Is there a difference between Unknown, Private and Restricted phone calls?

Restricted is normally a person blocking their phone number. That’s what shows up whenever I get prank calls from friends. Unknown calls are mostly from bill collectors and such, while private calls are people who have their phones set to private.

If someone called you from a restricted number, they don’t want you to know who it is before you pick up the phone.

@KatetheGreat Not always – sometimes restricted is also private (like when therapists call you back).

@MyNewtBoobs In some cases that is true. In most cases, it is what I stated above.

It can also depend on the receiving phone. I have a friend who shows up as Private on my landline and Withheld on my cell.

Unknown and Out of Area are calls which do not carry Caller ID information with them—they are usually originated outside of the USA. Private or Restricted means that either the caller has purposely blocked their number from Caller ID delivery or the call is coming from an entity that never delivers its Caller ID information, i.e. womens shelter, law enforcement.