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Can I fake my Caller ID?

posted Oct 10, 2011, 10:09 AM by EZvoip Co   [ updated Sep 9, 2015, 5:40 AM ]
We prefer to let our customers decide for themselves what Caller ID information to display on their outgoing calls. For instance, if you want to receive all incoming calls on another line, you might want to set your Caller ID number for your outgoing calls to display the phone number of your incoming line. However, your caller ID must be the same as your line if you ordered e911. By default, we set the Caller ID number to match your actual phone number, but if you would prefer to control it from your side, please let us know and we will remove it. The Caller ID Name is entirely controlled by your SIP (VoIP) client. Please see Setup for details. Note that it is generally a bad idea to set it to show (or leave it empty, sometimes implicitly displaying) your Username.

If you are using an Outgoing Only plan, we will set up by default 000-000-0000 as your phone number, unless you subscribe to a special plan such as Buddies Unlimited or we are able to identify your other signup number, are able to confirm it belongs to you, and you pay the required fee to change your outgoing Caller ID to your other number.

If we notice a calling pattern which may be indicative of telemarketing calls, we will make one or more attempts to contact you and warn you that we do not allow our service to be used for such activities. If we cannot assure ourselves that you are using our service lawfully (since we cannot and will not listen in to calls), we might revert your Caller ID info on your Outgoing Only plan to 000-000-0000.

There are many other VoIP providers which allow such calls on their networks. Here is what one had to say:
When a consumer sees any local number vs an 8XX number they are more likely to answer the call. In fact, going from an 8XX number to a toll number you can expect a 15-18% lift in answer rate. If the toll number is local to the called party then you can expect a 30%+ lift in answer rate. Clearly this is huge and that is why companies are using this new technology, managing 100+ Local Caller ID numbers to improve campaign performance.

For more information on regulatory frameworks, please see EU-Italy, EUR-lexFCC and CRTC.