AN AIRBUS A319 FLC DSNDED ON A CLRNC INTENDED FOR ANOTHER ACFT.

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IN CRUISE FLT APCHING CMH. CTR HAD GIVEN US A VECTOR IN PREPARATION FOR THE DSCNT INTO CMH. APPARENTLY AND UNKNOWN TO US; THERE WAS ANOTHER FLT WITH A NEARLY IDENTICAL CALL SIGN ON THE FREQ. ATC ISSUED A CLRNC TO DSND TO FL240; AND BECAUSE THE INITIAL PART OF THE CALL SIGN WAS CLIPPED; ALL I HEARD WAS WHAT SOUNDED LIKE MY CALL SIGN; DSND TO FL240. I ACKNOWLEDGED THE DSCNT CLRNC; AND CALLED DEPARTING FL370 TO FL240. APPROX FL300; ATC CALLED US AND ASKED US TO STATE OUR ALT; WHICH WE DID. I WAS THEN INSTRUCTED TO LEVEL AT FL290 AND INFORMED THAT THE DSCNT CLRNC WAS FOR ANOTHER ACFT. SHORTLY THEREAFTER; HE AGAIN ISSUED ANOTHER CLRNC TO THE OTHER ACFT; AND AGAIN HIS XMISSION WAS INITIALLY CLIPPED; AND THE CALL SIGN SOUNDED EXACTLY LIKE OURS. THIS TIME I ASKED IF THE CLRNC WAS FOR US; AND WAS INFORMED THAT IT WAS NOT. I INFORMED THE CTLR THAT HIS XMISSIONS WERE CLIPPING AND THAT THEY WERE COMING OUT SOUNDING LIKE OUR CALL SIGN. THE NEXT 2 MISSIONS INCLUDED A REPEAT OF THE COMPANY CALL SIGN ALONG WITH THE FLT NUMBER. WE WERE INFORMED THAT NO LOSS OF SEPARATION TOOK PLACE. I CALLED THE ATC CTR AND DISCUSSED THE SIT WITH THEM. APPARENTLY THE CTLR WAS NEW; AND HE DID NOT FOLLOW THE ESTABLISHED PROCS WHEN CONTACTING US TO LET US KNOW ANOTHER ACFT WITH A SIMILAR CALL SIGN WAS ON THE FREQ AND HE ALSO DID NOT REPEAT THE COMPANY CALL SIGN FOLLOWING OUR FLT NUMBER AS PER THEIR PROCS. IN ADDITION HE MISSED MY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE CLRNC. GIVEN THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT WE WERE EXPECTING A DSCNT CLRNC (THIS WAS WHY WE WERE ON THE VECTOR) AND THAT THE FO WAS OFF THE ATC FREQ OBTAINING THE ATIS AND CONTACTING OPS; I AM NOT SURE THAT THE SAME THING WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED TO ANYONE ELSE. I KNEW THAT I WAS BY MYSELF ON THE FREQ; AND I WAS BEING PARTICULARLY ATTENTIVE TO RADIO CALLS AT THAT BUSY TIME -- AND EVEN AFTER THE MISTAKE WAS MADE; AND WITH NOT ONLY THE FO AND A COMPANY JUMP SEAT PLT LISTENING; THE VERY NEXT XMISSION FROM THE ATC CTLR TO THE OTHER ACFT WAS SO CLOSE IN SOUND TO OUR CALL SIGN THAT I HAD TO CALL ATC AND SPECIFICALLY REQUEST HIM TO REPEAT JUST EXACTLY TO WHOM HE WAS CALLING SO WE COULD BE SURE THAT IT WAS NOT FOR US. FOLLOWING THAT REQUEST; HE THEN STARTED REPEATING THE COMPANY NAME AFTER THE FLT NUMBER AND NO FURTHER MISUNDERSTANDINGS OCCURRED.