Sunday, December 16, 2007

Cablevision Offers On-Screen Caller ID

NEW YORK — Couch potato alert: If you get telephone service through your cable TV provider, you don't have to get up while watching TV to see who's calling.
Several cable companies have been experimenting with a feature that will display an incoming caller's name and number in a little box in the corner of the TV screen.
Cablevision Systems Corp., which operates around the New York City area, has offered this feature in several areas and now says that as of Friday it will be available to all 3 million of its cable television customers.
Comcast Corp., the largest cable TV operator in the country, offers the service in one market _ which the company declined to identify _ and has plans to offer it elsewhere later.
Time Warner Cable Inc. offers it in several areas.
Cablevision says its on-screen caller ID _ including an option to turn off the notifications _ carries no additional charge. About half of Cablevision's television customers also subscribe to its digital phone service.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


Caller ID Unavailable? click here to do something.....

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Caller ID spoofing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Caller ID spoofing is the practice of causing the telephone network to display a number on the recipient's caller ID display which is not that of the actual originating station; the term is commonly used to describe situations in which the motivation is considered nefarious by the speaker. Just as e-mail spoofing can make it appear that a message came from any e-mail address the sender chooses, caller ID spoofing can make a call appear to have come from any phone number the caller wishes. Because people are prone to assume a call is coming from the number (and hence, the associated person, or persons), this can call the service's value into question."

Caller ID spoofing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Caller ID - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Caller ID (caller identification or CID, and more properly calling number identification - CNID) is a telephony service that transmits the caller's telephone number to the called party's telephone equipment during the ringing signal or when the call is being set up but before the call is answered. Where available, Caller ID can also provide a name associated with the calling telephone number. The information made available to the called party is visible on a small liquid crystal display imbedded on the telephone, or on a separate unit which is connected to the telephone.
Caller ID is often helpful for tracing down prank calls and telemarketers. The concept behind caller ID is the value of informed consent; however, it also poses problems for personal privacy.

Caller ID - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

AT&T Frequently Asked Questions: Caller ID is not working.

"Caller ID is not working."

Click to see AT & T FAQ on why your callerID does not work.

AT&T Frequently Asked Questions: Caller ID is not working.:

Thursday, August 23, 2007

AT&T's overstuffed iPhone bills annoy customers

When Justine Ezarik, a video blogger in Pittsburgh, saw that a box from AT&T had been delivered to her doorstep a couple of weeks ago, she thought that perhaps she had been sent a complimentary accessory for her new iPhone. Instead, she found a 300-page, double-sided, excruciatingly well itemized bill.
Ezarik, 23, made a one-minute video that shows her flipping through the voluminous bill and posted it to YouTube and other video-sharing sites on August 13. The video has since been viewed more than 3 million times.
For the last several weeks, iPhone users have been by turns amused or enraged over the sheer heft--some are the size of small novels--of the bills they are receiving from AT&T.
On Wednesday, in response to Ezarik and scores of others, AT&T's wireless business sent text messages to all its iPhone users to let them know that it will be sending them summarized bills from now on.
By Wednesday afternoon, Apple iPhones around the country were displaying this text message: "We are simplifying your paper bill, removing itemized detail. To view all detail go to att.com/mywireless. Still need full paper bill? Call 611."
As of September 28, all of AT&T's new wireless customers will be sent summary bills. And any customer who makes a change to an existing account, like adding a line, will begin to receive the summary bills as well.
Customers who prefer detailed paper bills will be charged $1.99 a month for each phone line to have these mailed. A spokesman for AT&T, Mark Siegel, said customers could switch to electronic bills and could have those summary bills available online to see the details of their activity.
The reason for the outsize bills is that AT&T itemizes not just every phone call, but every detail about every text message and Internet data transfer. Unless instructed otherwise, AT&T sent out detailed bills.
Now on News.com
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"It's nonsense," said Mike Brophy, 34, who owns a software company near Seattle and posted an item about his 64-page bill on his blog. "Ninety-five percent of the bill is just page after page of 1K data transfers, all with a charge of zero."
Brophy also did not appreciate the amount of paper. "My bill was probably half a pound," he said. "Just think of the fuel. It's a real waste, not to mention information overload."
Ezarik, who noted that AT&T spent $7.10 in postage to send her bill, got her text message late Wednesday afternoon. She said she planned to switch to e-billing. "Looks like they may have got the message," she said.
Siegel said AT&T had been planning for months to switch to summary bills as its default billing mode, and decided to take action right away, partly in response to the outcry from customers.
"Because of the high data usage we have seen with many of our iPhone customers," he said, "and the potentially voluminous bills that can cause, we thought it made sense to make this change for those customers now."
Entire contents, Copyright © 2007 The New York Times. All rights reserved.


