Flat Planet Phone Co., an Israeli VoIP startup, has developed a new VoIP technology called Dynamic Caller ID that essentially allows you to have multiple caller IDs built on the fly. These caller IDs depend on the local number being dialed. For instance, if you call someone in Orange County, Calif., from New York, the recipient would only see the local number on their handset. The same holds true when making calls to about 50 countries, FPPC claims.
In the past, you could do the same by buying numbers from Skype or another Internet telephony service in various cities. People could then call you back on those numbers via local calls, and speak to you anywhere on the web. The folks at Flat Planet Phone are making it even simpler.
Dynamic Caller ID is yet another example of how the Internet is redefining the very notion of location. With the growing popularity of wireless and VoIP services, the idea of voice being tied to a fixed location is as quaint as horse carriages. In a previous post, columnist Dan Berninger said, “Thinking of communication solutions as an extension of the web and implementation as hosting can help break the grip of the telephone myopia reflected in most VoIP business plans.” The development of Dynamic Caller ID is doing just that.
This new kind of telephone with caller ID is amazing. It can call up to 50 persons. This is best for business people and sales persons.
Just great, another annoying yet intrusive device for tele-markers to use. If a device such as this is allowed to be used. I wanna a device or an app on my phone that will block it.
sounds like a nice little device. If your business is located overseas, but your customers here in the USA, this device will help!
@aaron Let me give you an example. Say you are an online brokerage with customers all over Europe. You have local numbers for each country. Your customer in Zurich, feels comfortable when you call him from a Zurich number, your London customer the same.
Sure anything can be abused but it is not the technology that is abusing rather the technology user
Several CLECs in the US already offer this. AireSpring is one. They offer it to their telemarketing customers and multi-location businesses so the called party is presented with a local (or at least as close as possible) callback number.
For telemarketers, yes, it improves the number of people who pick up the phone when they call. It also has the side effect of simplifying jurisdictional billing issues that crop up when SIP/VoIP is being used.
(PS… AireSpring is a good apple among call center focused CLECs. They were the first CLEC to offer T1s and SIP trunks for call centers and telemarketers that automatically block calls to numbers on that National Do Not Call list. So even if the telemarketer tries to call a DNC listed number, the call never goes through.)