Community Chat

[Allegheny]

My out-of-state cousin has a private number.  Even though I have his telephone number listed in my phone book his comes thru listed as private number.  He told me he has the ability to switch it over so it would show up on my caller ID but he forgets.

I will agree that many solicitation calls will come thru as private number.  I just wait for the answering machine to come on, usually they will disconnect.

[NickNack]

---

@Zhills wrote:

I don't think cell phone numbers are published publicly

.  They are all private.

---

In my area cell phone #'s do show up on caller id's.  They usually (maybe always?) say Cell Phone instead of the person's name but show the number.

[Sage04]

Cell phones numbers are not published but still show the number if you call someone. Usually dialing #67 from any phone before dialing the number you are trying to reach, prevents the person you are calling, from seeing your number.

[sgraham30]

@hoosieroriginal, I have that issue with my  phone. When I call someone using my landline, I show up as private, restricted, or unavailable. I don't know what the heck he did to cause this to happen, but it started doing this when AT&T replaced my cable box 2-3 years ago. I've had the issue with my phone number not showing up when I call somone since then.

[NickNack]

---

@sgraham30 wrote:

@hoosieroriginal, I have that issue with my  phone. When I call someone using my landline, I show up as private, restricted, or unavailable. I don't know what the heck he did to cause this to happen, but it started doing this when AT&T replaced my cable box 2-3 years ago. I've had the issue with my phone number not showing up when I call somone since then.

---

@sgraham30  Wow, that would be really irritating.  No one would answer your calls until you leave a message.  I'm sure you've called AT&T about this, haven't you?

[SilleeMee]

It's probably some guy trying to sell you "little blue pills" from somewhere overseas.

[handygal2]

---

@sgraham30 wrote:

@hoosieroriginal, I have that issue with my  phone. When I call someone using my landline, I show up as private, restricted, or unavailable. I don't know what the heck he did to cause this to happen, but it started doing this when AT&T replaced my cable box 2-3 years ago. I've had the issue with my phone number not showing up when I call somone since then.

---

@sgraham30: l have my number showing up as "private," b/c l prefer it that way. But when l want the person l'm calling to see my number, l press *82 before dialing, and that allows my number to show up on the recipient's caller ID.

[Zhills]

Funny!  Sometimes it is just the phone companies.  I get Wireless and the number on my caller ID but no name.  It will give the name on my cell if they are a contact.  

[SharkE]

I don't put up with it, just block 'em on my call blocker.

[Tukey]

From my recollection you could either type in a special code (* something) to do this once for the call you were about to make or do another code to make this permanent on your line so anyone you'd call would see "private caller".  I have always set my phones to block private callers - I figure if you really want to talk to me you can let my caller ID identify you.  But seeing the comment from the poster whose cable box changed and makes her show up as unavailable maybe some people can't control.  I personally started rejecting private callers years ago because of ex boyfriends calling or people who did telemarketing from their homes.

One time I had that set and the boyfriend I was living with at the time found out months later that his sister was never able to call us because her calls were getting rejected because she had her line set to "private caller".  So I had to turn that feature off then :-)