All-Time Great Scams: Caller ID
How on earth can the phone company get away with charging you for Caller ID? They are charging you for not blocking a data signal that someone else has paid for!
CID data is originated by the sending exchange whenever a call is placed, and normally the person placing the call is paying for the call, which includes sending the CID data down the line. The CID data is always sent, which means that it is always paid for, as a part of paying for the call itself.
If you have not paid your local phone company for “CID service” the data is blocked at your exchange so you can’t see it, even if you have a CID display built into your phone. If you pay the phone company for “CID service” (specifically, or as part of a package of features), the phone company will unblock the data. They do this once only, by checking a box on a computer screen, and the CID data remains unblocked until and unless they go back and uncheck the box. But they will charge you every month, forever, for the “service” of not blocking the CID data. What a racket!
When caller ID was first introduced, the phone company also rented you a little box to decode and display the data. Few phones had CID displays built into them, so there was some logic in the charge, or more to the point you could actually see something physical that you were paying for.
The phone company deliberately maintained that they were selling you a service and at the time it was a desirable service because everyone was being flooded with telemarketing calls. You had the ability to “anonymize” your outgoing calls, and to automatically refuse calls from anonymous callers. Before State and Federal “No-call” lists existed, CID was about all you could do to detect unwanted (e.g. telemarking) calls without answering them. And it was effective… for a little while. All too soon, the telemarketers figured out how to fake the CID data, or suppress it so that the CID display said “unknown caller,” with or without a phone number that may or may not have been genuine.
The phone company was adamant, however, that Caller ID data could not be faked or suppressed. When pressed, they would fall back on the old line “we already told you that Caller ID isn’t available from all areas.” They probably couldn’t admit that the system was being fiddled as long as they were charging you for it, and that is still the case today.
There’s a further conflict of interest in that the phone companies have always sold lists of phone numbers to telemarketers. Often the lists are “targeted” based on the detailed information they have about you. For example, a telemarketer could request names and phone numbers for everybody in zipcode nnnnn who owns their own home and has more than one phone. No problem, says Baby Bell– but for another ten cents per number we can tell you how many cars they own!
In a very real sense, selling you CID service was selling you a partial solution to a problem that they themselves caused in the first place! And to think that the “service” consisted of removing the block that they had “installed” on your line!
Not convinced? Well, boys and girls, the worm has wiggled a bit, if not turned. Now YOU can fake your Caller ID info. Yes, if you want to make a bitchy phone call to your ex-boyfriend, you can set it up so that his CID shows the caller as US GOVT, or VATICAN, or CITY VD CLINIC… whatever you like. All you have to do is find the telephone number for the person or organization you want to spoof, and Ma Bell will do the rest. When the call is connected, the phone company’s computer will look up the name that is associated with the CID number and that’s what’s displayed to the receiver. Just go to www.CamoPhone.com and type in some data. In many cases, such calls will cost less than you are paying now!
Why would we encourage you to fake your caller ID? Once you have done it you might be inclined to call up the phone company and ask them why the hell they are charging you for Caller ID. While you’re at it, why not let them think you’re with the Federal Communications Commission? Their toll free number is 888-225-5322.
–SG
What do you think? Please enter a comment below.
November 25th, 2004 at 11:33 pm
It’s about time somebody exposed this. There lot’s more, too. Just to start with, what you say about CID is applicable to every last one of the optional services you can get on your account. It is already there and you have to pay to get them to unblock them. Some people on the internet are selling devices that they call caller ID blockers. Well all they do is send the per call blocking code *67 when you pick up the phone just like you pushing the buttons. And 911 services, police, fire, secret service, and of course telephone company personnell will still be able to see your number.