Caller ID Unavailable? click here to do something.....

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Jack Cole, creator of people locator, dead at 87 | CNET News.com

Jack Cole, a businessman who used early computer technology to sort the world--or at least millions of the people in it--by street address, creating a series of reverse directories that remain invaluable to detectives, debt collectors, telemarketers and anyone who needs to find someone, died on July 29 at his home in Spearfish Canyon, S.D. He was 87.

Jack Cole, creator of people locator, dead at 87 CNET News.com

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Are telcos dropping the calling name ball?

Are telcos dropping the calling name ball?: "Accudata Technologies, one of the companies that provides Calling Name delivery service, is once again publicly accusing telephone companies of deliberately not delivering some calling name information to their Caller ID customers in order to save money. This time around, the company says it has research data to back up its claims, and it is sharing that research with the Federal Communications Commission."

Monday, July 2, 2007

Caller ID Delivery - Telephony Online

Caller ID Delivery
Telephony's Editor-at-Large Carol Wilson talks with Accudata CEO Greg Smith about research showing telecom operators may be shortchanging their customers when it comes to delivering Caller ID names and numbers.

Caller ID Unavailable? click here to do something.....

Thursday, June 14, 2007

House Approves Anti-Caller ID Spoofing Bill - Security Fix

"The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday approved legislation that would make it a crime for someone to fake their phone's outgoing Caller ID information for nefarious purposes."
House Approves Anti-Caller ID Spoofing Bill - Security Fix:

Monday, June 4, 2007

Market Research Finds Opportunity to Improve Caller I.D.

DALLAS – June 4, 2007 – When the phone rings, we’re pretty used to knowing who’s calling, thanks to Caller I.D/ Calling Name services. By digging into their own databases and sometimes a few outside databases, carriers claim to provide us with the name and number of whoever is calling. But there are many instances when we see “unknown” or “unavailable” flash across the Caller I.D. Box. Can that be remedied? Just what is the market potential for carriers to improve Caller I.D. services to their customers? That’s what Accudata Technologies wanted to find out when it commissioned a national survey designed to answer just that.

The research study produced some surprising results. By using additional databases, including the database owned by Accudata, there is a potential to improve Caller I.D. services provided by carriers from the current rate of less than 48 percent of the time to more than 87 percent.

“Our Board of Directors was interested in determining the market potential for improving the performance of Caller I.D. services that carriers provide,” M. Gregory Smith, Accudata CEO, said. “Based on the results of this research, there is a large opportunity for Accudata to continue the record growth that it has experienced over the past five years.”

The survey also highlighted how little customers know about their Caller I.D. service. Most Caller I.D. subscribers (57 percent of respondents) aren’t sure how much they actually pay for the service because it is bundled with their phone service. And despite the fact that subscribers are getting Caller I.D. only 48 percent of the time, just 2 percent rated their service as poor.

“These numbers are significant because they show us that not only are most people unsure of what they’re paying for, they also just don’t know that they should get better service,” Smith said. “They’re satisfied with their Caller I.D. service because it’s all they know. But what if their caller I.D. service provided a calling name 87 percent of the time? The research really opened our eyes to just how much Accudata and other databases can help carriers improve their services.”

Caller ID Unavailable? click here to do something.....

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Consumers and Corporations Unite to Fight Telephone Companies Over Caller ID

Consumers for Fair Caller ID Service organization launches consumer advocacy blog

DALLAS - March 13, 2007 - If you were paying anywhere from $80 to $100 each year on a service, and you found out that the service provider wasn't supplying you with the service 100 percent of the time, you'd be upset, right? Maybe you should be sitting down. If you subscribe to a Caller ID service, you're probably getting cheated. And that's why Consumers for Fair Caller ID Service, a coalition of consumers and companies tired of paying Caller ID service fees without receiving the service, has started a grassroots effort to educate Caller ID users on the truth behind "Unavailable" and "Out of Area" calls.

