One of my US friends recently ditched her landline and now has only a mobile. She gave me the number, when I rang she said the display showed 'private number'. She has a basic calling plan with international calls and texts barred, so she can only call or text the US, Canada and Mexico. Is there anything in the phone or network settings we could check in order to get her phone to display my number so that she knows it's me calling? Alternatively would she be able to call or text me using whatsapp?

If the network operator is not passing on your CLI information then nothing she does to her phone will make one jot of difference. It certainly sounds like the CLI is not being passed on.

Whatsapp uses an internet connection so should not be subject to any international call/text restrictions, provided of course that she has a data plan on the phone and so can access the internet. Plus if she does have a data plan there may be a cap on data usage which you would have to be mindful of when using Whatsapp.

Their plan might require a subscription for CLI.

I have Caller Display on my landline, here in the UK. I don't know anyone from outside the UK but have occasionally returned home to a missed call that shows up as International rather than the number.

I'm assuming that some networks aren't capable of displaying the CLI from other countries.

It depends... In general, assume not.

Thanks for the replies.