Caller Name

The simple answer is not all CID databases are equal. 

Hi, @John-M, we would be happy to provide a bit more information regarding your Caller ID.

Caller ID and Call Waiting are not always available for every call.  Often times, there can be incompatibilities between your service and the service of the caller.  Transmission errors, as well as answering calls before the ID data can be received can also interfere with your device displaying the caller's name.  Additionally, the caller must be calling from an area that supports Caller ID, as well as their telephone service provider using compatible Caller ID systems with yours.

We hope this has helped shine a bit of light on the situation, if you need additional assistance, do not hesitate to reach back out to us.

Daniel, AT&T Community Specialist

Thanks for response. Unfortunately information given very contradictory. Caller lives in same building as I and ID shows when calling others. When calls on cell phone ID shows. I find ATT caller ID a hit or miss. Never know if it will indentify caller. AT&T service unreliable as is technical assistance. Community assistance gives more reliable advice.

It all depends on what the caller's carrier has sent to your carrier as far as database information. The database wouldn't be the same for cell service as it would be for landline, both have to receive the information from the sending carrier and they are independent of each other. Might try searching for why the CID is wrong for some calls and right for others, don't know if there's a better explanation out there or not.