Are Calling Cards Anonymous
Are Calling Cards Anonymous?
February 5th, 2007 · 1 Comment
Phonecarddepot.com
ran a simple test to see if your anonymity is protected when using a
prepaid phone card. The test: does the number you are calling from show
up on the call display of the phone you are calling?
The way calling cards work is that your local access number
connects you to a server that routes your call through the carrier’s
lines or through the Internet to a gateway in the call desination city.
Phone Card Depot’s hypothesis was that the call display on the
receiving phone would display either the local access number that we
dialed or a number associated with the destination gateway, not the
real number that we made the call from. Our staff was surprised at the
results.
Our GM, Tavis McKenzie dialed his Motorola i830 cellular phone from the Phone Card Depot office landline and took pictures of the call display.
Phone Card Depot’s landline number is 905-737-6478, let’s see what
shows up in the call display of his Motorola i830 cellular phone.
Using CiCi Calling Card
Number Calling From: 905.737.6478
Number on Call Display: 905.737.6478 (correct)
Result: Not Anonymous
Using Telus Calling Card
Number Caling From: 905.737.6478
Number on Call Display: 780.402.0002 (incorrect)
Result: Anonymous
From these results it was concluded that the type of calling card
used is what was important to anonymity. Today’s calling cards are
routed through two different systems: VOIP and traditional land lines.
Upon further research we believe that cards running off of VOIP systems
are usually not anonymous because they pass the number you are calling
from through to the destination telephone’s call display. Calling cards
that are run off of the traditional call-routing schema are considered
anonymous.
Phone Card Depot: Prepaid Phone Card Blog
Written by: Tavis McKenzie
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