Thomas Lapp <thomas%mvac23.uucp@udel.edu> (05/28/90)
I was talking to a telephone rep. the other day about CID, and found
out that CID and ANI are not the same thing. I had been assuming that
they were.
ANI (Automatic? Number Identification) is the telephone number
associated with the bill on the phone you are calling from. CID
(Caller ID) is the phone number of the station (telephone line) you
are calling from. Note the difference: if I have it arranged so that
all of my <n> numbers are billed to the same account, then the ANI of
all the lines is the same. The CID, however, is unique to each line.
Maybe this was pointed out before in Telecom, but if so, I missed it,
and I apologize for bringing it up again.
- tom
internet : mvac23!thomas@udel.edu or thomas%mvac23@udel.edu
uucp : {ucbvax,mcvax,psuvax1,uunet}!udel!mvac23!thomas
Europe Bitnet: THOMAS1@GRATHUN1 Location: Newark, DE, USA
[Moderator's Note: It was brought up one time, as part of, IMHO, a
very specious argument about Caller*ID, to wit: 'Caller*ID is bad
because business places will get our telephone numbers and we are
likely to get unwanted telephone sales calls as a result.' It was
pointed out that ANI, while technically a different service, provides
the same end results when you dial an 800 number, albiet 'they' get
your main listed number rather than the specific line you are calling
from. PT]