Topic

Known voice call limitations and anomalies.

Introduction

A telephone call traverses multiple operator networks to reach its destination. In doing so, the call may be subjected to technological limitations, operator quirks, spam filtering, and government regulatory requirements.

This article attempts to call out known requirements, general calling anomalies, restrictions and limitations that we have observed. Given the ever-changing telephony landscape, the information presented here is simply best-effort documentation and may not be all inclusive.

 

Caller ID

Telephone operators in many countries are increasingly requiring that calls originating outside of their country not use (spoof) a domestic Caller ID (sometimes known as CLI or Caller Line Identification).  To the in-country telephone operators receiving calls originating from the Everbridge platform, these calls will appear as international calls. Therefore, the expectation is for the caller ID to be that of another country.

If you've configured a "local" Caller ID for a given country and not followed the country-specific rules, then the telephone operator in that country may block the call because they know it is an international call with a "fake" local Caller ID.  For example, if a call is sent to a recipient with a Luxembourg phone number (+352), then it should be configured with a non-Luxembourg caller ID, such as a +1 (US) phone number. In most cases, the country of the Caller ID does not matter as long as it is not that of the destination country. Not adhering to this practice may result in your voice call not being placed to the recipient(s) in that country.

Alternatively, some countries support a local phone number for Caller ID if that phone number is acquired through the same voice provider who is originating the call. In other words, if the country supports this, then to use a local phone number for Caller ID, that phone number must be acquired by Everbridge from our telephony provider. Please refer to the country listing below to see which countries support this mechanism.

IMPORTANT: Although everything described above holds true for many countries, you should check the country-specific notes below for your country. As an example, China requires a local Caller ID (in addition to other requirements) which is different than what is described above.

 

Australia

1. Caller ID should be a non-Australian phone number (+61). Australian phone numbers may be used for caller ID if provided by Everbridge^*.

2. Caller ID should not be:

   1. A "Local Rate" number, also known as a Smartnumber. These are numbers that begin with 13 or 1300.

   2. A free call, also known as a toll-free, number . These are numbers beginning with 1800.

   3. A premium rate number. These are numbers beginning with 1900.

Belgium

1. Caller ID should not be a Belgian national number (+32 78). Using national numbers for caller ID is prohibited by the Belgian Telecommunications Regulator (BIPT).
   1. Calls using a national number for caller ID will be blocked.
   2. If you have a Belgian phone number assigned to you by Everbridge (for example: for Premium Audio Bulletin Board or Smart Conference) and wish to use this number for your caller ID to contacts in Belgium, but the number is a national number, then please contact your Account Manager to have the number replaced with a non-national number.

China

Caller ID must be a China-based (+86) phone number provided by Everbridge. Refer to the Caller ID Registration for China Support Center article for details on how to request a number.

 

Hong Kong

1. Caller ID should be a non-Hong Kong phone number (+852).  Hong Kong based phone numbers may be used for caller ID if provisioned from Everbridge^*.
2. Caller ID is known to be altered when using a non-Hong Kong phone number and the call is directed to a non-mobile phone. Typically, such calls will be delivered with an anonymous caller ID.

 

Hungary

Calls not answered in the first 15-20 seconds of the destination phone ringing may disconnect and be re-attempted with a 10-20 second pause in between. The disconnect and re-connect events are not reported back to the call originator (Everbridge in this case) and do not honor the originally designated Caller ID. This phantom call is still associated with the original call attempt by the Everbridge platform and if answered will exhibit normal call behavior.

 

India

1. Caller ID should be a non-Indian phone number (+91).
2. Calls not answered in the first 15-20 seconds of the destination phone ringing may disconnect and be re-attempted with a 10-20 second pause in between. The disconnect and re-connect events are not reported back to the call originator (Everbridge in this case) and do not honor the originally designated Caller ID. This phantom call is still associated with the original call attempt by the Everbridge platform and if answered will exhibit normal call behavior.

 

Indonesia

Caller ID should be a non-Indonesian phone number (+62).

 

Japan

Caller ID should be a non-Japanese phone number (+81).

 

Luxembourg

Caller ID should be a non-Luxembourg phone number (+352).

 

Malaysia

Caller ID should be a non-Malaysian phone number (+60). Malaysian phone numbers may be used for caller ID if provisioned from Everbridge^*.

 

Norway

Caller ID should be a non-Norwegian phone number (+47).

 

Russia

Caller ID should be a non-Russian phone number (+7).

 

Singapore

Caller ID should be a non-Singaporean phone number (+65). Singaporean phone numbers may be used for caller ID if provisioned from Everbridge^*.

 

Turkey

Caller ID should be a non-Turkish phone number (+90).

 

Ukraine

Caller ID should be a non-Ukrainian phone number (+380).

 

United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Caller ID should be a non-UAE phone number (+971).

 

Vietnam

Caller ID should be a non-Vietnamese phone number (+84).

 

* - See "Requesting an Everbridge-Provided Caller ID" note below for important information regarding this practice.

 

Requesting an Everbridge-Provided Caller ID

Everbridge is able to provide a customer-dedicated, local, phone number to be used for caller ID for a small set of countries. The countries which this is available for are noted above under the country's heading.

To request a local phone number for caller ID please open a case with our Technical Support team. Depending on the country, various pieces of information may be required as per requirements from our telephony providers, the in-country telephony providers, or the country's telecommunications regulator.

 

Using an Everbridge-Provided Caller ID

Once Technical Support provides you with a local phone number for your requested country, you must configure that in your Organization Settings. See our Everbridge Caller ID Best Practices Support Center article for details on how to do this.

Please note that using an Everbridge-provided phone number for caller ID will provide a local caller ID for your call recipients. However, this is only true when the call is sent through the voice provider whom the number is provisioned from. To provide full stack redundancy, Everbridge uses multiple voice providers, and depending on various factors, such as network traffic, our platform may use a different voice provider than the one whom the phone number is provisioned from. If the call is routed through a different voice provider than the one whom the number is provisioned from, then the call may fail as it does not adhere to the caller ID rules set forth by the in-country carriers or regulators.