From: Geoffrey Welsh
> Subject: Re: 2002220000 Given as Caller ID
> Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2005 15:30:38 -0500
> Marcus Didius Falco wrote:
>> I recently had occasion to call Pakistan using a "dial-around"
>> carrier in the US. The call appeared on the Pakistani's cell phone as
>> a local call in Islamabad, meaning it was handled as a VOIP call.
> I've seen that in North America for years and I don't think it implies
> VOIP at all ... calls from the U.S. sometimes show local number for
> caller ID when they ring through to my phone, and I always assumed
> (yeah, I know ...) that all it meant was that the long distance link
> terminated locally (and, I would guess, without the correct caller ID)
> at some local access point that had its own caller ID designation. I
> understand why a VOIP link might do that, but I don't see why _only_
> VOIP would do that.
That could theoretically occur in this country if some IXC were using 'line side" termination (Feature group A or B, IIRC) rather than "trunk side termination" (Feature group C or D). But this is obsolete and I think line side termination was eliminated at least 10 years ago. Thus, the only way it could occur is if some carrier were terminating on a telephone or PBX in the calling area, which now happens only for VOIP. (Until recently it did sometimes occur with cellular carriers for similar reasons.)