Same phone number with different code problem

Question

There is a strange bug/issue with almost all phones (non-android phones too). If two different contacts have same numbers with different starting code they appear as one contact.

• In call log both numbers show under one contact
• When any one of them calls, phone shows just one contact

For example, my brother (03331234567) and father (03311234567).

• I dial 03311234567 manually and press call, on screen it appears as "brother 0331123456789
• I dial number of my father from contact list same happens.
• Father calls me but on screen Brother appears

How to solve this issue. I am using froyo

Update: I posted it as a new issue
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=18684

Answer 1

I don't think you can solve this issue. (For what it's worth I have the same issue when my wife calls me from our home phone. It looks like I'm calling myself.)

What's happening is the phone is comparing the phone number (being called, incoming) against the list of contacts and selecting the first one it finds. Certainly it can't tell who's on the other line on an incoming call. It also doesn't keep track of which contact you came from when you're calling out. (The likeliest explanation there is that the Contact app is handing off just the phone number to the calling app, which then does a lookup with just the number to get the contact to display on the screen.)

As you say, this isn't just an Android issue. I also saw it with my Palm Centro.

Answer 2

This is because the phone number +123456789012 is the same as 03456789012 when called from the same country and is the same as 56789012 when called in the same area code, the phone has no way to know that +213456789012 is a different contact than +123456789012 if you store your contacts as 03456789012.

Try adding country and area code for these contacts? Also, what happens if you dial the complete number when dialing out, i.e. dial +123456789012 instead of 03456789012.