Followme-to-cellphone, CID, voicemail Qs

[Erft]

I will soon be using Followme while upgrading the firmware on my ATA. It is set to send calls to my cellphone.

My questions are:
•Do calls sent this way display Caller ID on the cellphone?
•If I don't answer the call on my cell phone, will it go to Freephoneline voicemail?

I seem to recall that in the past, calls forwarded to my cellphone didn't display anything but the phone number. I don't usually use my cellphone except to call out, because of spam calls, and I usually have Do Not Disturb on all the time. And because I don't want spammers to register that a person or voicemail has picked up the call, I don't have voicemail enabled. If a call is forwarded from my Freephoneline to my cell, I want to see a caller ID, and if I can't answer it, I want the call to go to Freephoneline voicemail. Otherwise I won't be able to tell the difference between a valid call, and a spam call.

Currently call forwarding is set to Simultaneous. Is there a way to set Followme up so I can have unanswered calls go to Freephoneline voicemail, and see CID?


Thanks.

[Liptonbrisk]

My questions are:
•Do calls sent this way display Caller ID on the cellphone?

The origination (caller's) number will appear.

Fongo services don't perform Caller ID name (CNAM) lookups.

CNAM lookups are dependent upon the service provider.

Freephoneline doesn't do CNAM (Caller ID Name) lookups (I.E., Freephoneline doesn't lookup the name of the caller, using the incoming phone number, in an external database). Unless CNAM is being sent by incoming caller's carrier, which often is not the case with cellular calls (I think Rogers is an exception), only the phone numbers are going to appear. CNAM lookups cost money, and for the price paid, Freephoneline isn't going to do CNAM lookups.

So, with an incoming call to your Freephoneline #, 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). Freephoneline doesn't offer that option. If CNAM info is passed on by the provider, Freephneline will display CNAM.

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

If you've entered names for the specific incoming caller numbers in your cell phone's contact list, then names should appear on your smartphone's display when incoming calls occur.

If I don't answer the call on my cell phone, will it go to Freephoneline voicemail?

Depends on what you have "Rings Before Voicemail" set to. You can check after logging in at https://www.freephoneline.ca/voicemailSettings.

If Freephoneline's Rings Before Voicemail is greater than Rings Before Cellphone Voicemail, then voicemail for your cellular service will answer the call.

Is there a way to set Followme up so I can have unanswered calls go to Freephoneline voicemail, and see CID?

Yes, ensure Freephoneline's Rings Before Voicemail is less than the number of rings that triggers your cellphone's voicemail system.

[Liptonbrisk]

because of spam calls, and I usually have Do Not Disturb on all the time

For what it's worth Koodo and Telus have a Call Control feature that works reasonably well. The caller is prompted to press a a specific digit between 0 and 9, and if the caller can't do that, the call doesn't go through. It's not 100% foolproof, but if it's a robocall, the call can't get through.

[Erft]

Yes, ensure Freephoneline's Rings Before Voicemail is less than the number of rings that triggers your cellphone's voicemail system.

Awesome. Since I don't have voicemail activated on my cellphone, the number of times I have set until voicemail will be fine.
Thanks, Liptonbrisk.

The caller is prompted to press a a specific digit between 0 and 9, and if the caller can't do that, the call doesn't go through. It's not 100% foolproof, but if it's a robocall, the call can't get through.

At what point after they dial, do they get the prompt so their call will go through?

[Liptonbrisk]

Awesome. Since I don't have voicemail activated on my cellphone

If your cellular service includes a voicemail feature, it may still answer the call, regardless of whether you've specifically set up its voicemail service.


At the very least, ensure FPL's rings before voicemail is less than 8 to ensure your cellphone provider's ring timeout doesn't just drop the call. I would set Rings Before Voicemail to a reasonable number (5, for example).

At what point after they dial, do they get the prompt so their call will go through?

Immediately.

Here's an explanation if you're interested: https://www.koodomobile.com/en/help/call-control.

[Erft]

I called up my cell service provider a few months after getting the phone, and had them shut off voicemail at their end because spam calls were getting more numerous the more they were sent to voicemail. I was told that unless I call the service provider up and have them activate it again, I won't have voicemail. I haven't gotten cell voicemails since. The phone just rings and rings until the dialer gives up (which is why I have the phone on Do Not Disturb, all the time).

Thanks for the link to the Koodo Mobile explanation. I was wondering what callers hear when they dial my number. I guess they dial the number and right away get an automated response asking them to enter a number the IVR chooses randomly. If they enter the right one, the call goes through and rings at the other end, normally. This isn't said in the explanation, but it seems logical to me.

[Liptonbrisk]

Thanks for the link to the Koodo Mobile explanation. I was wondering what callers hear when they dial my number. I guess they dial the number and right away get an automated response asking them to enter a number the IVR chooses randomly. If they enter the right one, the call goes through and rings at the other end, normally. This isn't said in the explanation, but it seems logical to me.

Yes.

Koodo is a subsidiary of Telus. Telus has the same feature. However, Public Mobile, another subsidiary of Telus, does not.

WIth Obihai ATAs and IP Phones and the Poly 4xx series ATA, you can do something similar with their Auto Attendant (internal IVR), but the digit pressed can't be random (always has to be 1, for example). You can also create whitelists and blacklists with Obihai devices, and route incoming phone numbers and those matching specific patterns to another phone number. However, I suspect some newcomers may find that difficult to setup. Given spammers can spoof (fake) whatever incoming phone number they want, I feel blacklists (and probably whitelists too) aren't terribly useful anymore.

[Erft]

Spammers are the worst.