De-Cyphering Private Number

senordingdong

Not sure if this is the right forum, please move if needed.

I knew a guy once whos phone always displayed the number of the person calling him, even if the person calling had their idendity hidden.

Lately I've been getting a series of harassing midnight phone calls and was wondering if anybody knew what the procedure was for sorting this out.
Do I have to go to the Gardaí or can a store clerk help or what?

Thanks

Brian

Not quite what you're looking for, but if you're on Meteor and your phone is off then I think you'll receive a text saying you missed a call from <their number>.

Edit: Also, ringing your network should help.

mathew

Baza210 wrote: »

Not quite what you're looking for, but if you're on Meteor and your phone is off then I think you'll receive a text saying you missed a call from <their number>.

Edit: Also, ringing your network should help.

Dont think you get one for private numbers...

Brian

mathew wrote: »

Dont think you get one for private numbers...

I see. Well, anyway, if it's haranguing phone calls then ringing your network should have it blocked or whatever.

Rsaeire

senordingdong wrote: »

Not sure if this is the right forum, please move if needed.

I knew a guy once whos phone always displayed the number of the person calling him, even if the person calling had their idendity hidden.

Lately I've been getting a series of harassing midnight phone calls and was wondering if anybody knew what the procedure was for sorting this out.
Do I have to go to the Gardaí or can a store clerk help or what?

Thanks

This isn't a feature or service generally available for the public, it is used by some government officials and Gardai on their mobile numbers so that they can view who contacts them at all times, even if it is from a private number.

If you contact a mobile network inquiring about this feature you will either be advised that it cannot be done, or that it can and is not available for the public.

I imagine this guy you knew was either a government official or Garda, or someone who should not have had this feature on their mobile number.

Tom Dunne

Baza210 wrote: »

I see. Well, anyway, if it's haranguing phone calls then ringing your network should have it blocked or whatever.

This happened a friend of mine recently and she was told by her network that they can't do anything until the Gardai get involved.

senordingdong

Rsaeire wrote: »

or someone who should not have had this feature on their mobile number.

Most likely I'm afraid.

Well that's that settled so.

Thanks folks.

Random

Report it to your network and to the Garda. Pursue the matter then through the Gardai.

rogue-entity

If memory serves the feature you are talking about is called ANI (Automatic Number Identification) which is seperate from CLID (Caller Line Identification).

ANI data is passed from the caller's exchange to the receiver's exchange for billing and identification purposes, so your network always knows who called you, regardless of weither CLID was withheld or not, its used by the emergency services so they can always call you back if you got cut off or hung up. As others have already said, none of the phone companies will block numbers from calling you, and they will not reveal the identity of the number unless you get the Gardaí involved.

If you dont want to get the Gardai involved, you could just ask for your number to be changed, I know it's free the first time on O2 as I got mine changed to solve a problem with international texts. Most networks, if you get the Gardai involved will change your number and pass the logs over to them.

matrim

I remember seeing some service recently that would let you do this. I think the way it worked was to forward the call to another special number then forward it back to you, and whatever way it works it lets you see the hidden number.

Unfortunately I can't remember the name. I'll try and look for it.

matrim

Here it is http://www.trapcall.com/

Davy

matrim wrote: »

Here it is http://www.trapcall.com/

Usa afaik

phoenix89

Hmm interesting problem...

Do you have any idea who the midnight caller might be? I had this happen to a friend before, someone whom she had pissed off decided to torment her anonymously - once she figured out who it was and told them she knew who they were they stopped right away. I don't know how much the gardaí can or will do about it... Trapcall sounds like a good idea though.

seanybiker

depending on what phone ya have ya could just get blacklist and block blocked numbers from ringing ya in the first place.

pirelli

Davy wrote: »

Usa afaik

That appears to be USA only Davy. :cool: Waiting for European version.....

senordingdong

pirelli wrote: »

That appears to be USA only Davy. :cool: Waiting for European version.....

Any update on European version?

helimachoptor

There is a way to do this but needs to be done on the HLR, cant remember the exact code but a couple of guys i worked with set it up on their phones before they left the company we were working with.
It's also highly illegal unless its for legal purposes

Dublin_Gunner

AKAIF as the CLID is stopped at the exchange - nothing you have on your phone will allow you to see a 'private number'.

The change must be made at the exchange to allow the 'private number' info to be sent to your handset.

Basically, if I set my phone to private number, here is the sequence of events.

1. I dial your number.
2. I connect to my local exchange
3. My operators exchange sees the request for 'private number' and sends my connection to your operators exchange, without my CLID. (I can't actually remember if this happens at the outgoing operator, or receiving operators exchange - obviously, a lot of the time the operator is the same)
4. My connection is directed to your phone number [without the CLID], and you answer / hang up.

Now, there is generally an extra check at around point 4, to see what number I'm dialling. i.e. if it is a number registered to a garda member, or other emergency services, the 'private number' request is essentially ignored, and my CLID is forwarded on the connection.

This is my understanding (simplified) of how the process works. So in other words, in order for you to be able to 'de-cypher' (there is no cypher involved actually, the CLID is merely not sent) it would have to be enabled at the exchange for your number to receive the CLID info.

Saying that, ALL operators have access to who [CLID] called through on their network, and the info can indeed be requested. However, this usually only happens with Garda intervention, and it would have to be a fairly serious event or events that took place.

There may well be some code / request you can send from your handset to enable all CLID to be sent to your phone number, but I'm pretty sure this would be highly illegal to do unless you were either a Garda or a member of the emergency services etc

senordingdong

Yeah, I understand, but does nobody else think that this is silly?

The networks can easily tell you who was ringing you but are not allowed.
They are not allowed to tell me who's been ringing me.

Every Tom, Dick and Harry can block their number, but only specific people can unblock them.

Dublin_Gunner

senordingdong wrote: »

Yeah, I understand, but does nobody else think that this is silly?

The networks can easily tell you who was ringing you but are not allowed.
They are not allowed to tell me who's been ringing me.

Every Tom, Dick and Harry can block their number, but only specific people can unblock them.

I'm assuming its all hidden under some area of data protection legislation.

i.e if you never answered the call, you were never a party to the conversation with the 'private caller' so therefore are not entitled to their information. If you did answer, you would in theory know who they were and would obtain that information from them yourself.

Where this breaks down is prank / obscene phone calls. In which case as that is a criminal matter, refer it to the Gardaí.

Its a PITA, but not much more for most people.