Hello All,

I am delighted to report that with the release of Apple’s iOS 6.0, Siri enabled devices such as iPhone 4S and iPhone 5, can now dial Contacts whose telephone numbers contain special symbols, such as those used to selectively display Caller ID on the AT&T Wireless network.

Although I do not recommend it, AT&T Wireless customers can now send text messages to telephone numbers containing the Display Caller ID symbols, as well. 

The following are updated instructions that describe how to implement selective Caller ID on the AT&T Wireless network: 

At the time of this post, there are only two privacy settings from which you may choose when making a telephone call in iOS 6.0, to either show your outgoing Caller ID or to BLOCK/hide your outgoing Caller ID.  Whichever you choose, there is no officially supported method to override the selected setting for each person in your Contacts list. 

For the record, I, like thousands of others, strongly urge Apple to tame this particular white elephant that has taken up residence in its proverbial orchard.

To override iOS 6.0 Caller ID settings, do the following: 

NOTE 1:
The following assumes that iOS 6.0 is set to BLOC/hide outgoing Caller ID.

NOTE 2:
The following has been verified for iOS 6.0.

NOTE 3:
The following has been verified on the AT&T Wireless Network, only.

1.
From the Contact List, select a Contact to whom you wish to display your Caller ID.

2.
In the telephone number Edit Field, insert the prefix *31# before the telephone number.  For example, *31#(888) 555-1212

3.
Save the changes.

NOTE 4:
You may direct dial a telephone number using this prefix, as well.

NOTE 5:
Although not recommended, after adding the above listed prefix to a Contact telephone number, you will still be able to send a text message to that telephone number.

NOTE 6:
Since using a prefix in a Contact telephone number will prevent the Contact from being displayed during an incoming call, I suggest that you add an additional telephone number to the Contact mirroring the original telephone number but without the prefix.  For example:

Contact Name:  Mark Taylor
Mobile:  *31#(888) 555-1212
Other:  (888) 555-1212

This will allow the Contact to be displayed during an incoming call and provide a valid (recommended) number to which you may send text messages.

NOTE 7:
At the time of this post, you can now use Siri to dial a telephone number containing [*31#].

NOTE 8:
If Siri is turned off on your iPhone, then you can, as always, use the standard iOS Voice Commander, found in both the current and previous versions of iOS, to auto-dial a Contact’s telephone number even if said telephone number includes the [*31#] prefix.

Mark