Forum Discussion
Solved
Incorrect incoming Caller ID names
Hello, For the past 10 days or so, we are seeing a large number of incoming Caller ID names displaying random names. So far, support has pointed us to the carriers, but the ones we are able to chec...
1/7/2026 update:
At this stage the issue from last September is largely resolved. If you are having issues with incorrect Caller IDs please read this article first.
Things to keep in mind:
If you are having trouble with your caller ID's not displaying properly on outbound calls, use these steps to perform initial troubleshooting before contacting Customer Support. You will also learn what situations we are unable to help regarding caller ID issues.
First, there are some situations when Caller ID is not guaranteed to work. Verify you are not attempting the following:
- Toll-free calls — Caller ID is not guaranteed when using a toll-free number.
- Canadian calls — Caller ID works differently in Canada and it is up to each provider to pass through the Caller ID set in the admin portal.
- Rate Centers— Caller ID reflects the city and state of the rate center the phone number is from. Not every city has rate centers so some cities cannot be displayed.
- Feature Not Activated with Provider — If using a cell phone to test with, verify that you have paid for the caller ID feature with your provider, otherwise you will not get valid results.
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12/15/2025 update:
Following up on our ongoing work to improve inbound CNAM accuracy, a significant deploy was initiated December 11. While we certainly cannot make guarantees, they have validated this update by running tests against other industry sources and expect it to drive a meaningful improvement in name display quality. Please keep an eye on your inbound call displays starting from this past Thursday 12/11/2025.
While we are confident this will address many of the discrepancies you've reported, we will be monitoring the results closely. We’d appreciate your feedback - please let us know if you observe the expected improvements or if specific gaps remain.
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11/20/2025 update:
The team is working every day on the CNAM issue and making progress by uploading more records to our vendor and working with industry partners. Your detailed examples remain extremely valuable to us, and they help us pinpoint unresolved cases so we can address them more effectively.
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11/4/2025 update: Thank you for your patience as we continue to address the recent service challenges. We know many of you are still experiencing issues, and we understand how frustrating this can be. While our vendor has made progress and is seeing improvements, there’s still work to do to restore the experience you expect.
We are collaborating closely with our partners to resolve the remaining issues as soon as possible.
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10/31/2025 update: I have shared with the team that while there are improvements, the issue remains. I have asked the vendor for an update and will update the thread when I hear more. Thanks for your patience and reports.
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Hi Everyone,
Our vendor released another update on Saturday to help ensure the correct name is more accurately selected for display.
The results are being closely monitored, included reviewing specific examples.
If you have more instances to report after 10/20 that you haven't yet, you can add your report to the email from your support case or you can message me (click on my username and you will see a “message” option on the next page) and I will share this with the team.
Please use this format:
- To:• From:• Time/Date:• Caller-ID Shown:• Caller-ID Expected:• Disposition:
Please also share your experience here, we are closely monitoring this thread, if you see things returning to normal that would be helpful to know.
Thank you for your continued patience as we work to resolve Caller ID display inconsistencies.
Overall, we have seen this slight decrease as well since we manage over 350 GoTo accounts. This past week we have seen fewer reports of inbound caller ID issues, but we are occasionally getting calls from our clients with some numbers that used to show correct before but currently showing a random name on the CNAM.
I have performed my own personal research on this matter and how each carrier displays the CNAM associated with any given phone number, and I found there are a few third-party databases, and some carriers even use their own database. There seems to be no regulation regarding the "Line Information Database" (LIDB) used in North America on how often carriers are required to update their CNAM database for caller ID services. Seems like there could be a more effective way of carriers managing any changes made to CNAMs on a number, however, I know that is "easier said than done."
My colleagues and I used to utilize a website, https://calleridtest.com and this seemed to be an accurate reflection of what the CNAM appeared for any number (inside or outside of GoTo's network) however, as of this week the owner of this site has taken it down (for now). I can't seem to find an alternative site (without a subscription) where my colleagues can simply input a 10-digit number and get the CNAM results.
On a side note, we also utilize TNS Call Guardian, First Orion, and Hiya after we order new numbers from GoTo, however, this is typically when these new numbers are being flagged as "Potential Spam" or "Spam Likely" when placing outbound calls to different carriers. Once submitted via these sites, it seems to help reduce the chances of our client's business numbers from appearing as "spam" on their CNAM.
"Thank you for coming to my TED Talk!" :)
-Evan
Thanks for sharing your examples and feedback; it's really helpful and much appreciated.
I've shared with the vendor and team that while you notice some improvements, it's still not completely resolved. I am looking for a statement and update and will post here when I hear further.
Please do keep sharing your experience and feedback, and thank you for your patience.
MattHewitt Thanks for letting me know and the case number. While reports have decreased considerably, it helps to hear this is still happening and will be shared with the team.
For what's worth, I think we are having this issue as well. We reached out to technical support with our details. Case number:22047867
Hi EvanW92
Thank you for the update and for sharing the experiences your clients are having, it's helpful to hear how this is currently affecting your customers and has been shared with the team and our vendor.
The team is working every day on the CNAM issue and making progress by uploading more records to our vendor and working with industry partners, but unfortunately, it is still a time-consuming process. We understand how important caller ID is for your clients, especially with so many accounts involved.
Your detailed examples remain extremely valuable to us, and they help us pinpoint unresolved cases so we can address them more effectively.
I've been told there is an end in sight, but please continue sending any new examples or updates, you can add them to open support cases as they come. We’ll keep this thread updated as we have more news.
Thank you again for your patience and support!
Hi KateG - Thank you for your status updates! I wanted to give you and everyone on this thread an update that unfortunately our clients we manage for their GoTo system are still reporting inbound caller ID name (CNAM) issues as of this week.
We manage about 350 individual GoTo accounts/PBXs and while not every single one of our clients has reported the issue to us, a good number of them have since the genesis of the issue back in mid-September. For our new clients we have onboarded with GoTo recently, we've had to give them a heads up about the CNAM issue especially for those that have transferred their phone numbers into GoTo.
I would imagine this issue with the CNAM database, is being corrected in "piecemeal" since it appears to be impacting any outside numbers (regardless of carrier) that dials into GoTo's system. I am curious if GoTo's VoIP engineers or anyone associated with your partners/vendors have identified (maybe not the root cause) but at least part of the issue ongoing for over 2 months now?
We will continue to provide examples as they come in from our clients.
Thank you!
-Evan
Hi Everyone,
Thank you for your patience as we continue to address the recent service challenges. We know many of you are still experiencing issues, and we understand how frustrating this can be. While our vendor has made progress and is seeing improvements, there’s still work to do to restore the experience you expect.
We are collaborating closely with our partners to resolve the remaining issues as soon as possible.
We truly appreciate your understanding and continued feedback during this time. I will continue to update this thread on the progress.