The truth is that while we consumers are spending millions of dollars every year on Caller ID services, telephone companies aren't necessarily providing us with every name they are capable of getting. Caller ID works by matching the phone number of the person calling with a name that is stored in a database. When a number is stored outside a telephone company's database, that company has to purchase the information from another company that owns the database where the information is stored. Most every wireline telephone number is stored in one of these databases, but phone companies aren’t accessing every number.

Why not?

Typically, purchasing this information costs less than half a penny. But these big telephone companies don’t want to spend any money on their customers, which results in those "Unavailable" and "Out of Area" calls that show up on Caller ID displays. And because most consumers don't even know that their phone companies are capable of providing a higher level of service, they're letting the phone companies continue to profit off of them by providing sub-standard service. That's the purpose for the Consumers for Fair Caller ID Service blog - it's time for consumers to take a stand against these larger telephone companies.

The blog offers Caller ID consumers information on everything from how Caller ID works to contact information for the attorney general's office in each state. The blog includes broadcast and print news coverage from across the country. In addition, it provides users with a forum where they can come together and share their concerns, opinions and experiences. The blog was created both to educate consumers on what they should expect from their Caller ID service and to arm them with the information and strategies they will need to demand 100 percent service.

The blog can be accessed at http://calleridunavailable.blogspot.com/

About Consumers for Fair Caller ID Service
Consumers for Fair Caller ID Service is a coalition of consumers and companies that feel cheated for paying Caller ID service fees but not receiving calling names. Every year, Americans pay up to $120 each for Caller ID service but only get caller names on 30-70 percent of their calls. The technology to fix this problem is already in place. There’s no good reason that phone companies can’t provide it. We’re paying for Caller ID 100 percent of the time. Isn’t it time we got it?

Caller ID Unavailable? click here to do something.....

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

What Can You Do?

What can you do to get the Caller Id services you are paying for?

You can do three things;

  • #1 - Click Here to Add Your Name to Our Petition. (No Email Required)

  • #2 - Call your phone company provider and complain.
    Click Here to find your phone companies number.

  • #3 - Contact your state's Attorney General's Office and ask them what they are going to do to insure that you get the Caller ID Service you are paying for.

  • #4 - Contact your state's Public Utilities Commision - Click Here for FCC List.

  • Sunday, February 11, 2007

    Telephone Customer Help Lines

    Embarq (Sprint Residential Service)
    Customer Service #- 1-888-723-8010

    Verizon
    Repair #- 1-800-483-1000
    Customer Service #- 1-800-483-4000

    AT&T
    Repair #- 1-800-246-8464
    Customer Service #- 1-800-464-7920

    Qwest
    Product manager #- 1-800-423-8994

    Caller ID Unavailable? click here to do something.....

    Thursday, February 8, 2007

    Caller ID Display Terms

    These are the common terms that appear on the caller ID display when a name is not identified through a phone carrier.

    Unavailable – un-retrieved number, or truly unavailable
    Out of Area - un-retrieved number
    City, State - un-retrieved number, or truly unavailable
    Private Number - Permanently made private by the caller
    Private – made private by the caller
    Blocked – Name blocked by caller on a call-by-call basis.
    Wireless Call – mobile number
    Unknown Name – un-retrieved or truly unidentified number

    Caller ID Unavailable? click here to do something.....

    Consumers for Fair Caller ID Service

    How many times has your Caller ID shown something like “Caller ID Unavailable?” You’re not alone. Consumers for Fair Caller ID Service is a coalition of consumers and companies that feel cheated for paying Caller ID service fees but not receiving Caller ID service. Every year, Americans pay up to $120 each for Caller ID service but only get caller identification on 30-70% of their calls. The technology to fix this problem is simple and cheap. There’s no good reason that phone companies can’t provide it. We’re paying for Caller ID 100% of the time. Isn’t it time we got it?

    Caller ID Unavailable? click here to do something.....