[asterisk-biz] Carriers not allowing CallerID to be set to a 800 number?

[Michael Young]

This is spreading industry wide. Carriers get paid based on where the
calls come from. We're getting calls rated by the Level3's of the world
based on caller ID (in SIP, that is all the ANI can be based on unless
you use SIP-T or something similar). So if you pass us an 800 number for
caller ID, Level3 will charge us the HIGHEST possible rate, as they
assume it is an intrastate call in whichever state your call is
destined. Our costs for those "in-state" calls average between 3.5 and
4.2 cents per minute.

NetLogic meets your criteria, with the exception of the costs involved
in sending a toll free number as the callerID. I think you'll find that
to be true across the industry (if not yet, soon). The only exception
right now is smaller VoIP companies that use their own PRIs -- the calls
are billed to those guys as if they come from the location their PRIs
are installed. And I wouldn't be surprised if their carriers start
enforcing caller ID rules on them at some point. It's about the
Benjamins... always.

Michael Young
NetLogic
314-266-4000


-----Original Message-----
From: asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com
[mailto:asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Mike Benoit
Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 1:45 PM
To: Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion
Subject: [asterisk-biz] Carriers not allowing CallerID to be set to a
800 number?

I've been with Teliax for a few years now and they have been great,
however recently they stopped allowing us to set our callerID to the 800
number we have with them. Here is their explanation:

"Effective April 16th please note that all outbound dialing will need to
pass a valid *LOCAL* 10 digit number for your callerid. This applies to
callerid set using the Teliax portal or your own SIP/IAX user agent.
This change is the result of carrier push to raise rates on termination.
We do not intend to raise rates in the foreseeable future but must take
action to control our costs. As such, any calls passed through teliax
with a non-valid callerid (this means toll-free CID as well) will be
allowed to pass but with a newly generated interstate caller ID."

Is this something that will be happening across the industry, or is it
specific to Teliax? This is causing us all sorts of problems, so is
there a good VOIP company out there that:

a. You can actually call and get a hold of someone.
b. Offers US-48+Canada toll-free DIDs.
c. Central or West coast servers.
d. Decent rates, in the 2.0cents/min range preferably.

I hate to leave Teliax, but this is pretty much forcing us to do so.