Phone number shows on TV screen

[Paintedcow]

I went with some friends on Thanksgiving to a bar I never was at before. The bar's landline phone was ringing often, I guess people wanted to know if they were open on the holiday. Anyhow, we were watching football on their tv, and everytime the phone rang, the caller's phone number appeared on the TV screen. Below the phone number it either said their location (city or town), or else it showed the name of the cellular company.

I never knew such a thing existed. How the heck does a phone number end up on TV? That seems really bizarre. I asked the bartender how that works, but he said he did not know. I did find out their tv signal is from a satellite dish but that's all I know.

Has anyone ever seen such a thing? How does it work?

[FrozenNorth]

Yep, got it on my TV Bell Canada satellite TV, phone line plugs into the satellite box, also can be used for ordering PPV shows.

[Frank]

I have Comcast triple play (TV, internet and phone) and number shows up but only on my HD sets.

[Arnie Goetchius]

It just started on my TV with Verizon FiOS with Digital Voice. I suspect that this started when I enabled Simultaneous Ring which is required to use NOMOROBO service.

[Frank]

No idea how it got there or if we had to do anything to set it up.

It is convenient in not having to get up and look at caller id on the phone.

[Stormin Mormon]

Some cable companies provide that when you get phone and cable TV through the same company.

[Percival P. Cassidy]

That was an optional setting in the DirecTV receivers (at least the early ones) as long as we had a phone line connected to them.

Perce

[Muggles]

When our phone service and tv service went through the same carrier, you could turn on an option to see caller ID on the tv when the phone rang.

[gfretwell]

It is a setup option on Dish TV receivers as long as you have caller ID on the phone line and I have an old POTS phone. (No Fios or VOIP phone)

[ItsJoanNotJoann]

I've had DirecTV for over 10 years and phone numbers have always showed up on the screen when the phone rings. It will have the name or company or show unavailable when it appears.

[Jon Danniken]

When I had a phone and cable service through comcast (VOIP/digital) a few years ago, incoming numbers and caller ID would show on the bottom of the screen. It really puzzled me the first time I saw it, as it was a neighbor calling me and I couldn't help but wonder why my neighbor's name was on my television screen.

Jon

[burfordTjustice]

The bar should have a Thank You letter on file from the NSA.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

And annoying when you record the show to watch days later.

[gfretwell]

If you are talking about the Dish box, the caller ID is not recorded, it is in the playback/display stream in real time. I assume the cable, VOIP and FiOS boxen work the same.