analogous to buying your domain name from one company and your web hosting from another, rather than buying everything from one company and putting all your eggs in their basket. If my understanding of how it all works is mistaken, let me know.

Is this sort of setup way beyond an otherwise geeky, but in this particular regard fairly casual and disinterested user who just wants a simple thing like this to work? I don't want to own any exotic VOIP hardware, Asterisk or a PBX or God knows what. I don't even know what those words mean. I just want a phone number in a certain area code, that forwards calls to my cellphone and keeps the caller ID intact. Some kind of unlimited continental US minute plan would be nice, but if the minutes are cheap enough, it's not a dealbreaker.

Why Am I Unknown Caller with Cricket Cell Phone?

marxchivist — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 18:43:32 -0800

Why does my cell phone number show up as "unknown caller" or "unavailable" to EVERYONE I call? About two weeks ago I got cell phone service from Cricket. My phone is a Motorola w315. I show up as "unknown" caller with everybody I call. Land lines and cell phones. All different cell phone services. These people have me in their contacts. It's getting frustrating, I'm very happy with the service other than this. I've been all through the phone settings and the instruction book. The Cricket customer service people mumble something about me "not being in the other companies databases yet." I don't believe that.

Does anyone else have experience with this? Is there anything I can do? I don't know if it is a phone issue or a carrier issue. I'd like to eventually port my land line over, do you think that will make a difference? Thanks.

OSX app to log phone calls w/ datestamp from my stock G4 modem?

Wild_Eep — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 07:26:01 -0800

I need an OSX app that will make use of my G4s internal modem to receive caller ID information and log the time of the call. Using a standard G4 modem (which I don't believe is a 'voice' modem, but I could be wrong), is there a way to record who calls came from and when they happened? Bonus points for recording the duration of a call. Super-mega-bonus points if it can integrate into a billing/invoicing system. Cheaper is better. Here's my rig.

Display Cell Caller ID info on Windows via Bluetooth or USB?

idontlikewords — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 10:00:21 -0800

Does anyone know of software that will forward my cell phone's incoming Caller ID info to my Windows desktop? I'm using a MS Smartphone (2003) w/ ActiveSync, but I can't find anything that will give me the functionality I want. Some friends of mine got similar functionality out of some 3rd party bluetooth software (Float's Mobile Agent, I think) but this doesn't seem to agree with my phone. Any suggestions would be most appreciated. Thanks!

Software to Manipulate Outgoing Caller ID, and to Whitelist/Blacklist Based on Incoming?

namespan — Wed, 06 Oct 2004 00:06:23 -0800

I recently read there was software out there for manipulating outgoing caller id information. Can anyone tell me what it is? Also, is there any software out there that will manipulate incoming calls based on caller id -- ie, can I whitelist calls? Integrated with answering machines? er, rather than "integrated with answering machines" I mean to say that I'm sortof looking for this honkin' unholy telphony package that I could basically use to manage incoming calls and voicemail.