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Introduction

This document outlines LiveVox' capabilities regarding the control and administration of CNAM (Calling Name).

CNAM Overview

CNAM (Caller NAMe) identifies Caller Name (CNAM) is the alphanumeric description displayed on the Caller ID interface for consumers customers (or businesses) who subscribe to the Caller ID service to identify the caller. The format of CNAM is supported by up to 15 printable ASCII characters, including letters (from A -through Z), numbers (from 0 -through 9) , and a range of special characters including periods and commas, etc..

Functionality

When To better understand CNAM and the mechanism for controlling it, it is best to begin with an overview of how the service functions in the United States. Any time a call is made placed to a consumer customer (or business) that has subscribed to with a subscription to the Caller ID service, the terminating carrier is responsible for determining the registered CNAM for the originating caller.

For example, assume that someone at 415 -if a caller at (415) 555-1212 (San Francisco) makes places a call to someone a customer at (480 -) 555-1212 (Phoenix), and that the Phoenix consumer has subscribed to Caller ID. When the call is launched, only the phone number of the San Francisco caller is passed to the terminating carrier in Phoenix. In order for the terminating carrier (Phoenix) to provide their customer with To provide the CNAM of the San Francisco caller , they need to to the customer, the terminating carrier (Phoenix) must perform a database look-up (often referred to lookup (known as a " dip") to one of many ) in any Line Information Databases Database (LIDB). LIDB providers sell CNAM information to the carriers so that they can to provide this information to their customers who subscribe to a the Caller ID service.

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of LIDB providers in In the United States, each attempting multiple LIDB providers attempt to sell their CNAM data information to as many carriers as possible. While each terminating carrier . Terminating carriers (also known as a local exchange carrier Local Exchange Carrier or LEC) generally has a relationship with have relationships with only a single LIDB provider. However, many of the larger LIDB providers (aka also known as Tier 1 providers) share data in an effort their CNAM information to maximize the CNAM presentation. If an LIDB provider receives a CNAM request for a number they do not administer, they will perform a look-up across the databases of their partners in an effort to ascertain lookup across their partner databases to locate the CNAM information. This type of agreement is best analogized to the Associated Press, who share articles and information with other news organizations freely in order to increase public consumption.

Limitations

There are a variety of reasons why CNAM delivery may might fail , or present an invalid value, for a particular call:

invalid values due to any of the following reasons:

• Multiple LIDB providers maintaining the CNAM information.
• LIDB providers do not share all their information with every other provider. If

• a carrier's LIDB provider lacks the proper CNAM information

• , the CNAM delivery fails. Service providers cannot guarantee 100% CNAM delivery.
• Limitation of cell phone carrier networks. CNAM delivery

• success rate is less than 1%

• on cellular phones.
• Most terminating carriers do not perform a CNAM lookup for toll-free numbers (that is, where the Caller ID

• is

• toll-free)

• . CNAM delivery has a high rate of inaccuracy for toll-free numbers.

• CNAM information cached by terminating carriers is outdated. Guidelines for the cache duration of CNAM entries are undefined.
  
  

Administration and Setup

Carriers provide numbers only after eliminating and

The display of an old CNAM is an anomaly rather than a regular occurrence, but it does occur on occasion and LiveVox is constantly working toward further reducing the incidence.

CNAM Administration and Setup

When a carrier provides a number, they do so only after eliminating/ scrubbing CNAM information from their respective LIDB partner networks. Unless otherwise requested, LiveVox takes no action to further alter We do not alter the CNAM entries in the LIDB databases prior to placing the numbers (e.g. into service unless requested otherwise (for example, numbers in Local Caller ID packages) into service.

With a variety of industries served, each with their own We work with multiple industries with unique laws and regulatory oversight, LiveVox has occasionally been asked . We have received requests to populate CNAM for numbers provided to its clients. In order to satisfy this need and provide clients with the highest levels of customer service, LiveVox has . To address these requests, we have partnered with a Tier 1 LIDB provider capable of maximizing the CNAM presentation nationwide through the combination of their carrier clients as well as their data sharing agreements with other Tier 1 LIDB providers. LiveVox makes no guarantees regarding

You can also use the LiveVox platform to ensure provider.Alternately, another method for ensuring that a company’s name is shown properly displayed correctly in the CNAM for outgoing calls has been made available through the LiveVox platform. This method was designed to ensure ensures that outbound calls can be are configured with customized CNAM information for both U.S. and Canada.