Consumers are hooked on Caller ID

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Rebecca Ryen hears the ring of the telephone and lunges for the receiver, eager to hear a friendly voice at the other end of the line.

But then she pauses and checks her Caller ID box to find out if it will be a friendly voice after all.

"When 'unavailable' comes across, it's either a phone company or a bill collector," said Ryen, of Bethesda, Md. "And that means I don't answer it."

She is among millions of phone users using technology that gives them information before, after and during calls. A study of consumer behavior by Arbitron NewMedia found Caller ID customers have quadrupled in the past four years.

"It's a never-ending source of amazement how much customers love these things," said Terry Yarbrough, senior director of product management at BellSouth, where more than 40 percent of the company's customers have Caller ID, and 35 percent either use or subscribe to Call Return, activated by dialing "*69" to trace the last incoming call.

SBC Communications' Southwestern Bell, the main provider of local phone service in Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas, boasts an even higher Caller ID rate: More than half of its customers have the feature.

Phone companies are responding to demand by developing new features.

The latest example: Bell Atlantic's Call 54, which enables people to find out the name and address that corresponds to a local phone number, as long as the name and address are listed. To get the information, a person calls 555-5454 and then dials in the phone number.

The service leaves out unpublished information. Others can have their information removed from the database.

Privacy groups say these phone features can put those who want to safeguard their home numbers and addresses at a disadvantage.

"Some of these services can be extremely problematic to people who have to protect their security in their home," said Beth Givens, director of the San Diego-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

With some features, the burden is on the callers to opt out of being identified by blocking their number or calling through an operator.

The cat-and-mouse technology game can get harried: To dodge the Caller ID system, a caller can activate a feature to block the number and have it show up as "unavailable" or "anonymous." Phone users can one-up the clever caller by blocking calls from certain numbers.

Such advances could redefine what consumers consider phone must- haves.

Ryen admits she is addicted to her Caller ID.

"I wanted to get it because everybody else had it," Ryen said. "Now I can't live without it."

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