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RJ17

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 16, 2008
139
0
I just purchased an iPhone and I have some contacts that all have the same phone number. When someone calls from this number the caller id reads "Contact Name" and 2 others. Is there anyway to set what name shows up as the default? Thanks
 

domness

macrumors 6502a
Jan 14, 2008
651
26
Sheffield, UK
I just purchased an iPhone and I have some contacts that all have the same phone number. When someone calls from this number the caller id reads "Contact Name" and 2 others. Is there anyway to set what name shows up as the default? Thanks

What do you mean by "and 2 others" ?
 

arkitect

macrumors 604
Sep 5, 2005
7,140
13,233
Bath, United Kingdom
Unfortunately there is no way around this since the iPhone or network is not able to determine which one of the contacts is calling you from that shared number.
 

RJ17

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 16, 2008
139
0
I understand the network doesn't know but in your contact settings is there a way to set a default contact name for a specific number.
 

Tom J

macrumors regular
Sep 15, 2006
205
0
Midwest
Bump

RJ, did you ever find a solution to this? I'm running into the same problem.

To summarize the problem, Several family members would all have a common landline number listed as "home" in their individual contact info. When that home number calls my iPhone, the caller ID will pick one name (at random?) and display "Jane Doe and two others" when it would be FAR more useful for the caller ID to display "Home"

This only occurs when there are multiple instances of a single number in the contacts list. Again, this is a problem specific to the iPhone's contact list and NOT anything to do with the network.

Has anyone found a workaround for this?
 

mrpoovey

macrumors newbie
Jul 29, 2008
27
0
Correct me if I'm wrong but if the same landline number say for your mom and dad and your little sister live in the same house why not just make a contact just for "home" instead of putting the number in all the contacts that also live there. Get what I mean?

The iPhone is smart but it can't be like "o this time it's your little sister calling from home."
 

Ntombi

macrumors 68040
Jul 1, 2008
3,807
1,629
Bostonian exiled in SoCal
Correct me if I'm wrong but if the same landline number say for your mom and dad and your little sister live in the same house why not just make a contact just for "home" instead of putting the number in all the contacts that also live there. Get what I mean?

The iPhone is smart but it can't be like "o this time it's your little sister calling from home."

That's not what he's saying. He's asking if you can choose WHICH of the contacts show when several share a number.

I'd like to know if anyone has found a solution to this also. Right now, I think the iPhone uses the first, alphabetically speaking, but for me sometimes that's the less well-known of the group, which I'd like to change. If not, I'll deal with it, but it would be nice.
 

RJ17

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 16, 2008
139
0
I never did find a solution to this problem. Let me know if anyone else finds one.
 

holmen09

macrumors newbie
Jun 24, 2008
11
0
La Crosse, WI
I don't know if this will work with the iPhone since I don't have one, but in my cell phone the number that would show would be the last person that was entered with that number. I guess it would be easy to test my theory even if it doesn't work.
 

iFerd

macrumors 6502a
Jul 20, 2007
927
0
Bump

Has anyone found a workaround for this?
This may not be satisfactory for everyone, but I have taken my home phone out of all individuals' Contacts entries and only put it in an entry for Home. A call from home then shows as Home. I decided I could remember to call Home rather than any individual who is living there. Maybe that will work for some others too.

That's probably good for home. Not sure what I'd think about a single phone for a bunch of roommates. It would get to be a nuisance if you have serveral such places to keep track of.
 

spyrales

macrumors newbie
Aug 22, 2008
1
0
Caller-Id display with multiple contact

I never did find a solution to this problem. Let me know if anyone else finds one.

I found a solution (that works for my anyway).

When trying to display the caller ID, the Iphone sorts by phone number. For most of my business contacts, an extension is present:
example (555)-555-1212p2402 (both in outlook and the iphone).

Some of my contacts did not. So the iphone showed one of the contacts without any extension. That bothered me. So I added extension to all of them (0 when I didn't have the extension).

I then created a generic contact (example ACME) with the phone number in question without any extension. Guess what.The Iphone now shows Acme instead of one of the contacts...

The nicest things about it: it is refreshed in the recent caller list as well. So you can try to update your contact list until the recent caller list shows the one you want...ACME instead of John Doe...

I also did it for home by creating a entry named "Home". Remember that most contacts have more than one phone number, so you will probably want everyone at home in your contact list (if only to keep the mobile number !).

Hope it is clear, if not let me know...
 
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