We just had Caller ID installed, after spending several weeks getting hang-up calls. We would do *69 back, but get a message saying the number of our last incoming call was marked private.
We bought the phone Thursday, and Caller ID was activated Friday.
I already did the *77 to block anonymous calls.
I’ve been on hold for over an hour with Verizon to ask some questions, but I know I’ll get some answers from the esteemed Teeming Millions.
What does it mean when an incoming call says “Out-Of-Area” or “Unavailable”? They aren’t the blocked calls, since I’ve blocked the blocked callers.
Sometimes, it will say “Out-of-Area 000-000-0000” and will be a telemarketer or something like that (someone from Comcast trying to upgrade my service).
When my husband calls on his cell phone, it says “Out-of-Area” but still lists his cell phone number, even though he’s only 10-12 miles away. Why?
What do I do to block my outgoing calls?
Anything else I should know about using Caller ID? Good or bad experiences? (I’m not going to be one of those obnoxious people who calls everyone back and asks who they are and why their number is on my Caller ID.)
“Unavailable” might refer to people who have chosen to block the reciever’s caller ID from showing their number for that one call only by pressing *67 before dialing. (I don’t know if that feature is available everywhere, but it is here in FL)
Nope, it’s not that. I’ve blocked people who block their calls. It’s the ultimate in paranoia. I’ve done *77. If someone blocks their number from being picked up on Caller ID, my phone won’t even ring. They just get a recording saying the number they’re trying to call has blocked anonymous calls, and to unblock their number and try again.
We got caller ID - and LOVED it, except for the out of area calls. So we upgraded to Privacy Director. If it’s a no-ID call, the computer asks them to identify themselves by voice, as in “DeVena, this is your sister. Pick up the damn phone.”
I then get a Privacy Director call, pick up the phone and hear her message, press a key and speak to my slightly miffed sister. And NO telemarketers get through.
And be aware that telemarketers are beginning to catch on. If the caller ID is a city name, it might be a cell phone or a telemarketer.
Just out of curiosity, I called our home number with my cell phone right after I hooked up the phone. It said, “Maryland” and displayed my cell phone number. No name, though. I thought that was kind of odd.
And as I said, my husband’s cell phone (his employer owns the phone) says “Out-of-Area” but still displays the cell number.
I’ve already decided I’m not even answering the “OOA” and “Unavailable” calls. If it’s important, they’ll leave a message.
Anyone else who’s called so far (friends and family or whomever) has been displayed.
For some stupid reason, when I call my mom, I show up as out of area, with no number. Many’s the time she’s picked up and immediately hung up the phone, thinking it’s a telemarketer. I have no idea why she doesn’t get my number - I’m not blocked or anything!
When my husband calls from work, he shows up as an unknown caller on my caller ID. But his work cell phone displays the number, and his personal cell displays his name and number. It’s all a mystery to me. But I do love it!! I no longer have to talk to the bajillion mortgage companies and home security companies that call. It’s bliss!!
“Blocked” (or, “Anonymous Call”) mean that the caller has actively blocked the caller ID.
“Unknown Caller” (or “Out of Area”) simply means that your service provider is not getting perfectly shared information from the caller’s service provider (or some intermediate sevice).
For example, Deb’s nursing office just switched providers for their company-issued cell phones. Originally, I saw her number appear when she called home, now I simply get “Unknown Caller.” We haven’t changed anything in the house and the calls are coming from the same area code and prefix, but with the change in companies, some point of information is not being passed along.
Large companies with lots of phones may route all their calls through a single PBX or multi-channel successor to PBX systems. In that case, the actual “calling” phone is masked by the exchange number and the number shows up as “unknown.” (As noted, above, this is pretty common with calls from banks of phone solicitors.)
In our case, we also have to put up with getting our primary service from a company other than a Baby Bell, so when we first got caller ID installed, there were lots of calls from “Outside Of Area” that were unrecognized. Originally, all our calls from family in Michigan were “Unknown.” Then they began appearing, first the Ameritech (Baby Bell) numbers, later the GTE numbers. Now, (finally) every personal home phone and about 70% of the personal cell phones come in with a number. (Our “small brand” still does not identify names.)
The 000-000-0000 and 999-999-9999 numbers I have always guessed were incomplete masking or blocking numbers that got translated to digits. I’ve never picked one up to see who it was and they have never left a message.
Back when caller ID first came into fashion, there was a minor national debate about “right to privacy” issues.
I remember Ted Koppel on Nightline opining/complaining about how the technology will provide everyone he calls his private tel. #. My 1st reaction was, too bad Ted, by placing a call to someone, you’re actually invading their privacy - shouldn’t they at least be afforded the luxury of knowing who it is who’s calling?
IMHO, it’s a little hypocritical to want to know the name & # of every incoming call you receive & in the next breath ask how you block others from having that same info.
