Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: John Higdon Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Caller ID on 800 Service Message-ID: <2367@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 22 Dec 89 08:38:08 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 53 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 9, Issue 588, message 9 of 9 STEVEF writes: > Does anyone know what the service is called or where to get more > information on AT&T's offering of Caller ID on 800 service (the > service used by American Express in the previously posted story)? I > [...] > I have gotten various responses, such as "You need ISDN to do that" I > don't believe this is true. Anyone know for sure? > [...] > Does this service use the same boxes used for Caller ID CLASS service > offered by the RBOC? Do you have to be in a CO that has Caller ID? The service that provides the 800 customer with the callers number has nothing to do with CLASS and does not require CLASS capability at either the origin or the destination. It is simply the passing of the caller's number obtained via ordinary ANI to the end customer. This can be and is done in several ways. One is to simply send the info as a stream of MF or DTMF tones to equipment at the 800 subscriber's premises. A better way would be via a separate data line, and yes, ISDN could be used for this purpose. Whether or not it is required is simply a policy call by the long distance carrier. I would suspect that this service is only supplied to major customers and that anyone an individual might reach calling listed numbers will know nothing about it. To find anyone who is knowledgeable, at AT&T or anywhere else, will require a considerable amount of legwork. I was peripherally involved with a project that involved this and I know there was a major amount of channels that had to be gone through before anyone would talk about it. Again, the service has nothing to do with SS#7, CLASS, or any other relatively recent technology. When in use, there is no way to block your number from being transmitted. There are no tarrifs or regulations that would protect your privacy. And there is no way to know if it is being used. It doesn't matter where you call from--across town or across the country; it works just as well either way. As long as you are calling from a FGD compliant office (most of them are now) the 800 customer has *your* number. How's that grab all you privacy phreaks out there? :-) John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o ! [Moderator's Note: John, I suspect many of the privacy phreaks would go so far as to say just because some company is paying for their call, that company still has no right to know the number of the call they are paying for! Just a guess, but there are some extremists in that camp. PT]