The Thrill of Custom Caller ID Capabilities
by krt
Custom Caller ID information presents applications not otherwise possible in a multi-line world. You will find that your telephone presence becomes highly available and under your control.
Do you already have the ability to customize your Caller ID information?
If you don't, you will find that it is trivial and inexpensive to do. Different telephone circuits require different methods. Information that applies to customizing Caller ID on Voice over IP (VoIP) telephone circuits does not necessarily apply to the same task on an analog telephone circuit.
This article does not apply to spoofing the ANI information utilized by toll-free services such as 911, 411, and 800 numbers and does not imply or suggest that you go about mucking in those systems.
Illegal uses exist for all technologies. Be careful if you try any of the activities in this article. Look up your local laws and, most importantly, be aware of what you're doing. You might find that what you thought was legal has become a lifetime jail sentence as of the new year. Do your part to prevent overcrowded jails by staying out of them.
Single-Number Presence Using Two Circuits
This is call routing to save on tolls and provide telephone subscriber access in low to no cellular coverage areas. Two year contracts don't sound so good when you realize that the cancellation cost is more than the cost delta on that fancy Raisin phone at the mall. Math is hard, let's go shopping!
This application can be used to handle call routing for economical purposes. This could include taking calls on your no extra cost telephone circuit during the day and on your no extra cost night time cell phone minutes.
If you use this call forwarding trick the other way around you can disguise your cell phone number. You can assure your telephone network presence and maintain discretion with regards to your actual location.
This application uses some of the same concepts involved with Network Address Translation (NAT), Load Balancing/High Availability of an IP Address, and Packet Routing in the IP networking world.
Required:
- A telephone circuit with customizable Caller ID information.
- A cell phone that can forward to a telephone circuit.
- Give yourself at least one hour to test it all properly.
In essence this is a simple set of tasks to obtain a fairly decent method of toll avoidance and potentially call quality.
In reality it can be a chore to remember if something is forwarded or not and then verifying it. This application keeps it to a single point for controlling call forwarding.
You might want to look into the automation of call forwarding with features like roll-to-home or even a simple scheduler that your cell phone might have. Call forwarding generally occurs on the switch side and as such you have to make sure that the switch actually received and executed your call forwarding request.
If you send out a call forwarding request in a bad coverage spot, verify that your calls are forwarded correctly. You might want to set forwarding in a good coverage spot, such as at work just before you leave for home. Set your telephone circuit's default/voice mail forward to your cell phone's voice mailbox so that you don't miss any important messages.
When you're at home: Forward your cellular phone to your telephone circuit. All inbound calls will be received on your telephone circuit.
When you're on the road: Disable the call forwarding using your cell phone. All inbound calls will be received on your cell phone.
In a forwarded or non-forwarded state: When you dial out from either your telephone circuit or cell phone you maintain a single number presence. Keep your telephone circuit's number hidden so that you encourage the usage of a single number.
Instant Voicemail Access
Quickie: Hold 1 on any cell phone to access that cell phone's voice mailbox. Hopefully you're presented with a password if it's your phone.
Required:
This application is easy to do. Dial your cell number from a telephone circuit that displays your cell phone's information via Caller ID. The voicemail system will recognize you and grant access.
This goes hand in hand with the first application (single number presence). It provides access to a voice mailbox that both lines can share. Set your default call forwarding on your telephone circuit as mentioned. You should find that your access method is relatively the same and quick from your telephone circuit and cell phone.
You might find that your phone doesn't support holding down the 1 button for voicemail access, especially if it's a regular cordless unit. You can set a speed dial button on your phone to get around that. I suggest not mapping the speed dial button to the 1 button. You will end up with two distinct associative brain pathways for these very repetitive tasks.
You can also use this with a password but that's just not as fun now is it folks? Who wants to be that secure? Consider these questions carefully please. If someone could keep this to the right side of the elections when it's uncovered, that'd be swell.
Single-Data Presence Using Two Circuits
Required:
- A data service that authenticates via Caller ID information.
Methods:
- A telephone line that can display the correct Caller ID information that is associated with your billing and subscriber information.
- A program that can announce your cell phone number as its own that works with your service carrier's gateways.
- A compatible service gateway that authenticates via Caller ID and bills to the subscriber identified by Caller ID.
This is similar to the first application.
You might use this to insure that you have better access to your data services. If your data service does not feature forwarding then you will be limited to a single point for reception of data services. You will still be able to send from both circuits. This could help you if your cell phone is difficult to type on and you send data messages frequently.
Common Services: Short Messaging Service (SMS), texting, text messaging; Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), picture mail, media mail.
You can usually find SMS and MMS clients for your computer. The client software can be found fairly easily in open-source, shareware, and commercial forms. Configure the software such that your sending information matches your telephone presence phone number. Since this technology changes rapidly, I leave it up to you to discover the myriad of tools available.
Other Ways
For most data services you might find that the provider has an SMTP to data service gateway, such as an SMTP to SMS relay. This is the manual route.
Usually you can send to your recipient's phone number at a clever email address, such as: 2061234567@cellularprovidermail.net
You will have to know the recipient's provider and the particular gateway's protocol and access method. You should be able to deliver a message with your sending information customized to point back to your public presence telephone number.