Caller ID

By default an outbound call shows the Asisto number that placed it. Two separate things can change that, and they solve different halves of the same problem:

• Registering a name answers whose name shows up.
• Verifying a number you own answers which number shows up.

They are independent. You can register "Asisto Technologies" as your name while still displaying the landline on your shopfront.

Both live at Settings → Organization → Caller ID.

Verifying a number you already own#

If your customers already know your landline or your mobile, showing that number on outbound calls is usually worth more than any name, because people call back to the number they recognise.

Verification proves you control the line. It is a live phone call: we dial the number, a recorded voice reads out a six-digit code, and you type that code back into the app.

Nothing is filed with a regulator and there is no review queue, so this is instant and it works everywhere.

Two things worth knowing:

• The code is not a secret. It travels over the phone line and is useless once the call ends. Its whole job is to prove somebody at that number answered.
• This changes what the handset displays. Calls are still placed from your Asisto number, so a customer who calls back reaches the line you already answer. Texts are unaffected, because a reply has to reach us.

Registering your business name#

Whether a name can be registered at all is decided by the country your number is in, not by us. There are three situations.

United States#

US carriers look up a registered name for every incoming call. Register yours and it shows instead of an unknown number.

Two channels are filed for you:

• CNAM, the database US carriers query when a call arrives. Covers landlines and a large share of mobile.
• Branded Calling, which puts your name on the incoming-call screen of T-Mobile and Verizon handsets.

Review takes about 7 business days, and carriers pick it up a day or two after that.

Canada#

Canadian carriers do show a caller name, but each keeps its own directory and none of them accept a filing. There is nothing to submit.

What a Canadian customer sees is your number plus whatever name their own carrier happens to hold for it. Verifying a number they already know is what makes the difference here.

Everywhere else#

European, Asia-Pacific, Middle Eastern and South American networks deliver the calling number only. There is no registry any business can file into, through us or anyone else.

A handset in those countries shows a name only when the recipient has saved you, or when a call-screening app recognises the number. Again, verifying a number your customers already know is what actually helps.

We tell you which of these applies to every country you hold a number in, rather than letting you file into a registry that does not exist.

The two name fields#

You will be asked for your name twice, and this is deliberate rather than a duplicate field.

• Display name: up to 32 characters, which is what Branded Calling can show.
• Short name: up to 15 characters, which is all CNAM carries.

The short name is pre-filled from the long one and you can edit it. That is the point: "Asisto Technologies" is nineteen characters, and truncating it silently would put "Asisto Technolo" on a stranger's phone. Only you know whether you would rather be "Asisto" or "Asisto Tech".

Names must start with a letter and may use letters, numbers, spaces and . , & ' -. Branded Calling is stricter than CNAM, accepting letters and numbers only, so a name CNAM is happy with can still be trimmed for the branded channel.

Which one should you do?#

• In the US: do both. Register the name, and verify a number if your customers already know one.
• In Canada and everywhere else: verifying a number is the only thing that changes what people see. Skip the name.

Neither is required. If you do nothing, outbound calls show your Asisto number, which is a perfectly ordinary thing for a business number to do.

Outreach uses this too#

Automatic callbacks and follow-up sequences respect the same setting. If you have verified a number, that is what the person you are calling back sees. See Outreach and callbacks.