Fongo Home Phone Caller ID

[tango]

I keep receiving calls from "Out of Area" then the 7-digit number. Then, I looked up the phone log, it shows the area code 613.

How come Caller ID display "Out of Area" whereas Call Log shows the area code, which is the same as my local area code, not out of area?
Thanks!

[Liptonbrisk]

"Out of Area" is a generic response to a lack of an incoming or completely blank CID (Caller ID) name and also an unintuitive design decision from Panasonic (in my opinion). Your specific Panasonic phone model (not all Panasonic phones: viewtopic.php?p=81683#p81683) responds to completely blank incoming CID (Caller ID) Name with "Out of Area", despite receiving the number. Refer to your Panasonic phone's manual or visit https://support-uk.panasonic.eu/app/ans ... telephones.

There's a related Freephoneline thread here: viewtopic.php?p=81720#p81720. So, "Out of Area" produced in response to blank CID Name happens occurs when using specific phone models and Grandstream ATA firmware versions.

In terms of Fongo services, in general, lack of CID name lookups hasn't changed since 2012:

viewtopic.php?p=30526#p30526

Hi everyone,

Just a reminder, as has been provided in other threads, when the call display feature is enabled, it will only show the information that is being sent by the provider. if that provider only sends a number, we can only display a number. This is especially common for cell phone providers and a number of digital service providers.

Fongo services don't perform Caller ID name lookups.


Why am I not receiving Caller ID Name information on all incoming calls?


CNAM lookups are dependent upon your VoIP service provider--and not the Grandstream ATA.

Fongo Home Phone doesn't do CNAM (Caller ID Name) lookups (I.E., Fongo Home Phone doesn't lookup the name of the caller, using the incoming phone number, in an external database). Unless CNAM is being sent by the call provider, which often is not the case with cellular calls (well, I think Rogers might now), only the phone numbers are going to appear. CNAM lookups cost money, and for a moderately priced monthly fee, Fongo Home Phone isn't going to do CNAM lookups.


So, with an incoming call to your Fongo Home Phone #, an incoming phone number will appear on your phone's Caller Id display, but a name only shows if that info is also sent by the provider. Other VoIP services typically charge a fee per call to do a lookup in a CNAM database (phone number is queried for a name in a database). Fongo Home Phone doesn't offer that option. If CNAM info is passed on by the provider, Fongo Home Phone will display CNAM.

Fongo Home Phone supports outbound and inbound CNAM.
But Fongo Home Phone will not do CNAM lookups (which cost money).

[tango]

Perhaps what I "missed" being (used to be) a Freephoneline user with the OBi 110 ATA is that using the same Panasonic phone KX-TG6531, the display was Unknown Caller, together with the complete 10-digit phone number. Moving on to Fongo Home Phone, this Caller ID display "Out of Area" even with the same area, and the 7-digit number.

In fairness to the combo Fongo Home Phone GT-801 and their servers, and for completeness, I thought I heard the voice saying "call from 613-xxx-xxxx" at the same time displaying the "Out of Area" on the display.

In addition, my cell phone with Fizz having a peculiar area code, 873, when calling my home phone, a similar thing happens. This time, there was still an "Out ouf Area" display, however with a complete area code 873-xxx-xxxx.

Oh well, I guess change is never a perfect thing, it just seems GT-801 is not a well designed product, or I missed something.

[Liptonbrisk]

Perhaps what I "missed" being (used to be) a Freephoneline user with the OBi 110 ATA is that using the same Panasonic phone KX-TG6531, the display was Unknown Caller, together with the complete 10-digit phone number. Moving on to Fongo Home Phone, this Caller ID display "Out of Area" even with the same area, and the 7-digit number.

Old Obihai OBi2xx ATA firmware also produced the "Out of Area" message with certain Panasonic models, as noted at https://web.archive.org/web/20241001170 ... 6#msg58936 (GV stands for Google Voice, by the way). If you read through that thread and visit page 2, you'll see that Obihai eventually released firmware to work around Panasonic's design choice after Obihai customers brought the problem to Obihai's attention.

Sending blank CNAM shouldn't produce "Out of Area" in any phone. Specific Panasonic phone models are just programmed that way.

I suspect both Obihai and Grandstream firmware devs would suggest it's a poor design choice by Panasonic.

In fairness to the combo Fongo Home Phone GT-801 and their servers

The problem has nothing to do with Fongo's servers. The problem is isolated to how your specific Panasonic phone model responds to blank CNAM.

The number you see in Fongo Home Phone's call logs after logging in at https://account.fongo.com/login/ (and navigating to call logs) is what is sent to your ATA.

The full phone number is sent to your ATA. To show the full phone number, press the edit button on your phone until you see it. Refer to page 34 from https://help.na.panasonic.com/wp-conten ... ZA_ENG.pdf

While that Panasonic issue was addressed in a later Obihai ATA firmware update, it exists with the latest Grandstream ATA firmware. However, “Out of Area” doesn't appear when using earlier Grandstream firmware versions: viewtopic.php?p=81698#p81698

Downgrade to 1.0.53.3 : "Out of Area" disappeared

The HT-802 and HT-801 ATAs share many similarities. If Fongo Home Phone were using HT-801 firmware version 1.0.53.3, "Out of Area" wouldn't be seen for blank inbound CNAM.