[Asterisk-Users] Can Asterisk Set CallerID on Broadvoice?

[Rich Adamson]

> > Has anybody been able to get Broadvoice to pass the callerid string
> > that Asterisk feeds it to the PSTN? If not, can anyone recommend a
> > provider with a similar pricing structure (monthly fee for
> > more-or-less unlimited termination to USA and 20-30 other countries)
> > that will pass callerid (preferably IAX but SIP is fine)?
> >
> > I have found a provider that can provide reliable DIDs and reliable
> > DTMF detection via rfc2833, but I am not that happy with their
> > outgoing pricing structure. So, I would like to have this carrier
> > originate all calls to my DIDs, while sending calls from within my
> > system out via whatever SIP or IAX trunk I choose, using one of my DID
> > numbers as the callerid value.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Rusty
> 
> To answer your question about passing caller ID via broadvoice: It is
> not permitted to change the CID number. It might pass the name when
> calling another BV account.
> 
> I have a vonage softphone hooked into asterisk. I can not change caller
> ID number even when calling other vonage numbers but changing the name 
> seems to work. I called my brother's vonage phone. He got my softphone
> number on his display but the name he got was "Nasty Ho Hotline" :)

Just a couple of points of clearification....

When calling from most voip accounts (regardless of which itsp) to pstn
telephone numbers, the calleridnum is _sometimes_ passed to the pstn,
and is 100% dependent on the services the itsp has implemented. Some
will pass it, others will not. Some itsp's will force the calleridnum
to whatever your account is associated with, while others accept the
calleridnum via your iax or sip connection to them.

Calleridname is most frequently not passed by any itsp to the pstn as
the central office that "terminates" the "called" number does a database
lookup to obtain that name (regardless of what you set your name to 
within asterisk).

Some itsp's do subscribe to the database services and will populate that
shared database with your calleridname. Write access to the database is
rather expensive (relatively speaking), and most low-end / startup itsp's
don't subscribe to that service. Even if the itsp subscribes to the
database, their write-access is usually limited to only those telephone
numbers they are responsible for. (In other words, they can't submit a
calleridname of "Joe shit the rag" for 312-123-4567 if they are not
responsible for that number.) That's why you see some itsp's ask for
your calleridname in their signup web pages, submitting that name to
the database at signup time.

Some itsp's allow you to pass the calleridnum via iax or sip, and those
that do, don't bother to check to validate whether the number you passed
is valid or not (eg, contained in the shared database). So, you might sign
up for a voip account that is assigned a DID number of 312-123-4567, but
if you set your outgoing calleridnum to 213-456-1234, that is the number
the "called" individual will see. The name they see will be whatever is
listed in the shared database regardless of who is responsible for the
number and name. (eg, if 213-456-1234 is a SBC number and SBC populated
the database with a name like "Joe Blow", that will be the name displayed
to the "called" party when you pass the calleridnum as 213-456-1234
from your voip account.)

I don't know of any itsp that will accept calleridname "by call" as
that would imply they are submitting that name to the database on a
rather immediate basis. There is usually a cost to the itsp for submitting
changes (one way or another), and if they tried to do that on a rather
immediate basis for each call, their costs would increase for doing so.

Note the above pertains to "pstn calls" and not to voip-to-voip account
calls.  The voip-to-voip account calls use a calleridnum and calleridname
of whatever the itsp happened to implement, which varies by itsp.

Rich