CID (caller ID)

CID stands for caller ID — the number that pops up on the screen of the person you're dialing. In VICIdial you set it on the campaign, and it's the single most-looked-at thing on an outbound call. If the number looks wrong or out of area, people just don't pick up.

Here's the part that trips people up: setting a CID in VICIdial doesn't make it true. Your number is only the number you put in the campaign's Outbound Caller ID field. The actual digits that reach the phone come from whatever your carrier lets you send. Most carriers only pass a CID you actually own or have verified, and they'll block or rewrite anything else. So the field in VICIdial and the permission on your trunk both have to agree.

You can override the campaign default per list using a list-id-override, which is handy when one campaign dials several regions and you want a local number for each. The CID is just the number — the name that shows alongside it is a separate thing called cnam, and the number you let people call back is usually a did you own.

A few practical notes:

• Use a number people can call back. A dead CID hurts answer rates and looks like spam.
• Match the area code to the region you're dialing when you can — that's what list-id-override is for.
• If your CID never reaches the other end, check the trunk before you touch the campaign — the carrier is usually the one filtering it.