atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Telecom Service & Providers Phantom Calls

Ok guys. Here’s the unbelievable solution after extensive research and teeth pulling to get specifics from the customer on the phantom calls. We had telco block outgoing caller ID so that “phantom” calls could not possibly be leaving the CID information for our customer (let’s call them ABC). However, ABC continued to get calls from various people telling them to stop calling. All these callers gave the CID for line 5 in their hunt group.

Today we had a breakthrough. One person finally gave us the FULL caller ID of the number they were calling back. For this example, let’s say it was 877-123-4567. Line 5 on the hunt group is 877-1234. SOOO… people were calling back an 877 number, but NOT DIALING THE ONE. Telco was, of course, sending the call after the first 7 digits dialed since 877 is a local exchange around here.

ABC is having the number changed on line 5 of their hunt group and this craziness should be at an end. So many, many hours put into finding such a simple solution… Thank you all for your assistance!!

Wow, Stacey. That one is a mind bender for sure. It is amazing how something so simple can cause so much trouble. I've encountered equally-crazy situations in the past and they are never easy to find until you find them. Kind of like misplacing your car keys when they were on the kitchen table the whole time.

Thanks for sharing the outcome. That's a truly interesting story.

Thanks for sharing the solution. 877 for a prefix doesn't seem too smart to begin with, I'm suprised the local Telco doesn't get more complaints. Seems like they could set something in their switch that if more than 7 digits are dialed without a 1 it would go to reorder or a recording of improper dialing. One or our CO guys might know if that's possible.

To quote Homer Simpson "DOH!" :scratch:

Bill, I am sure that the 877 office code was in place long before the 877 toll-free area code came about. I feel for Stacey and her bunch because I'm sure that throughout this process, the telco was likely reciting "Must be......" Well you know the rest.

Didn't even think of that Ed, I'm sure you're right. Still seems they could fix the problem through switch translations to me. With all the 877 numbers out there it can't be an uncommon problem in that prefix.

Bill -

Remember Lily Tomlin "We're the Phone Company, we don't have to care."

I'm with you guys, if you got stuck with a CO that had 866 or 877 I would think that you'd address it, but....

Glad to hear that it's been fixed. A real brain teaser.

Sam

Great story and very useful information for the future! Glad you got that figured out eventually too. Do they plan on initiating a recording or implementing any new measures to avoid this in the future?

Ed like my old repairforeman used to say all troubles are simple after you find them.

Telco plans on doing absolutely nothing to adjust the underlying problem. Ed, you're correct that the 877 prefix was around long before the 877 toll free. We stopped counting how many man hours we threw at this problem. It is simply such a relief to be able to put this one to bed.