Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!decwrl!hayes.ims.alaska.edu!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: john@bovine.ati.com (John Higdon) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Ancient ANI Message-ID: <13899@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 22 Oct 90 03:04:06 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Lines: 40 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 754, Message 3 of 8 On Oct 21 at 19:05, Peter da Silva writes: > We get the message. ANI is not CID. Fine. So what is the *external* > difference between ANI and CID? You say it sends the calling number > shortly before the called number in an interexchange call. Fine. But > when it gets to the end user what's the difference? Is the number > that shows up on the screen (no matter how it's delivered) any different? Well, yes, there is a considerable difference, but that wasn't my point either. I am aware that some are irritated by those who insist on the proper terminology when discussing technical topics, but without a common language reference things can start becoming very confusing. As far as the external difference goes, it is night and day. ANI is used primarily for billing calls and as such is automatically processed into call records or a database for marketing purposes. CID's major manifestation will be a number showing up on someone's LCD window. If I am in a room with people discussing telephony and someone says, "I would like to know if someone can help me utilize my ANI to the fullest", my immediate thought is that the person operates an IEC or a 900 service and is wishing some industrial help. And, yes, it does make a difference how it's delivered. Caller-ID is always delivered to an end user. ANI is typically delivered to a "brother in the cloth" common carrier (whether he, in turn, deliviers the data to an end user is irrelavent). Caller-ID is delivered to the end user according to Bellcore standards. ANI is delivered in many flavors. ANI is industrial; CID is consumer. BTW, if someone has two lines and a very smart two-line phone that can conference and divert, do you say that person has Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, and 3-Way Calling? I don't think so. Confusing ANI with CID is the direct equivalent of saying that a person with CW, CF, and 3-Way has two lines. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !