Question:

Dear Mrs. Compliant:

I have a question from one of my customers -- they say they are getting good results by whitelisting DIDs using a third party service.

I am at a loss as of how to answer since I believe that having calls signed with tokens should produce good results that are as good or better than using some of those paid white-listings but maybe I am missing something?

Sincerely,
Your Customer

Answer:

Dear customer:
Stir/shaken tokens are just a part of the answer, and having verified DIDs are important as well. Using DID whitelisting services isn't a bad idea (and often an expensive idea), but it doesn't go nearly far enough.

Understanding that it is the terminating carrier (the last mile carriers that own the dialed number) that control how calls are processed, and how the calls are delivered to the dialed number. Each carrier has its own algorithms that are applied to their inbound traffic.

Here are some of the things they look for, and that can result in blocked calls:

1. Using mobile numbers as ANIs when robodialing, or using the same ANI for large numbers of calls.

2. Not scrubbing destination numbers against the Federal do-not-call list,

3. Not scrubbing against a good do-not-originate list (our DNO lists every number not issued in North America, plus another 1-million government, first responder, corporate customer service, and other numbers),

4. Using neighborhood calling ANIs (where you use an ANI that is the same NPA-Nxx as the dialed number).

Any or all of these may trigger a blocked call if the scrub comes back negative.

Now, let me tell you that we have a ‘game changer’ service in testing now, that will change the industry’s ability to monitor for fraud, TCPA violations, and other nastiness, that we will announce a bit later.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Compliant