How to backtrace UNAVAILABLE caller ID on a cell phone?

[AZRedhawk44]

I've been getting a caller that doesn't respond for a couple weeks, with a caller ID of UNAVAILABLE.

I only know one other person with their number's caller ID blocked, and she and I are on normal talking terms, so it isn't her.  Pranks like that are outside of her personality, and there's no "weird" situations where she wouldn't simply respond on the phone when calling me.

How do I get this caller ID forced to display?  Or, how do I get the cell phone company to give me the number?

[Nitrogen]

get a warrant.

The other thing you can do is get a voip service that will provide you with ANI instead of just caller ID information, and forward your cell phone to it.

[AZRedhawk44]

If I call my parents' home phone from a number that has caller ID masked, I get a prompt that says "this number does not accept anonymous caller ID calls" or something like that.

Can you get that turned on for a cell phone?

[gunsmith]

 think you can,  if not say you do not answer blocked calls on your voicemail and people will get the hint.
I stopped answering from blocked calls.

[AZRedhawk44]

What is the difference between UNAVAILABLE and RESTRICTED?

My friend I mentioned before is RESTRICTED, but this number is UNAVAILABLE.

[JonnyB]

I'm a telecomm guy at my place of employment. We have T1 trunks to the local Central Office (CO). In order to provide Caller ID, they need PRI, for which equipment is not in place in this particular (fairly rural) CO. Without it, Caller ID is, and will display on destination phones, "Unavailable". It simply cannot be provided by the local TelCo.

Restricted means that the caller has chosen to block his outgoing ID.

jb

[Brad Johnson]

It could also mean they are calling using a long distance card.  With a lot of the cards, especially the pay-as-you-go kind, all calls are placed from a computerized calling pool.  Even calling through my card, which is from a local company, shows up as Unavailable.

Easiest thing, though, is to ignore it.  If the call is important enough they will leave a message.

Brad

[Nitrogen]

I'm a telecomm guy at my place of employment. We have T1 trunks to the local Central Office (CO). In order to provide Caller ID, they need PRI, for which equipment is not in place in this particular (fairly rural) CO. Without it, Caller ID is, and will display on destination phones, "Unavailable". It simply cannot be provided by the local TelCo.

Restricted means that the caller has chosen to block his outgoing ID.

jb

Did you mean ANI?  PRI is Primary Rate Interface, a standard for bundling voice and data.
Strangely enough, ANI!=PRI=!Caller ID

All Caller ID is NOT the same thing ans ANI (Automatic Number Identification)
Caller ID is information generated by the originating switch, and can be different from ANI.

Many VOIP providers allow you to set your called id info sent out to be anything you want it to be, while ANI is not settable (unless you're committing telco fraud, that is)

[RoadKingLarry]

A PBX can also set the ANI/Caller ID to anything they want it to be. I once spent a long day upgrading a customers PBX to be able to send out caller ID and then programing all the out going calls to show from the extension that made the calls and then another long afternoon reprogramming all the out going lines to show the main number of the facility when they decided they didn't like that;/.

[Gewehr98]

Many VOIP providers allow you to set your called id info sent out to be anything you want it to be

Long-time Vonage user here.  How do I do the above?

[JonnyB]

I really did mean PRI. Our PBX is connected to tehCO via standard T1 (AMI/D4 framing). The (Qwest) CO needs PRI - by their and a competing LEC admission - to deliver any calls with the accompanying ID.

No data, just voice.

jb

[Nitrogen]

Long-time Vonage user here.  How do I do the above?

Can't with Vonage. They emulate the "last mile" with the internet.  You'll need one that lets you emulate a PBX like inphonex.  Find one that caters to telemarketers or collection agencies; they will usually be the most tolerant with things like that.

[KD5NRH]

What is the difference between UNAVAILABLE and RESTRICTED?

Do any cellphones allow "UNAVAILABLE" to be set up for a separate ringtone?  If so, I think I may have found the best possible use of my silent ringtone.