Brand Your Calls Using CNAM (Public Beta)
Overview
CNAM stands for Caller ID Name. CNAM is a feature in the United States public telephone network that identifies an incoming caller by a personal or business name associated with the originating phone number. CNAM is registered by the EndUser assigned the phone number through their Telephony Service Provider (Twilio).
Onboarding
There are two different options for enabling CNAM on your phone number(s):
- Using the Twilio Console
- Twilio's Trust Hub REST API.
Please note CNAM can be a maximum of 15 characters. CNAM should begin with a letter and can only contain letters, numbers, periods, commas and spaces.
Note: At this time, you are unable to update Toll-Free numbers CNAM via the Twilio Console or API. To update the CNAM on a Toll-Free number, please contact support.
CNAM Onboarding in the Twilio Console
- Create a Business Profile in the Console's Trust Hub and submit for vetting.
- If you are an ISV, then you would need to create a Secondary Business Profile for your customer(s).
- Assign phone numbers in your account to the Business Profile.
- This associates a single identity with the phone numbers.
- Create a CNAM Trust Product instance that is associated with your in the Trust Hub and submit for vetting.
- Select phone numbers for CNAM Registration.
- Only those phone numbers already assigned to your Business Profile are eligible.
- Click Save
- When the CNAM Trust Product reaches Twilio-Approved status, Twilio will register CNAM display name for your numbers with the CNAM authoritative databases in the United States.
NOTE: You can remove CNAM by unassigning Phone Number from CNAM Trust Product or by deleting the CNAM Trust Product.
That's it. No coding required.
CNAM Onboarding with the Trust Hub REST API
Please refer to Trust Hub Rest API Docs for more details.
1. Create a Business Profile in the Console's Trust Hub and submit for vetting.
-
Visit the Console's Trust Hub section to create a Business Profile.
- If you are an ISV, then you would need to create a Secondary Business Profile for your customer(s).
2. Assign phone numbers in your account to the Business Profile. This associates a single identity with the phone numbers.
- You'll need your Phone Number SID(s)
- To find your Phone Number SIDs in the Console, go to your Dashboard. In the Project Info section, click on See all phone numbers, then click on a phone number to find the SID.
- To find your Phone Number SIDs via API, see the Additional API Calls section below.
- Phone Number SIDs begin with "PN".
- In the API Call below, don't change the
ChannelEndpointType
. It needs to bephone-number
to add a phone number to your Business Profile.
3. Create CNAM Trust Product
- Note: Do not change the
policy_sid
from the example below. This is a static value that will stay the same across all accounts. - The response will contain the SID for your Trust Product. You'll need this for several other API calls.
4. Connect your CNAM Trust Product to your Business Profile
- You will need your Trust Product SID (returned in the previous API call).
- You'll need your Business Profile's SID.
- To retrieve this SID via API, see the Additional API Calls section below.
- You can also find it in the Console under Trust Hub.
5. Create CNAM End User
- Note: In the API Call below, don't change the
Type
. It needs to becnam_information
to create the proper CNAM End User resource. - This API call will return the SID for the End User. You will need this in the next step.
6. Connect your CNAM Trust Product to your End User
- You will need the End User SID from the previous step.
- You will also need the CNAM Trust Product SID, returned from the API call in Step 3
- To retrieve this SID via API, see the Additional API Calls section below.
7. Add Phone Number to CNAM Trust Product
- You'll need the CNAM Trust Product SID, returned from the API call in Step 3
- You'll need the Phone Number SID(s) you assigned to your Business Profile earlier. (Note: Only those phone numbers already assigned to your Business Profile are eligible)
- You'll need your Buisness Profile SID. It starts with "BU".
- To retrieve any of these SIDs via API, see the Additional API Calls section below.
- Note: Don't change the
ChannelEndpointType
8. Submit CNAM Trust Product
Additional Information
Learn more about Business Profiles and other Trust Products in the Trust Hub Docs.
After your CNAM Trust Product reaches "Twilio-Approved", the display name may take 48-72 hours to propagate to all carriers in the United States.
Please note that often times, CNAM display name only appears on devices if enabled by the subscriber.
For landlines, CNAM is always enabled by default.
For mobile devices, some carriers, offer for free, but others require you to download their smartphone App and pay $3 per month.
Mobile Network | Smartphone App |
Verizon | Call Filter Plus |
AT&T | Call Protect Plus |
T-Mobile | Scam Shield |
Sprint | Call Screener |
Additional API Calls
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