General Information - Caller ID (CNAM)

How CNAM works 

When you call someone, your number will be transmitted with your call to the receiving party’s telephone company. If the person you are calling has caller-ID service, they will see your name and number

In the USA, the calling number is sent with the call.  The called parties' carrier looks the name up using the number, hopefully from the national database,  but they could use another database of their choice.  Other countries have different methods for delivering the name or none at all. In the USA CallTower can set the Caller *Name* in the national database for the customer. 

Why your CNAM name may not be displayed properly 

For most phone carriers, there’s a cost associated with either querying a 3rd party CNAM database or keeping their own CNAM database up to date. Some telephone carriers have almost immediate access to the most up-to-date CNAM information, while others may not have access to this information for several months or longer.

Matters are further complicated, with carriers having more than 20 different CNAM databases that do not all have the same data. Depending on the location and terminating carrier, certain people you call may correctly see your CNAM, while others may not.

CNAM Guidelines

•  At least two letters in the calling name field 

•  No special characters     

•  Cannot be all numbers

•  Must not exceed a maximum of 15 characters

To aid in enforcement of the Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009 (a federal law making it unlawful to “transmit misleading or inaccurate caller identification information with the intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value”; hereafter referred to as “the Act”), the telecommunications industry implemented a set of guidelines defining several criteria for unacceptable CNAM entries in an effort to prevent any indication of impropriety. Prohibited content includes:

• Generic terms like “SALES TEAM”, “CUST SERVICE”, “N/A”, or a generic geographic location like “CHICAGO, IL”, “ATLANTA, GA”, “DENVER, CO”, etc.
• Any CNAM that includes indecent, profane, or otherwise offensive words
• CNAM content that impersonates another company’s brand or intellectual property, or a government agency that one does not represent
• Other restricted words reserved for network use – “BLOCKED”, “PRIVATE”, “UNKNOWN”, “RESTRICTED”, “ANONYMOUS”, “OUT OF AREA”, etc.
• CNAM containing only numbers; at least one alpha character is required
• CNAM containing forbidden characters; only letters, numbers, periods, commas, and spaces are permitted
• Any CNAM longer than 15 characters (extra characters are truncated automatically)

Updating CNAM

If you desire to update the CNAM for your numbers, reach out to support@calltower.com with the below template. 

Update CNAM Template

Customer Name:
Location Address:
Numbers:
New CNAM:
Other Information:

NOTE: CNAM is limited to 15 characters including spaces. Special characters cannot be used.