Caller ID not matching numbers with contacts

Yes, I'm having this same issue here in the west coast of the U.S. Hopefully this will be fixed soon (very soon). I'm wondering if it's the prefix that is causing the iphone to get confused. In your case, it's the +44, and in mine, it's a *82 (I have my number blocked by default, and only want to transmit it on calls to people I know, thus the *82).

Yes, I'm having this same issue here in the west
coast of the U.S. Hopefully this will be fixed soon
(very soon). I'm wondering if it's the prefix that
is causing the iphone to get confused. In your case,
it's the +44, and in mine, it's a *82 (I have my
number blocked by default, and only want to transmit
it on calls to people I know, thus the *82).

My above issue has been logged as a bug by Apple tech support (or so I was led to believe) after discussing and reproducing the issue with the use of the *82 prefix. So hopefully it'll be fixed soon.

I have this exact same problem when roaming in Australia. I have all of my phone numbers in international format (+CCXXXXXXXXXX) and when receiving a non-domestic call the caller id works fine. However, if I receive a domestic call wherever I am then the phone does not match the number.

This makes sense. With your format in international format, and the call coming in in the same exact international format it should work that way. And it is understandable that if the number is domestic it would not come in that way.

With regard to numbers not in the international format in your iPhone, going through all of the switches and country codes, it interprets the number as being just that as one with all the extra coding. Since your contacts are not stored with these extra codes, it cannot match up the name with the phone number.

Bright side is that it did display the modified phone number - you can strip off the prefixes and try your best to figure out who is attached to the number.

mikeab 🙂

i have the problem with local numbers. sometimes when someone calls it shows up the area code and number and matches it to my contacts, other times when they call it places the 1 in front of the number, and contacts does not then recognize it. This is a SERIOUS shortcoming. The number is identical, all except for the 1, and whether or not it displays the 1 strictly depends on the tower you are picking up on, so it is not always the same. My husband can call from a tower across town and the 1 shows (thus not syncing with his contact id), then he can call from a different tower that doesn't show the 1, which of course syncs it with his contact id.

It merely is based on how they match the number, i.e., 1-301-xxx-xxxx is not the same as 301-xxx-xxxx. Whether is should match the number exactly is just based on the approach that the iPhone utilizes to do number comparison.

I am not sure whether you are aware or not, but you do not need to use a "1" in order to dial a long distance or even a local number that may require a "1" to be part of the dialing sequence.

It worked the same way on my Treo 650, never dialed a "1" on the Palm and I merely converted my numbers over from my Palm into my iPhone.

Do not know what else to tell you regarding how numbers are matched to determine the caller ID based on your iPhone being called and using your contact list for checking out matches.

mikeab 🙂

I haven't had any issues with my caller ID matching numbers, whether or not they come through in the format 1-617-XXX-XXXX OR 617-XXX-XXXX it still matches the number correctly in my phone book.

I don't speak with people abroad, other than Canada, so as far as foreign numbers, I can't say whether or not my phone works as it should.

In what format do you store your numbers in the contact list?

mikeab

I store all numbers in the (XXX)-XXX-XXXX format

Which is exactly how I store my contacts.

I also tried it by inserting a "1" in the contact as 1 (301) xxx-xxxx.

It still worked.

I inserted at "+1" in the contact +1 (301) xxx-xxxx.

It still worked.

There has to be some character that is not making a match against the number that is coming in and the number as saved in the contact list.

There are just too many people facingexperiencing the same problem.

This is all domestic, i.e., I am not addressing international numbers.

mikeab 🙂

It might make sense because the iPhone is simply trying to match exact strings to compare and determine whether it knows the caller id number. However, as I had a Sony phone 5 years ago that managed to parse the number and do a lookup just fine, I consider it a shortcoming in the iPhone.

I think we are seeing Apple's relative inexperience with developing the phone functionality part and, more specifically, the US centric view taken towards the phone functionality.

FocherAU -

You may be correct, but the only way to get your suggestions to Apple is:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

mikeab 🙂

Apple bug maybe. ATT bug for sure.

I have had ATT forever, and on all smartphones including past Cingular 2125, 3125, 8125, 8525 and Samsung Blackjack ID's have never come up correctly consistently, not always roaming either, sometimes right on my own back yard.

Apple iPhone Bug for sure:
Caller ID matching should be done "backwards" (meaning right to left), so that contacts saved with international/long distance prefixes are matched when the Caller Id information from the network is sent to the phone in a shorter format (as it ususally is). As match is true if all Caller Id numbers are matched, as opposed to the current iphone match which apparently expects a "full match" (meaning: exactly the same number of digits in Caller Id and Contact.

Example:
Say you store "John" as +1-212-1234567 so that it works on any network, anywhere on the world - useful if you travel often.

If you're in New York and John calls, the network might send either 1234567 or 212 1234567. In any case if the match is done "backwards" either way John's entry will be matched.
If you're abroad the roamed network will normally insert +1-212-1234567, and still it will be matched.

Works on any Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, etc. Not on iPhone with firmware 1.0.2.
I wonder if firmware 1.1.1 fixes this? Anyone knows?

--prc

The same thing happens if you have a number stored with an extension to be autodialed (such as 555-555-1212 ,123). When the person calls you from 555-555-1212, it does not match up.

The simple workaround is to go to recents, click the blue arrow to the right of the unrecognized phone number, and add that number to the correct contact as an "other" number. That way, when the number is presented in that particular format, the iPhone will be able to match it up to that contact.