Caller ID – Caller ID Name | Frequently Asked Questions | AT&T Office@Hand
Article #4284

Caller ID – Caller ID Name | Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is Outbound Caller ID Name (CNAM)?
2. What’s the difference between Caller ID (CLID) and Caller ID Name (CNAM)?
3. How do caller ID and caller ID name work together?
4. What is a CNAM Database?
5. What are the limitations of the Outbound Caller Name (CNAM)?
6. How do I setup my Outbound Caller Name (CNAM)?
7. How do I set up or change my company’s outbound caller ID name?
8. How do I change my Outbound CNAM?
9. How long does it take for my caller ID name to be displayed to call recipients?
10. What if my CNAM is still not activated after submitting the request?
11. Why is my number not consistently showing an accurate CNAM?
12. For Canadian numbers, we do not have an external CNAM service.
13. Is CNAM supported in countries other than the US?
14. When I receive a call, I see only the caller’s number. How can I see callers’ names?
15. Why is my number not consistently showing an accurate caller ID name?
16. What if my caller ID name displays incorrectly?

1. What is Outbound Caller ID Name (CNAM)?
   The Caller Name (CNAM) is a feature that displays your Name or Company Name on the Caller ID display of the party you are calling. When it is set up, your Caller ID Name would display as text along with your Caller ID Number.
2. What’s the difference between Caller ID (CLID) and Caller ID Name (CNAM)?
   Caller ID (CLID) is the service that displays the phone number of the person or company calling you.
   Caller ID Name (CNAM) is the service that displays the name of the person or business associated with the caller ID phone number.
3. How do caller ID and caller ID name work together?
   Every country has different guidelines about how caller ID and caller ID names work together.
   In the United States:
   • AT&T Office@Hand publishes caller ID names for all phone numbers in your account to the centralized Line Information Database (LIDB).
     • This list includes company, site, auto-receptionist, user, common area, call queue, shared line, and delegated line phone numbers.
     • Caller ID names are updated and re-published automatically when a phone number is reassigned to a different site.
   • When you place an outgoing call, AT&T Office@Hand sends the call information, including the number you’re calling, to the recipient.
   • If the recipient has turned on CNAM, they’ll see the name you’ve set for your caller ID.
   • If the caller ID name isn’t listed in the database, recipients will see the city, state, and first six digits of the phone number.
   • Some carriers may report calls without a set caller ID name as robocalls or spam. For this reason, those calls are unlikely to reach their intended recipients.

     In Canada and other countries:

   • There is no centralized Line Information Database.
   • When you place a call, AT&T Office@Hand uses your company’s name as the caller ID name.
   • The call recipient sees your company’s name in the caller ID field.
4. What is a CNAM Database?
   CNAM databases (also called Line Information Databases) are official, authoritative sources that record phone numbers’ caller ID name text data. Multiple database providers maintain these centralized records. Carriers may subscribe to one or more of them.
5. What are the limitations of a caller ID name?
   • An outbound caller ID name must be attached to a local landline number.
   • Caller ID name doesn’t support toll-free numbers. If the caller ID name is attached to a toll-free number, the call recipient will see only that number, not the company name.
   • A caller ID name can have a maximum of 15 characters, including spaces. Special characters (for example, &, #, ?, *) aren’t supported.
   • Caller ID name support for mobile numbers depends on the recipient’s phone carrier. If the call recipient’s carrier doesn’t support caller ID names, they’ll see only the caller’s number, not the company name.
   • If the outbound caller ID is set to Blocked, the call recipient will see UNKNOWN or ANONYMOUS as the caller ID.
   • The display of a caller ID name is the responsibility of the receiving carrier. To show a caller ID name, the receiving carrier must support the service, and use current information from the Line Information Database.
6. How do I set up my Outbound Caller Name (CNAM)?
   To set up your AT&T Office@Hand account’s Outbound Caller Name, follow the instructions in Caller ID – Set Caller ID Name (CNAM).
7. How do I set up or change my company’s outbound caller ID name?
   To set up or change your existing Outbound Caller ID Name, read Set up company outbound caller name.
8. How do I change my Outbound CNAM?
   To update/change your existing Outbound Caller ID Name, follow the instructions in Caller ID – Change Caller ID Name (CNAM).
9. How long does it take for my caller ID name to be displayed to call recipients?
   Typically, the Line Information Database (LIDB) is updated within 72 hours of the submission of new data. Some carriers download data from the database in real-time, while other carriers might download the updated data on a daily or monthly basis.
10. What if my CNAM is still not activated after submitting the request?
    Contact AT&T Office@Hand Customer Support for assistance and provide the Date and Time when the request was submitted or re-submitted.

