incorrect caller ID info cannot be changed

Last spring I switched from being part of my parents' AT&T "family plan" to an individual plan. However, my caller ID info did not change and still comes up as my father's name when I call any landline. Since that time I have had dozens of conversations with AT&T customer support both on the phone and in the local AT&T store about this. Many times they have told me the problem is fixed when it is not. Then they told me that they have already fixed the name in their database, and now it is the responsibility of the recipients' phone companies to change it in their databases. However, when I have called other phone companies about it, they say they've never heard of such a thing and that AT&T has the responsibility to change it. They have also told me it would be impossible to even file a ticket on this problem since it is coming from someone who is not even a customer of theirs.

My most recent communication with AT&T had them telling me there is no way to change it and I should just forget it. I asked if changing my phone number would change it, and they said no because the old database info will be used with the new number.

Does anyone have any ideas on this, because it really is not acceptable for me to be identified by the wrong name, and it looks like my only solution is to pay an enormous fee to break the contract.

---

› See More: incorrect caller ID info cannot be changed

Caller ID is handled by the local landline carrier. The originating carrier provides the information to a central database. Local carriers pay to get updates to the database. After the originating carrier has provided the information to the database, all they transmit is the telephone number. It is the responsibility of the landline carrier to display the name. See this article for an explanation: Caller ID - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Okay, thanks for the info. So in other words, I'm completely out of luck (not being a customer of the landline carriers and therefore unable to get them to do anything.) Well, I wish AT&T had told me about this "issue" from the beginning (before I started a contract with them) rather than stringing me along for months and months telling me they were trying to solve it.