For some time now, Skype users in Europe and other countries could send their SkypeIn number as a CallerID (Caller Line Identification - CLI) for SkypeOut calls. Yet if a North American made a SkypeOut call, usually the recipient of the call would see a non-identifying "0000123456" or something similar.

This week Skype has modified this service such that Skype users can select either their SkypeIn (Online) number or mobile phone number as their CLI or CallerID to be sent with their SkypeOut calls. And now it applies to North American Skype users. Yesterday I signed up for the service (go to www.skype.com and select Account, login and select "Caller Identification"). You will then get a window with the following:

In this case the dropdown is showing two options: the mobile number associated with my Skype profile and my U.S.-based SkypeIn (online) number. Select which you want as your CallerID number when making SkypeOut calls and click on the "Save" button. You will then get a message notifying you that you should receive a "verification" SMS message within 24 hours.

While, at the time of writing I have yet to receive the referenced SMS message, 18 hoursr later I have made a test call to observe that the callerID is being passed through; in this case, I saw my selected mobile number. As the CLI service depends on SMS messaging for CallerID number verification, any number entered via "Enter another number as your CallerID" needs to be a mobile number (with the "+1" country code). Also note that, if your selected mobile or SkypeIn number is in the recipient's phone address book, the caller's name will also appear.

The option to "Automatically display a number that is local to the call destination" is available for those Skype users who have multiple SkypeIn numbers (say, a U.S. number and a U.K. number). The service will detect the destination of the call and determine which of the two SkypeIn (online) numbers it should display.

For North Americans, seeing the "+1" country code would identify the call as coming from a Skype user as normally this is not displayed when receiving PSTN calls.

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