The codes described are relevant only to the NANP telephone system. A similar feature is used in European ISDN networks, which is mandated by the European Telecommunication Regulation in the Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications

Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications

Directive 2002/58 on Privacy and Electronic Communications, otherwise known as E-Privacy Directive, is an EU directive on data protection and privacy in the digital age. It presents a continuation of earlier efforts, most directly the Data Protection Directive...

, cf. wikipedia (de).

Anonymous call rejection is a calling feature based on caller ID

Caller ID

Caller ID , also called calling line identification or calling number identification or Calling Line Identification Presentation , is a telephone service, available in analog and digital phone systems and most Voice over Internet Protocol applications, that transmits a caller's number to...

 (not automatic number identification

Automatic number identification

Automatic number identification is a feature of telephony intelligent network services that permits subscribers to display or capture the billing telephone number of a calling party. In the United States it is part of Inward Wide Area Telephone Service . ANI service was created by AT&T for...

 or ANI). Incoming callers with caller-ID blocking will hear a message stating that this line does not accept calls from callers who block their number. It is often free with caller ID on landline

Landline

A landline was originally an overland telegraph wire, as opposed to an undersea cable. Currently, landline refers to a telephone line which travels through a solid medium, either metal wire or optical fibre, as distinguished from a mobile cellular line, where transmission is via radio waves...

s. It is not available from most cellphone services with caller ID, such as Sprint

Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel Corporation is an American telecommunications company based in Overland Park, Kansas. The company owns and operates Sprint, the third largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, with 53.4 million customers, behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility...

, T-Mobile USA

T-Mobile USA

T-Mobile USA, Inc. is an American mobile-network operator, headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, that provides wireless voice, messaging and data services in the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The company is the fourth-largest wireless carrier in the U.S. market with 33.73...

 or AT&T. Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless

Cellco Partnership, doing business as Verizon Wireless, is one of the largest mobile network operators in the United States. The network has 107.7 million subscribers as of 2011, making it the largest wireless service provider in America....

 does provide this service, but you cannot dial a feature code or call customer service. For Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless

Cellco Partnership, doing business as Verizon Wireless, is one of the largest mobile network operators in the United States. The network has 107.7 million subscribers as of 2011, making it the largest wireless service provider in America....

, you must go to MyVerizon to block Anonymous or Restricted Calls, or up to 5 specific numbers.

How to use

Where available in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, one may enter one of the following vertical service code

Vertical service code

A vertical service code or VSC is a special code dialed prior to a telephone number that engages some type of special telephone service...

s to respectively enable or disable anonymous call rejection:

• enable: *77       (warning: this is equivalent to *SP (State Police) in some areas)
• disable: *87

Verizon Wireless does not currently provide anonymous call rejection.

Resulting error message

"The number you are calling does not accept calls from callers who do not allow the delivery of their telephone number, please unblock your number and try again."

or

"We are sorry private calls are not accepted by this number, to complete your call hang up and press *82, on touch tone phones, or dial 1182 on rotary phones; then re-dial the number." "If you have caller ID, your name and number may be displayed to the recipient of the call."

or

"We're sorry the party you have reached is not accepting private calls, if you want to allow your number to be displayed hang up dial *82 or 1182 from rotary phones and redial the number"

And in the United Kingdom the standard message with BT is:

"The person you are calling is not accepting anonymous calls. Please redial without withholding your number."

See also

• Vertical service code
  Vertical service code
  A vertical service code or VSC is a special code dialed prior to a telephone number that engages some type of special telephone service...
  
  
• Pat Fleet
  Pat Fleet
  Pat Fleet is a working American voice actress known as the registered voice of AT&T.Widely recognized for the tens of thousands of recordings she has made for US telephone companies such as AT&T, Verizon, Qwest, the former Bell System companies, and others since 1981, she is still most recognized...
  
  , the voice behind the rejection message
• iobi
  Iobi
  iobi, , is a way of providing and managing telephone services over the Internet or PSTN-based telephone. Among capabilities, a registered customer could use a connected personal computer to dial a phone number and then speak to the person, they can check their voicemail messages over computer, or...
  
  , a call management
  Call management
  In telecommunications, call management is the process of designing and implementing rules and parameters governing the routing of inbound telephone calls through a network. These rules can specify how calls are distributed according to the time and/or date of the call as well as the location of the...
  
  service by Verizon