ANI

ANI stands for Automatic Number Identification. It is the phone number that travels with an outbound call to tell the network — and the person you dialed — where the call came from. In VICIdial you usually set this through the campaign caller ID, also called the cid, and the carrier then passes it along the call path. To the called party it shows up as the caller ID on their screen.

ANI matters because it shapes how your calls are treated. If you present a clean, well-known number — typically one of your owned did numbers — your calls look legitimate. If the ANI is missing, mismatched, or borrowed from a number you do not control, carriers may apply a spam likely tag or trigger call blocking. Some people confuse ANI with the name that appears alongside it; that name comes from a separate caller-name lookup known as cnam.

There is an important distinction between the ANI and the dialed number. The dialed number, often called the dnis on the receiving side, is who you are calling. The ANI is who is calling. Inbound systems use the ANI to route or screen incoming calls, while outbound systems use it to present a trustworthy identity.

A common mistake is treating ANI as something you can set to anything. Sending an ANI you do not own is a form of caller id spoofing and can break trust with carriers. Stick to numbers you have registered and use them consistently, so your ANI builds a good reputation over time instead of looking suspicious to the network.