What Recipients See: Shared Numbers Explained

Every call needs a caller ID - the number the recipient's phone displays. CallTuv gives you three options: the default Shared Number, your own verified number, or a US number you rent from CallTuv for $5.95 a month.

How Shared Numbers work

When you call with the Shared Number setting (the default for new accounts), the recipient sees a real phone number drawn from CallTuv's pool. Seeing a different number than your own on the recipient's screen is normal and not an error on your account: it's how the default setting works, and it keeps your personal number private. The number shown is a legitimate, working-format number - not "Unknown" or "No Caller ID" - which helps your calls look normal and get answered.

Because the pool is shared across CallTuv:

• The number can differ between calls - you're not assigned one specific number.
• It's outbound-only - if the person calls the number back, they won't reach you. Shared Numbers are for making calls, not receiving them.

Which country the Shared Number comes from

CallTuv doesn't pick a number at random from one big list. Where we hold numbers close to the country you're dialling, we use one of those. That does two useful things at once:

• Your call is more likely to be answered. A number that looks familiar on the recipient's screen gets picked up more often than a foreign one.
• It keeps the price down. Each pool is chosen for the calling route it travels on, and those routes are what the per-minute prices on our rates page are based on.

In practice that means:

• Calling the United Kingdom usually shows a UK number on their screen.
• Calling Israel usually shows an Israeli number.
• Calling one of these 19 European countries usually shows a Netherlands number: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Spain. It is a European number, but not one from the exact country you dialled.
• Everywhere else shows a US number, which is our general-purpose pool. That includes the European countries not on the list above, such as Ukraine, Switzerland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Serbia, Cyprus and Malta, and the whole of the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America. So a call to Ukraine, Saudi Arabia or Nigeria shows a US number rather than a local one.

Two things worth knowing, so nothing comes as a surprise:

• You can't pick a different pool or pay extra for a local number. The country you dial decides which pool is used. If you want people to see a number from their own country, verify a number you own there.
• The list above is the complete list today. We add local numbers as we go, so a destination that shows a US number now may show a local one in future, but until it appears on that list you should expect a US number. Nothing changes on your side when it does.
• Occasionally a call shows a US number anyway, even to a country where we normally have local ones. This is a deliberate safety net so your call still connects rather than failing.

You don't need to choose any of this or change a setting. It happens automatically on every call, on the website, the mobile app, and the extension alike.

When Shared Numbers are the right choice

• You're calling businesses, hotlines, or services that don't need to call you back.
• You want to keep your personal number private.
• You just signed up and want to start calling immediately, with zero setup.

When to use your own number instead

If you're calling family, clients, or anyone who should recognize you and be able to call you back on their regular phone line, verify your own mobile or landline number as your caller ID - then every CallTuv call displays your number. It takes about a minute:

• Verify Your Own Number as Caller ID
• Switching or Removing Your Caller ID

If you mostly call the US and want the same number to show every time but have no US phone of your own, you can rent a US number for $5.95 a month instead. It is outgoing only, so people still can't ring you back on it.

There is one trade-off worth knowing before you switch. Because the Shared Number pool is picked with calling routes and prices in mind, showing your own number instead can change the per-minute price for some destinations - sometimes up, sometimes down. Nothing is hidden: the dialer always shows the exact price for the number you've typed before you press call, so you can check it either way.

Where to find the setting

• Web dialer: the caller ID button at the top of the Call page. It says Caller ID: and then either Shared Numbers or the number your calls show.
• Mobile app: Settings → Caller ID.

Your caller ID choice applies account-wide - set it once and it's used on web, mobile, and the extension alike. A rented number is the one exception: it only works on calls from the team that pays for it.