| How to Block Display of Phone Number When You Dial 800 Number |
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[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Essentially, in general, you _cannot_
block your number ID, nor name ID when calling an 800 number, nor when
calling 911, nor a 1010+ number. That is because when you dial one of
those numbers, although the end result is the same, the transport
mechanism is different. When your name/number shows up on their
'caller ID' device, it is not 'caller ID', it is something known as
'ANI' (Automatic Number Identification) from which there is no
hiding. As I noted above, the end results are the same,
however. Whenever the called party is expected to pay for your call,
i.e. an 800 number or 911, etc. then the person paying for the call
rightfully expects to know _who_ is calling ... there are a few ways
to get around this, but their legality is questionable. We discussed
one of these methods in this space on Monday in the message on
'Spoofing your Caller ID', for example by using
http://www.ospenterprises.com/phone/ but that seems like a tedious
method, and the ospenterprises people say they gladly cooperate with
authorities on request. Say, you were not thinking about making a lot
of hang-up calls to someone's 800 number were you? PAT]