Caller-ID (unknown call) on my cell phone

Suzette, if your cellphone service originates in the US because you keep a phone number from the mainland, your caller ID should work. However, if you change your service to a local V.I. number, not only does the caller ID only work on certain occasions as you described, but it also becomes extremely difficult to track your minutes as there seems to be some delay in the system in the islands. I also have Cingular/AT&T, and made the mistake of changing to a local number. The customer service that you reach are back in the States, and don't seem to have a clue about this problem, nor do they warn you that this will happen at the local store in the V.I.

I thought it only ID'ed the numbers listed where you save the numbers you call frequently. I use my AT&T/Cingular so infrequently I never paid any attention. I hate cell phones but that's just me.

I also have AT&T/Cingular. Always an unknown caller as you say. Has always been this way. I never knew it could be different. I do have a problem with their customer service though. They don't ship to the VI which infuriates me. Why have service here if they don't ship here?

Sprint is the same way (as is Virgin Mobile, who uses the Sprint Network).

The way I understand it is that the cell towers in Puerto Rico don't always transmit the caller ID. This is a fact of life down here -- EVERYBODY has the caller ID problem...

One myth I've heard is that people calling you on the same network will have their numbers display, but I haven't found that to be consistent. My mom's landline in Maryland appears, and my boyfriend's Sprint phone, and my friend in Vermont's Cingular phone. Other than that, pretty much nada.

You'll get nowhere talking to customer service.

Oh, and for the record, I switched to a 340 area code on my cell two weeks before I got here, and I immediately started getting "unknown" calls. I didn't know what was going on. But I was in Maryland at the time, and somehow the calls must've still be routed through the PR towers, because "unknown"-ania is present regardless of whether I'm here or stateside.

Let

I have a 340 cell phone and a stateside cell phone ringing to the same phone (yay for call forwarding). I can always tell which number they are calling because my stateside number shows all the cell numbers calling in (from sprint and cingular) and my 340 one shows only local cell phones and landlines that are not blocked. Everything else comes in as unknown.

Hmmmm, so it sounds like there is no resolution to this problem.

Maybe if we all ask real nice they will enhance the cell towers to transmit the ID's.... ???

I'm still going to follow through on this phone service call, and who knows, maybe I'll be the one
who gets this resolved. (please don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen !) 🙂

Signed,
Unknown Call

I have AT&T, but I still have my stateside number. I can see most of the people calling me down here, either by my phone's memory or just the number on the screen. On occasion I get unknown calls, but these are mostly from businesses down here who have the numbers blocked in the first place.

Cory

I think the only answer to the problem is if you are from the USA, or travel there, get a stateside number. Believe me it works because I have done it. Same phone, same AT&T, and like magic it works again!

If you want to help in fixing the problems we have in the VI with AT&T then you need to write to the CEO. He has a staff the deals with subscriber problems. I have written Randal on three occasions complaining about the fact that many cell sites on STX do not have standby power. That is a big problem with the way WAPA runs.

You will get a response from someone on his staff PDQ and more importantly they will light a fire under the technical staff in Puerto Rico that is supposed to maintain the systems in the VI and make them reliable and caller ID work.

Jim

Mr. Randall L Stephenson – CEO
AT&T
175 E Houston
P.O. Box 2933
San Antonio, TX 78299-2933

I got a final call back from a supervisor at AT&T. She said that it is not a problem with AT&T, it is a problem with the towers that are transmitting. I thanked her, and thought to myself, ok, now what can I do ? Thanks Jim, you've answered my question !

If MANY people write and speak out about the problems here, it will get resolved. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
I will be writing this weekend, and I hope many more will also.

Suzette

One quick comment on keeping a statesside cell phone number. If you are looking for a job or a place to live you need a local number. Many islanders just won't return calls to a stateside number. I think it is seen as a lack of commitment to the island and maybe you aren't really here permanently.