Use of に to mark the caller of 電話がかかる


Is it okay to use に to mark the caller when using 電話がかかる? i.e. A received a
call from B would be

> AはBに電話がかかった。

Google seems to indicate that から is a much more popular choice than に. I find
it a bit strange, since I thought (whenever both に and から are viable options)
に was preferred for agents and から for sources, and receiving a phone call
seems more like the former case.




In the sentence

> ◯◯に電話がかかった

に indicates the _recipient_ of the phone call. It would be very confusing if
you suddenly tried to indicate the _caller_ with に as well. に and から are not
both viable options to indicate the caller, because に is already used to
indicate the recipient.

If you used に to indicate the caller, it would be like trying to say "I got a
package from him" this way:

> 彼に荷物が届いた

which actually means "he received a package."

You can say "A got a call from B" like this:

> AにBから電話がかかった

or more commonly

> AにBから電話がかかってきた

If you are the recipient of the call, you can omit the に part and it will be
understood:

> Bから電話がかかってきた  
>  I got a call from B




In the sentence

> ◯◯に電話がかかった

に indicates the _recipient_ of the phone call. It would be very confusing if
you suddenly tried to indicate the _caller_ with に as well. に and から are not
both viable options to indicate the caller, because に is already used to
indicate the recipient.

If you used に to indicate the caller, it would be like trying to say "I got a
package from him" this way:

> 彼に荷物が届いた

which actually means "he received a package."

You can say "A got a call from B" like this:

> AにBから電話がかかった

or more commonly

> AにBから電話がかかってきた

If you are the recipient of the call, you can omit the に part and it will be
understood:

> Bから電話がかかってきた  
>  I got a call from B