    After the request for CNAM is approved, AT&T Office@Hand needs to wait for the other carriers to update their Caller ID Name database. Other carriers will only be able to see the updated Caller ID Name after they update their local CNAM repository.

    Example: Becky requested to change his company’s Caller ID Name from “BIG JOHN” to “BIG JOHNS PIZZA”. On the 14th day, the Caller ID Name “BIG JOHNS PIZZA” was applied to User1’s phone numbers. Carrier1’s users are able to see “BIG JOHNS PIZZA” as his Caller ID Name, but Carrier2’s users are still seeing “BIG JOHN”. The reason why Carrier2 is still seeing “BIG JOHN” as Becky’s CNAM is because Carrier2’s Caller ID Name database is outdated. The solution is for Carrier2 to download and apply the updated list of Caller ID Names so that Carrier2’s will see the updated Caller ID Name for Becky’s phone number

11. Why is my number not consistently showing an accurate CNAM?
    When you update the CNAM for your number in your AT&T Office@Hand Online Account, that number name mapping is submitted to the centralized CNAM database. When the recipient receives a call, their carrier references its own local CNAM repository that may or may not be up to date.

    For the CNAM to be displayed accurately, the terminating carrier, to whom the calls are getting delivered, must have updated their local repository from the official database(s). This update is referred to as a “dip.” Depending on the carrier, they may or may not perform these dips regularly. Thus, the recipient may be seeing outdated information for your number. Usually, large carriers keep up to date with these centralized databases. You are more likely to notice a problem when a smaller carrier is involved.

    AT&T Office@Hand provides support for local, main company number CNAM changes, and we are responsible for ensuring that the proper databases are updated in a timely fashion. However, we cannot take responsibility for how a third-party provider manages their repositories, nor force them to update their records.

    If you are noticing that some called parties are receiving outdated CNAM information for your number, please notify AT&T Office@Hand so that we may verify that the CNAM databases were updated correctly on our end. If the CNAM database was updated by AT&T Office@Hand, the called party would then need to contact their carrier to ensure those records are also up-to-date.

12. For Canadian numbers, we do not have an external CNAM service.
    CNAM in Canada is handled a bit differently than how it is in the United States. The carrier who hosts the destination number (being dialed) has a name associated with the number seen as the calling number. It is that carrier’s database that is incorrect. This aspect is the same for both US and Canada dialed numbers; the destination carrier sends the CNAM of the calling number from their database to their subscribers.

    For issues like this in the US, carriers will dip a CNAM providers’ database to update the names on phone numbers. For issues like this in Canada, the carriers do not typically dip the CNAM database so, to correct, the carrier(s) who have the wrong name need to be manually corrected. They have CNAM providers in Canada, but most carriers in Canada do not have an automated method for CNAM updates.

13. Is CNAM supported in countries other than the US?
    Yes, but caller ID names in other countries are handled differently than in the United States. Other countries don’t maintain a CNAM or Line Information database. A caller ID name is included in the call information sent to the recipient’s carrier. Carriers must include the caller ID name to identify the caller for the recipient, rather than it being added automatically to a database.
14. When I receive a call, I see only the caller’s number. How can I see callers’ names?
    To see inbound callers’ names, you need a subscription to a service plan that includes this feature. Contact support to make sure that your plan includes the Inbound Caller ID Name feature.
15. Why is my number not consistently showing an accurate caller ID name?
    Some carriers pull data from the Line Information Database in real-time, while others receive a daily update.
    Some carriers cache data and update the caller ID names only once a month.
16. What if my caller ID name displays incorrectly?
    • After changing your caller ID name in the Admin Portal, wait at least 72 hours.
    • Contact support so that we may verify that the CNAM databases have been updated correctly.
    • Register your business with the Free Caller Registry to share your information with other carriers.
    • If your CNAM continues to display incorrectly, register your business individually with each of the following agencies:
      • AT&T

Keywords: 4284, Caller ID, Name, Frequently Asked Questions, FAQ, CNAM, CLID, Outbound Caller Name,

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