Why the phone companies offer Caller ID to customers and then provide them the tools to block their name to the people they call is something I’ll never understand.
The same reason unscrupulous arms dealers sell to both sides in a war-- more profit all around. Caller ID is an integrated function of the ANI (Automatic Number Identification) system all the Bells put in when they switched over from POTS (the Plain Old Telephone System)… it really doesn’t cost them anything to provide the (Dr. Evil Finger quotes) “service” as ANI would send the caller ID information anyway. It probably costs them a little to shut it off so they can turn it back on for a fee.
It’s the same kind of thinking that has caused them to switch over (in parts of FL at least) to automated voice messages upon encountering a busy signal, offering to redial the called number for the user’s “convenience”-- and a fee of 75 cents… this voice conveniently breaks the auto-redial function on my phone, since it thinks a human has picked up. They intentionally crippled the system so we’d have to pay for a “convenience” that used to be free.
Oh, I agree. That’s why I said in an earlier posy that it’s the ultimate in paranoia. I was just curious as to how it was done. I didn’t even know you could do that.
I never paid much attention to the extra phone stuff before. It was simply a device to talk to people. Ialways thought Caller ID was ridiculous, but I like it now.
We started getting hang up calls. Someone would call, stay on the line for a few seconds (they were definitely there, I could hear a TV or music in the background), and then hang up.
It would happen usually two times in a row, maybe twice a week.
I just ignored it, but my husband would do *69 to see who it was, and it always said it was a private number.
The phone company said there was nothing we could do other than blocking anonymous calls for $3 a month or getting Caller ID for $7 which included it for free. My husband wanted Caller ID, so we got it.
I have the same thing Devena has but they call is something different.
When a call comes in if there is no callerID then it will not ring in my house unless they give their name to the computerized prompter. These calls have a distinctive ring to them and come up with ‘Call intercept’ in the callerID box. When my MIL calls from work we gave her a special code so she bypasses the system and the callerID box says ‘priority caller’ or something similar.
I’ve noticed most cell phone calls have no name but a phone number. In this instance if I don’t know the number it goes to voice mail. Same for names/numbers I don’t recognize.
I love callerID but the real joy is the call intercept. I haven’t had a telemarketer call since it was installed.
I don’t block my callerID. If I am calling someplace then I expect to speak with someone and therefore they will know I called and who I am and my number anyway. Likewise if someone calls me and invades my home I want to know who it is before I answer. I wouldn’t open my door without knowing who it was and I won’t answer my phone either. My house, my time, my choice to speak to you.
One funny anecdote from when I first got CallerID. I got a phone call and I answered it even though I didn’t recognize the name. I thought maybe it was my brother calling from a friend’s house. It was an obscene phone call! And I had his name and number sitting in my caller ID box.
Sometimes I’ll get calls that just say “(Name of a state) call” and no number. Usually these are telemarketers, but sometimes they’re friends/family who are using calling cards or those long-distance calling services, so I just wait for the machine to pick up.
By all means make sure to call back every number that doesn’t leave a message and question them repeatedly about why they called your number.
Be sure to phrase you call exactly like this:
Number you don’t recognise(but called back cause it was on your Caller ID): Hello
Obnoxious person with caller ID: Who is this?
NYDR: Excuse me, who is this
OPWCI: I’m the person someone called at precisely 12:34 from your number and didn’t leave a message.
NYDR: Tell me who you are and I’ll tell you if I was trying to reach you.
OPWCI: Oh no, I don’t have to. You called me first.
NYDR: OK then, since I don’t recognise your voice or number, I can only assume that someone else in the house was either trying to reach you or dialed your number by mistake. Would you care to leave a message?
OPWCI: No I don’t wanna leave no fucking message. Why did you call me if you weren’t gonna talk to me.
NYDR: As I said before, I didn’t call you. Bye bye now.
Believe it or not, I have had many many calls of this nature. Someone will call and say that my number was on their caller ID and demand to know what I wanted. The notion of misdialed numbers or calls being made by another person is apparently a foreign concept.
Unlike for landline phones, there is no shared information on who owns a cell phone.
The cell phone industry is generally unwilling to allow any other phone company (land or wireless) to know exactly who their customers are - the competition for customers has been brutal at times. Thus, a cell company is not going to tell a LEC who uses which numbers so they can transmit full names on CID. When the names do transmit to your CID, it’s generally either due to a legacy relationship between the cell company and the LEC, or a specific agreement.
More info, if you’re interested: for most calls the Calling number is transmited from the originating switch to the destination switch, whether you have it blocked or not. It’s the equipment at the end terminating the call that then determines whether the CID is blocked or passed, based on info in the message. When you get Unavailable, there may be old or mis-optioned equipment somewhere along the way.
Background: I’m a signaling engineer in the wireless industry. I work on this stuff every day.