VoIP Caller ID | VoIP Features

Q: Can you configure caller ID on a VoIP PBX?

This is going to depend entirely on the PBX . Asterisk-based PBXs have a robust caller ID function that can be configured. You can configure your caller ID Number from your pool of numbers. If your PBX doesn’t require a reset, you may see these changes reflected in real-time.

Key terms related to caller ID

CID: Caller ID

The identification (phone number) of a caller as it is delivered to the person being called.

VoIP: Voice over Internet Protocol

The ability to place calls over the internet instead of using your local telephone company. VoIP powers many internet phone services.

PSTN: Public Switched Telephone Network

The traditional phone network where phone calls are connected to other telephone providers. This is often an analog network, not a digital network.

CNAM: Caller Name Delivery

The text name associated with a phone number, or companies that host tables of Caller ID Names. These databases are updated routinely among different phone companies.

FCC: Federal Communications Commission

The governmental entity that regulates communications services like landlines and VoIP phone service.

PBX: Private Branch Exchange

A private telephone network that’s operated within a building or office. A PBX allows the phones to work with one another and are “trunked” into an outside line as needed.

VoIP caller ID FAQs

Technically these are two separate functions that have become synonymous. Caller ID is the process by which a caller’s phone number is identified and provided to you.

CNAM is the process by which a caller’s phone number is tied to the caller’s name which is provided to you. Over time “caller ID” just came to represent both.

Your VoIP service provider maintains this information and can update it whenever you want.

There’s no activation required. The cloud phone system that manages your account is already configured to display caller ID information. And as part of the porting process we work with you to submit a request to add a caller ID Name to your phone number with a national CNAM.

Yes, the FCC can fine companies that spoof their outgoing phone calls with caller ID Numbers that mimic phone numbers that they don’t own. Spoofing is the unauthorized impersonation of another entity's phone number.

They may not manage the specifics of the caller ID Names, but the phone numbers are well within their purview.

Additionally, you can’t assign a CNAM to a toll-free phone number. This is true across business VoIP providers and landline phone systems.

The way toll-free calls are handled by the PSTN is different from non-toll free numbers. So no CNAM databases are checked when calls are placed using a toll-free phone number.

This is going to depend entirely on the PBX. Asterisk-based PBXs have a robust caller ID function that can be configured.

You can configure your caller ID Number from your pool of numbers. If your PBX doesn’t require a reset, you may see these changes reflected in real-time.

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