Blocked phone number - or not?

[Whickerman]

Just called a directory enquiries service to get a number, using my mobile. My number is blocked from sending, ie comes up as a private number. Yet the service - not my service supplier, a private company - still managed to text me the number... how's that work then?

[kempie]

When you make a call every piece of equipment that the call passes though gets the originating number, the destination number and a privacy indicator which dictates whether or not the number should be displayed at the final destination.

When the privacy indicator is turned on, e.g. set to "block", the information is still sent (it needs to be for billing etc). The device at the receiving end should respect the privacy indicator and not display the originating number; this is true for consumer devices, but those used by the emergency services etc. will ignore the indicator.

I'm not sure how directory enquiries businesses fit into the scheme of things.