At this point, Outbound CNAM is still not something we're officially offering. While a lot of areas have it, it's not something supported consistently across the board so our official stance on it is that it's not supported at all.

There are several issues at play here.

The name is not something we can just transmit out with calls. Only the actual CLEC/carrier that owns the DID blocks can update the name records. These updates go into central databases that companies do lookups from. Some upstream carriers that we use support it...some do not. Some do in limited areas. Overall, it's just not consistently supported.

Level3 is our primary carrier. They sell two types of DIDs...ELS and LI. ELS supports Oubound CNAM, LI does not.

ELS DIDs are substantially higher priced because they bundle in local calling, etc. We're talking going from basically free DIDs with usage charges of around 1/2 a cent to going to several dollars for the DID with inbound usage charges of around $0.01-$0.015. That is one issue to consider, but that's not the only issue here though.

Their ELS DIDs require a service address to be on file for each DID. The big issue is that when you order an ELS DID from them, you simply send them an address and they respond back with available numbers in the ratecenter of the service address (typically via API), so if you provide an address in Denver, it'd only let you order a Denver number in the "proper" ratecenter for that address. You could later update the address to another service address, but ordering is initially locked to the proper one.

LI DIDs are just ordered in bulk and Level3 doesn't collect any information like name or service address, so this is a non-issue with them.

This is a problems since a lot of users don't get a DID in the ratecenter they live in. While we certainly were enterprising at ViaTalk in using Wal-Mart/Post Office addresses when the customer ordered a DID outside of their normal traditional ratecenter, that's not something I want to do now.

Overall, LI DIDs are better for our big picture goals even though they don't support outbound CNAM.

1) We Can Maintain Some Internal Inventory vs Relying Solely On API

2) No Updating Service Addresses with Level3

3) Virtual Numbers and Primary Numbers From Same Pool, Can Switch Them Back and Forth

4) Ability to Recycle Numbers

That's really the core of the issue. Now on top of that, many other carriers don't support it, so if we want to add other carriers to the mix we can.

With all this being said, we are exploring the possibility of dropping Level3 entirely very soon and this issue will go away. One of the largest Level3 resellers (one of the top 3) just recently closed a large round of funding to acquire a CLEC and expand it in all major metros and move the bulk of their traffic off out Level3. We have an existing relationship and they approached us about working with them at least as a customer, but possible also as a co-investor partner since we have the ability to raise a lot of capital as well if desired.

We've also discussed some options with Global Crossing and have considered moving there as well (they fully support it). You'll remember SunRocket for the longest time did not have the full Level3 footprint and was primarily Global Crossing and Paetec...this is likely one reason they held off on it so long.

For those of you with Paetec/US LEC DIDs, they will eventually show your name. Paetec is willing to work with us on that, but it's a manual process on their end (and is for most) so it's literally a situation where if we provide them with a CSV file of names, they'll do it, but only a few times a year since it's literally a manual process.


Some additional points:

If your number is showing an incorrect name, we can always get this corrected.

If you are porting in, your number should maintain its prior CNAM and Directory Listing status.

If you have a DID without name showing and it is is a big issue for you and you want a NEW number in your home ratecenter and can provide a valid service address in it, we can issue you a new number with it. We cannot convert existing LI numbers though.