What is the Difference Between a Private and an Unlisted Phone Number?
You may have received calls which show up as “private” on your caller ID. This can be the result of two things: the caller manually blocked his or her number for a specific call (called “per line blocking”), or they have requested from the phone company that their name and number be kept private. There are a number of reasons why people choose to do this. Sometimes, it is to legitimately protect the number for security and confidentiality reasons. Other times, it is to hide the caller´s identity so he or she can make harassing calls. If one of these calls shows up on your caller ID as “private,” then there is no number listed, so there is no way to trace these calls. If you are getting harassing calls from a private number, you can dial *57. This enables the phone company to record the number and turn it over to the police. It is perfectly legitimate in some cases to have a private number. If this is the case for you, you can request that your carrier block your number or do it on a ca
