What does two asterisks (**) mean in this strange USA phone number?

Question

This is a screenshot from an 11foot8 video. Notice the phone number on the All My Sons truck: **MOVE.

I know that you can dial in the letters as numbers if you check the letters on your keypad, but I've never seen those two asterisks before. What do they represent? I haven't found anything on All My Sons' website (looks like their number has changed).

I’m voting to close this question because it is not a travel question. — gerrit, Apr 17 '21 at 20:36
Certainly doesn't immediately strike me as a phone number.... so they've had to prefix it with "call" to show that. — Criggie, Apr 17 '21 at 23:01

score 33 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 17 '21 at 05:29

These are special "StarStar" numbers offered by StarStar Mobile: https://www.starstarmobile.com/

So the asterisks don't really represent anything, they're literal representations of * key/button you find on any phone.

While I'm not familiar with the details of the implementation, it appears to be a clever hack on VSCs, which are how telcos let you control various telephony features via the network itself:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_service_code

So presumably the Star Star folks have struck a deal with the big telcos to route any calls starting with ** their way, and they can then forward the calls to the paying customers.

Specifically, it seems to be a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_dial_code — Ilmari Karonen, Apr 17 '21 at 22:30

What does two asterisks (**) mean in this strange USA phone number?

1 Answers1