CallerID "not available" from VirginMedia

[S400]

I spent nearly an hour on the phone with VirginMedia - trying to activate CallerID on my elderly father's phone line.

Not very intelligent call handler:   it took her nearly half an hour just to look up what services he had.   I was astounded that call handlers cannot find out this information at the click of a mouse.  But there we are.

Then she told me that I couldn't activate CallerID on my father's phone line, because Virgin doesn't offer/provide it !!

I couldn't get to the bottom of this story, but in the end I had to accept that CallerID is not available [any longer] from Virgin. 

I have just got local trading standards to supply him with a TrueCall incoming call intercept device - but it needs CallerID in order to identify incoming callers.

The matter is urgent - he had already been targetted by conmen, and he is still receiving things like fake bank callers.  He is unable to deal with them himself, and needs shielding now.

Does anyone know of a phone service provide, except BT, who provides CallerID ?

I need to change his phone (and therefore his internet) provider ASAP to someone who can provide CallerID compatible with a TrueCall device.

[goslow]

VM provides caller ID. Sometimes the feature can drop off the line (often after maintenance work has been done on the line). Often the forum team can refresh the feature remotely to reactivate it.

Have you confirmed caller ID is on/not on the line via a display screen on an ordinary phone plugged direct into the line first of all or are you basing your info on the fact the truecall device is not successfully screening calls?

The truecall device is excellent at screening out scam calls. Sometimes the truecall does not recognise a particular variant of caller ID on a VM line (even though caller ID is present). In these cases a call to truecall support will allow them to remotely log in to the device and tweak the settings to match the VM caller ID variant. This problem frequently seems to arise when the phone is switched over to the back of the VM hub.

[Paul_DN]

Hi S400,

Thank you for reaching out to us in our community and welcome, sorry to hear caller I D isn't working on your Fathers phone and that you have been unable to get it working, I will be happy to have a look into this for you, I will send you an invite into a private chat, once received please click on the purple envelope to accept.

Regards

Paul.

[S400]

Thanks Paul - awaiting your private chat invitation.    If you have already sent it, i haven't received  it.

[S400]

Hi goslow,

I do not have any callerID display - just the truecall device and the True Control online history.

I'll try contacting VM again - though I am abroad now, so may have to wait until I am back in the UK and can visit my father's home again.

I am just so amazed that VM customer service don't have a clue, and even think that CallerID is a service not offered by VM.  

QUESTION:   is CallerID the same technology used to support the 1471 feature to hear number of last incoming caller?

Also is CallerID the same thing as "Virgin Media Caller Display" feature - or are these different things ?

[goslow]

Topics on here often recount strange, confusing or comical answers given out by VM's CS agents on the phone.

Caller ID should be on a VM line by default but sometimes the feature can drop off the line (often mentioned on here after a phone switchover to the hub or after a repair on the line when, presumably, some kind of 'line reset' has taken place).

My guess would be that the caller ID might actually be there but the truecall device is not understanding the particular presentation of VM's caller ID. This has been mentioned a few times before on here.

When you can access your father's phone/line you could try ...

using a phone which has a caller ID display (borrowed from a friend, family member, neighbour etc. as necessary). Plug that direct into the line (no truecall device) and dial in and check that caller ID is presented on the phone. If you get caller ID showing directly on the phone, you know the issue is the truecall device.

Alternatively you can contact truecall support (I think you can raise a ticket through the online portal where they can probably match your account to your exact device) or, generally make contact, via

https://www.truecall.co.uk/articles.asp-ID=83.html

They can remotely access the truecall device when it is connected to the phone line and they can tweak the truecall setup to detect the particular caller ID variant in use on the line. I imagine they can also probably access some kind of remote diagnostics too.

There have been several past topics on the forum where the customer has done this to get a truecall unit working on a VM landline.

The truecall device is an excellent bit of kit, which I have used in the past, and it is very customisable. Might need a bit of fine-tuning to get the settings optimised to suit but it should be very effective at fending off the scammers from contacting your father.

Hope you can get it working for him.