Telcos charge for connecting phone calls and routing voice packets. Even robocallers have to pay those fees.
Not only that, but they also charge for Caller ID name lookups.
This is interesting. So if I get a strange number and search 800notes.com or whatever the carrier is getting paid?
No, this occurs at the telco level. When a call is placed, only the number is sent. The receiving exchange must look up that number to get the name, and that lookup costs some fraction of a cent. This is why Caller ID with name costs extra money.
So if I don't answer, who is paying for the call? I thought unanswered calls were free for some reason.