Topic

Known voice call limitations and anomalies.

Description

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

Telephone providers utilize different methods in determining whether a call is legitimate and should be placed through or whether a call is spam and should be terminated. One of the most commonly used attributes of a call used to make this determination is the Caller ID. Some providers impose rules on the Caller ID to limit unwanted calls by their subscribers.

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

All Countries

Many countries are increasingly requiring that calls originating outside of their country not use (spoof) a domestic caller ID.  Keep in mind that calls originating from the Everbridge platform will appear to come from the US or Europe, depending on how you log into the platform.  Countries accepting these calls outside of the US or Europe will see these calls as incoming "International" calls, and expect a caller ID that is "outside" their country.  If the caller ID in the system is configured to be a "local" caller ID, the voice providers 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 of the recipient's country. Not adhering to this practice may result in your voice call not being placed to the recipient(s) in that country.

Countries That Mandate This Requirement

Below is a list of known countries which mandate this requirement. However, please note that this may not be an all-inclusive list given the always-changing telephony landscape. If you have recipients who did not receive a phone call, then it is recommended that you check the caller ID used and ensure that you are adhering to this requirement.

• Australia - Caller ID should be a non-Australian phone number (+61). Australian phone numbers may be used for caller ID if provisioned from Everbridge. See "Using an Everbridge-Provided Caller ID" note below for important information regarding this practice.
• China - Caller ID must be that of the originating country. For example, if you use everbridge.net, then your calls to China should be configured with a valid +1 phone number for the Caller ID field.
• Hong Kong -
  • 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. See "Using an Everbridge-Provided Caller ID" note below for important information regarding this practice.
  • 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.
• India - Caller ID should be a non-Indian phone number (+91).
• 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. See "Using an Everbridge-Provided Caller ID" note below for important information regarding this practice.
• 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. See "Using an Everbridge-Provided Caller ID" note below for important information regarding this practice.
• 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).

Countries With Additional Requirements

Australia

Caller ID should not be:

• A "Local Rate" number, also known as a Smartnumber. These are numbers that begin with 13 or 1300.
• A free call, also known as a toll-free, number . These are numbers beginning with 1800.
• A premium rate number. These are numbers beginning with 1900.

Using any of the above noted numbers for caller ID is prohibited by the Communications Alliance and calls will be blocked by the telephony operators when used.

Belgium

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). Any calls using a national number for its caller ID will be blocked. 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

China has very restrictive requirements, regulations, and filtering for voice calls. As a result, voice calls from Everbridge Suite going to China may be blocked even when best practices and recommendations are followed. Blocked calls will typically generate a Not Delivered - Downstream Communication Error or Not Delivered - Voicemail Hung Up. We highly recommend being multi-modal and not relying solely on voice calls to reach your contacts in China.

• For the Everbridge Suite solution at manager.everbridge.net, calls may fail, and a call result of Not Delivered – Downstream Communication Error will be generated for that attempt.
• For the Everbridge Suite solution at manager. everbridge.eu, calls will fail, and a call result of Not Delivered – Downstream Communication Error will be generated for that attempt.

Hungary

Calls not answered in the first 15-20 seconds of the destination phone ringing may disconnect and be re-attempted after a 10-20 second pause. 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. However, this phantom call is still associated with the original call attempt by the Everbridge platform and hence, if answered, will exhibit normal call behavior.

India

Calls not answered in the first 15-20 seconds of the destination phone ringing may disconnect and be re-attempted after a 10-20 second pause. 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. However, this phantom call is still associated with the original call attempt by the Everbridge platform and hence, if answered, will exhibit normal call behavior.

Using an Everbridge-Provided Caller ID

Using an Everbridge-provided phone number for caller ID will provide a local caller ID for your call recipients. However, note that 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.