From: 71336.1270@CompuServe.COM (tim gorman) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Some Additional Thoughts About ANI Organization: TELECOM Digest Pat, Several people have given several good explanations of the philosophical differences between ANI and Caller ID. Let me throw in some information that has not yet been covered. The statement that ANI is used for billing is correct. It is used for much more than that, however. Depending on the call classification (FG C, FG D, etc.) there are one or two information digits included which are used to classify either the ANI type or station class. For instance: 00 = VALID ANI 01 = Operator ID required 02 = ANI Failure 07 = Special Screening Station There are several more, some of which are valid only on FG D calls. A typical MF transmitted ANI string looks as follows: KPx + II + (3/7/10D)ANI + STx (II designates the info digits) Depending on the call type and ANI protocol in use the KP and ST signals are used to indicate things ranging from whether 1+ or 0+/0- was dialed, whether the station is coin or non-coin, whether the originating station is touchtone or rotary dial, and whether 10XXX + 0/1 or just 0/1 was dialed. The receiving office uses all of this information to correctly process the call as well as bill it. Tim Gorman - SWBT * opinions are my own, any resemblence to official policy is coincidence* --- Fred-Uf 1.8(L)[BETA] * Origin: Megabyte BBS, UUCP, Fidonet, IMEx, total messaging (1:340/201.0)