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Contents

Introduction

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

CNAM Overview

CNAM (Caller NAMe) identifies the alphanumeric description displayed on the Caller ID interface for consumers (or businesses) who subscribe to Caller ID service. The format of CNAM is supported by up to 15 printable ASCII characters including letters (A-Z), numbers (0 -9) and a range of special characters including periods and commas, etc. 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 to a consumer (or business) that has subscribed to Caller ID service, the terminating carrier is responsible for determining the registered CNAM for the originating caller. For example, assume that someone at 415 -555-1212 (San Francisco) makes a call to someone 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 the CNAM of the San Francisco caller, they need to perform a database look-up (often referred to as a "dip") to one of many Line Information Databases (LIDB). LIDB providers sell CNAM information to the carriers so that they can provide this information to their customers who subscribe to a Caller ID service.

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of LIDB providers in the United States, each attempting to sell their CNAM data to as many carriers as possible. While each terminating carrier (also known as a local exchange carrier or LEC) generally has a relationship with a single LIDB provider, many of the larger LIDB providers (aka Tier 1 providers) share data in an effort to maximize 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 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.

CNAM Limitations

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

  1. There is no single LIDB provider maintaining all CNAM data.
  2. Not all LIDB providers share all their data with every other provider; therefore, it is possible for CNAM delivery to fail if a carrier's LIDB provider lacks the proper CNAM information.
    • It is critical to understand that no service can guarantee 100% CNAM delivery.
  3. CNAM delivery to cellular phones is successful on less than 1% of all calls. This is a limitation of cell phone carrier networks.
  4. CNAM delivery on toll-free numbers (where the Caller ID, not the number dialed, is a toll-free) is highly inaccurate as many terminating carriers will not perform a CNAM lookup for toll-free numbers.
  5. Many of the terminating carriers will cache CNAM information, only performing a lookup when they believe the CNAM information they have stored is stale. There is no general guideline regarding how long a carrier should cache a CNAM entry.

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 CNAM entries in LIDB databases prior to placing numbers (e.g. numbers in Local Caller ID packages) into service.

With a variety of industries served, each with their own unique laws and regulatory oversight, LiveVox has occasionally been asked 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 partnered with a Tier 1 LIDB provider capable of maximizing 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 the performance of this third-party LIDB provider.

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



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