A Block-Buster With Turn-Away Business From Pac Bell

Haven’t we experienced enough rejection in our lives? Do we really need Pac Bell to hand us another? Apparently, we do.

This time it’s Anonymous Call Rejection--the latest in a series of brain-busting alternatives to Caller ID, the setup that causes your phone number to be displayed on the phones of the people you’re calling. It was not a hit with some of the populace, who hooted that Caller ID was an invasion of basic rights to privacy.

So Pac Bell offered a second service to defeat the first one. This, called Complete Blocking, assured that your number would never be shown on Caller ID screens. (Except if you’re calling certain government agencies, but that’s another story.) The People seemed happy again.

Soon more troubles set in. Some Angelenos with Call Blocking tried desperately to reach friends and relatives with Caller ID--and of course the twain never met. Folks with Caller ID wouldn’t pick up on calls that weren’t identified, and the callers had no way to unblock themselves when they really needed to get through. Crankiness prevailed. So in almost biblical sequence, Complete Blocking begat Selective Blocking, which started in September.

This service allows you to be totally unblocked except on specific calls on which you do not want your number revealed. (Like those crank calls to the lover who jilted you.) At such times, you can press *67 before dialing, and your number will not be displayed on the callee’s screen.

Even this was not enough. Folks with Caller ID were becoming angry. Their phones were ringing off the hook with calls from people who wouldn’t reveal their numbers--which meant the person with Caller ID had to hear the phone ring, go look at the screen, and then not answer.

Now Pac Bell has a better idea--the Anonymous Call Rejection Plan. This negatively named service automatically rejects calls from people who will not permit their numbers to be displayed. The phone does not even ring.

Instead, the caller will hear this recording: “The party you have called does not accept calls from blocked numbers. To complete your call and reveal your number, dial *82. To prevent the display of your number, you can use a pay phone or, for a charge, call the operator.”

Can you follow all this? If not, don’t worry. Even Pac Bell spokesman Steve Getzug says he gets confused sometimes when he tries to explain.