Yes. A detailed discussion paper covering most of the issues, including an appendix by the Data Protection Registrar and the results of a survey of public attitudes, was published as follows
Consultative document : calling line identification / issued by the
Director General of Telecommunications. September 1993. 20 pages.
(contact Oftel for this)
from the April 1994 BABT Newsletter
CALLER DISPLAY SERVICES ON ANALOGUE PSTN LINES The draft SITS [Special Investigation & Test Schedule - ie. Specification] BABT/TC/128, which has been available for comment, will not be ratified by the BABT Technical Committee until OFTEL have resolved the position regarding competition between public network operators (PTOs).
Other operator's networks are likely to offer similar services in the future at which time Caller ID will almost certainly be passed between networks.
For BT, to use Caller Display you need a special telephone or display unit which show, and then store, the numbers of incoming callers. Call Return simply stores the number of your last incoming caller, and will work with any phone. You can dial 1471 to get a reading of the last number that attempted to ring (free).
There are a range of free options for preventing their identity going forward on outgoing calls and blocking incoming anonymous calls. The simplest of these is the '141' service which blocks caller id going forward on a per-call basis. You can also have all calls blocked and then release per-call with '1470'.
For more information on Caller Display and Call Return call 0800 801471.
[See the archive for some technical information upon BT's CLI or try and find British Telecommunications Engineering, Volume 12, part 3- October 1993]
BT has one PSTN phone- the Relate 1000, that supports Caller ID.
Early releases of this phone suffered from a problem where the unit's processor would 'hang', causing the Caller ID display to miss incoming calls until the handset is picked up. To fix this problem, ask BT to supply a phone with a serial number ending "B22" (or, presumably, later versions).
Reports say that even the latest phones miss the occaisional call, but doesn't crash. Various ideas for the missing calls, including noisy lines between Exchange and handset, have been suggested.
DP2000 From BT - is an ISDN phone with analogue jack and RS-232 38K port It does CLI, MSN, stores last 10 CLI so you can return your calls and it looks OK. (Caller ID to ISDN costs UKP3.40 per quarter).
No. They are EITHER boxes made to the USA standard (which was not adopted in the UK) or boxes that ask callers to input their number in MF tones, and then display what is input.
Lineplex CS200 Call Router
Uses the CLI service to switch calls based on the caller's telephone number Stores 60 telephone numbers that can be directed to one or other of two ports Totally silent operation Can be interfaced to PC to upload CLI information Supplied with software to display and store phone line Overnight e-mail Priority call routing Call seperation Rejection of unwanted calls
From Lineplex Ltd, Fairmile House, High Street, Ripley, Surrey GU23 6AN Tel 01483 211858; Fax 01483 211632. Price is UKP135 + VAT